Premed and playing college football

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I am a senior in high school and I'm on scholarship to play football in college. Is it possible to juggle both football and premed courses and excel in both while not sacrificing performance in one or another? I have always been an excellent student, but college is different and I want to know what I'm up against. And if I did manage to pull it off with an excellent gpa, would this juggling act help me get into med school?

 

[MilkmanAl]

Is it possible to juggle both football and premed courses and excel in both while not sacrificing performance in one or another?

Yes, it is, but you might have some very long days in your near future. College athletics take up loads of time. If I were you, I'd do my best to take it easy on the pre-reqs during the season and load up during the spring.

And if I did manage to pull it off with an excellent gpa, would this juggling act help me get into med school?

Yes, definitely, but how much it helps will pivot on how well you spin it. In any event, getting med school-quality grades despite a huge time and energy commitment like a collegiate sport will be a big plus for you.

 

[Shinobiz11]

I don't know from first hand experience, but one guy on here was talking about it. Just like Milkman said, it takes up a lot of time. Also he said that his GPA rose when he wasn't playing football. I'll try to find that poster for you.

 

[YoursToKeep]

I'm only a freshman in college, so I don't know how much my opinion is worth, but here's my experience.

I cheer (which I know some may not see as a sport but our practice schedule is just as intense as all the other sports) and at the beginning of the year I also played softball.

It's really hard to juggle all of it, especially with a pre-med course load. I know tons of non-athlete premeds had a hard enough time with the courses and adjusting to college even without the sports (because it's a very big adjustment, imo). But with all the added practices, it didn't make life any easier, and was much more stressful.

I had to quit softball because with chem and bio 4 days a week (plus 3 hour labs for both), and it was just too much. I couldn't practice from 3-7 (softball) and then 7-10 (cheer).

This semester its better because I am used to college a little more, but my days are still start class at 9, end at 3. Study till 5, eat till 5:30 study till cheer at 7 which goes to 10. It's hard and you really have to be dedicated to the sport and dedicated to studies as well.

My GPA first semester wasn't anywhere near what I wanted it to be, but I don't really feel like sports interfered with that. It was more of how hard the adjustment to college life and academics was.

If it makes you feel better, I know like 9 or 10 football players who are pre-med and in my classes and who seem to be doing just fine and have lives on the weekend. You just have to be really dedicated and disciplined to do both. My advice is make sure you truly want to play football. Even if you don't want to in the slightest bit, it will make your first semester at college hell. Make sure you're doing it for you, not for your parents, etc. That was the reason I was playing softball, and it's just not worth it.

 

[Morsetlis]

You should probably extend coursework to 5 years instead of 4 if you're set on doing this. It's great, it shows leadership and teamwork, and it's a good conversation piece (as well as engendering you to certain interviewers while pissing off others). However, it is medically irrelevant and is considered a great EC at best. I'd do it for personal accomplishment, but I'd be VERY VERY careful with time management.

 

[BobBarker]

Yes, I was good friends with Billy Bajema in undergraduate. He currently plays for the St. Louis Rams, but would have gotten in medical school if he had chosen that path. Football players are on campus year round, and tend to stay 5 years. You have a lot of time to spread out your science courses, so it is easily doable.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

I played college baseball and my 2 cents say absolutely play football. Yeah, my grades suffered a bit, I took 5 years to graduate (also had redshirted a year) and had to plug some holes in my application after I graduated (worked for 2 years before starting med school, had to take the MCAT, volunteer, etc) but it was 100% worth it. You will never ever ever ever ever get another opportunity to play college football. Ever. If it adds a year or 2 or 3 to your training to be a doctor, so be it. Getting to compete at the next level is something that not many people get to do, and if you love the game you should do it. You'll make great friends (all of my groomsmen except my brother were college teammates), and have great memories. And yes, you'll have crazy long days and weeks and moths, but you also will in med school and beyond and sports can actually help prepare you for that a little bit.

And there's also no guarantee you'll end up going to medical school. A lot of people have one thing in mind at 18 and another at 22, so if you passed up your chance to play football and decide that you have a different calling in life than medicine then you'll really be mad.

 

[Velocity]

I went to the University of Southern California for my undergrad. They take their football very seriously. I'm not sure how it is now that Pete Carroll is leaving and the glory days are over, but the football players were worked really hard. I don't know if any were academically successful - they basically went for "easy" majors and could be found in classes where the professor was sympathetic to athletes (those were also some of the easiest classes I've ever taken in my life). Yet they were still coming away with C's and D's.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here, because I don't think they were stupid - from what I heard from them, they were worked really, really hard. I honestly don't know how or when they would study, because if they weren't in the gym or on the practice field they were probably sleeping. (On second thought, I heard that they were at a few parties, at least, so maybe there was some extra time.)

The basketball and volleyball players seemed to fare better, but I don't think they were worked nearly as hard as the footballers.

Which is to say, if you're going to USC or a place like it, don't do it. I don't imagine that you could excel in both classwork and football (according to their standards), and the second to worst thing that could happen would be for you to be mediocre in both. (Worst would be to be poor in both.) If you're going anywhere else, very carefully evaluate the training schedule that you'll be under and what's expected of you, as well as how the pre-med courses go. For us, some of the pre-med courses had tiered grading - only the top 15% would get an A (and that includes A-'s). If you're away doing football stuff you have a distinct disadvantage in those types of classes, simply because you don't have the time (and perhaps the energy/focus) that the average student would. Evaluate carefully. Being a football player might earn you some points on your application, but it won't outshine a mediocre or poor GPA, and it'll likely take away the time you'd have for other, more standard pre-med extracurriculars.

 

[orangeANDgreen]

I am a senior in high school and I'm on scholarship to play football in college. Is it possible to juggle both football and premed courses and excel in both while not sacrificing performance in one or another? I have always been an excellent student, but college is different and I want to know what I'm up against. And if I did manage to pull it off with an excellent gpa, would this juggling act help me get into med school?

Im sure you know of this guy,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myron_Rolle

 

[derek320]

It is possible to do football and premed, my orthopedic surgeon played football all throughout his undergrad at Harvard while majoring in Chemistry. I can imagine that he had barely any free time though and was probably under a lot of stress all of the time.

 

[Gigantron]

[YOUTUBE]ZZa6eHSqx6I[/YOUTUBE]

If these kids could do it, so can you.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

It's possible, though time management is HUGE. We had required tutoring time, available tutors if we needed help on the road, and some accomodations for travel in regard to taking exams. The biggest thing is being able to take your classes at the right time. Any Gen Eds you can waive will really make scheduling much easier.

We had early morning runs and lifting sessions, so (for better or worse) I was able to take 8:30am classes and free up my afternoons for practice. Night classes were often popular, but those were only electives, so it didn't help me much. Labs were a bit more tricky, but taking them during the "off-season" was easier than attempting to take them during the season when we'd travel and play mid-week games. Of course, once I got all of this down I changed over to psych and focused mostly on research, so my schedule was much more flexible my last two years.