Premed athletes

[Van Chowder]

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Hey I have a question for all you athletes , were you able to balance college sports and athletiics and still get excelwnt grades?( I don't mean intramural sports) I mean real programs.

 

[fatty19]

Hey I have a question for all you athletes , were you able to balance college sports and athletiics and still get excelwnt grades?( I don't mean intramural sports) I mean real programs.

It's difficult, but certainly not impossible. I was a D1 athlete all 4 years of college and came away with a decent GPA but not great (3.5ish).

I had student-athlete friends who were 3.7+ though (usually in non-science majors however).

Time management is crucial. Take advantage of any gaps in class and practice time to study or volunteer for a couple hours rather than nap. This can be hard considering most programs have practice/training in the morning before class and in the afternoon afterwards and sleep can be a hot commodity.

The next best piece of advice I have is use the weekends to your advantage. Catch up with classes, ECs, or whatever else you can find time for. Once again this can be hard since competitions often fall on the weekend but try to take advantage of every free saturday and sunday you can get. Good Luck!

EDIT: Oh and one more thing. Study while you travel!! Studying during plane rides and bus rides can be annoying but it's better than just wasting that time.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

It's difficult, but certainly not impossible. I was a D1 athlete all 4 years of college and came away with a decent GPA but not great (3.5ish).

I had student-athlete friends who were 3.7+ though (usually in non-science majors however).

Time management is crucial. Take advantage of any gaps in class and practice time to study or volunteer for a couple hours rather than nap. This can be hard considering most programs have practice/training in the morning before class and in the afternoon afterwards and sleep can be a hot commodity.

The next best piece of advice I have is use the weekends to your advantage. Catch up with classes, ECs, or whatever else you can find time for. Once again this can be hard since competitions often fall on the weekend but try to take advantage of every free saturday and sunday you can get. Good Luck!

EDIT: Oh and one more thing. Study while you travel!! Studying during plane rides and bus rides can be annoying but it's better than just wasting that time.

I agree with pretty much everything here. My grades weren't great either, but I had no idea until my just before my last year started that I even wanted to go to med school so I had been cruising along satisfied with a whole lot of Bs and B+s. We actually had 2 science majors who were both starters on our team and held down 3.7ish grades.

And if you love your sport, please do NOT decide not to play because you're pre-med. Many people start as pre-meds and change their minds before they graduate. Very few people get the opportunity to play college sports. I gladly took two years off after college to get my ECs in order, take the MCAT, etc b/c I had the amazing opportunity to play college sports. I made friends for life through my sport and have lots of good memories.

The last thing I'll say; don't count on playing sports to give you a "GPA-boost" when it comes time to apply, no matter how many hours you put into it. If your GPA and MCAT are in order however, I think sports is a huge bonus on your application. Just develop good time-management skills early and you'll be set for the next 4 years.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

Hey I have a question for all you athletes , were you able to balance college sports and athletiics and still get excelwnt grades?( I don't mean intramural sports) I mean real programs.

What sport do you play? I'm guessing, by looking at graduation rates of each sport, it's probably a lot harder to play the big revenue D-1 sports like football and basketball and get good grades than it is tennis.

 

[Classic]

Study while you travel!! Studying during plane rides and bus rides can be annoying but it's better than just wasting that time.

^^^ This was key during my experience as a D1 basketball player. This may sound extreme to you, but on the road I used to wake up a little earlier than my teammates and drag my biochem text book to the hotel lobby to get some extra studying in (gotta love the pentose-phosphate shunt!)

But for a more inspiring story, check out the superstar FSU football player.

 

[bschliewe]

I was also a D-1 Athlete, and really had no off season. I ran cross country in the fall and track in the spring. My GPA was ok, but I also had to have a small part time job a few days a week.

As everyone has said, make sure to use your time traveling to your advantage. Also, my coach made us go to mandatory study halls at least 3 times during the week. Most schools, especially ones that hand out a lot of athletic scholarships, stress that you are a student first and an athlete second. You are of no use to their program if you are ineligible for academic reasons, so they really stress academic achievement (in most cases).

I feel that my experience with college athletics only help my application. There is a lot of opportunity for leadership and teamwork.

 

[parafilm]

I'm doing the athlete/pre-med thing now and it's going alright. I also try to keep a pretty active social life or I'll go nuts, and I work in a lab about 10hrs a week. But I'm not D1 so it's less of a time commitment.

It's a bitch sometimes, but it's manageable. My trick so far has been early morning class (forces me to get up), trying to do the bulk of studying during the day, and using weekends wisely.

But, I definitely don't have excellent grades. I think this has more to do with other variables... but practice and traveling takes up a huge amount of time that could go to studying, so it might have some effect.

In the end it's worth it for me. I get so much out of my sport that I can't imagine not doing it. I'm willing to sacrifice a few GPA points so that I can do what I love and enjoy college.

 

[Mizo]

I went to a D3 school as a fencer, and the coach was pretty intense, especially in my second and third year. Though I will admit, being a fencer is probably a lot easier than being nearly any other sort of athlete.

I still managed to keep up with my work and do well on the MCAT, even with him riding us. I think you need to let your coach know when you need some flexibility in your schedule. If he/she is understanding, they should be able to understand.

And, yea, like the person above said, don't give up on a sport you care about just because you worry about your GPA. You'll grow as a person/student if you're willing to push yourself.

 

[reach4thestars]

Its very hard. Most people on my team had mediocre grades and would probably not make it into medical school easily. There is very little time to do much of anything and you can't do all your volunteer work and stuff that can make your application stronger. My first two years were not that great and they actually discouraged science majors. (at my school anyway). I decided not to do athletics anymore cause I wanted to focus on med school, plus I had a lot of other problems at that time. After quitting my grades improved dramatically and I am on an upward trend.

 

[aRnonymous]

Hey I have a question for all you athletes , were you able to balance college sports and athletiics and still get excelwnt grades?( I don't mean intramural sports) I mean real programs.

Yes, it is definitely possible. I was on a D1 sport for four years and served as it's captain for two years. I walked away from undergrad with a 3.98 GPA doing a B.Sc in Chemistry with honors.

 

[Gator35]

To answer your question I play D1 baseball and it is possible. I have found that if your work hard enough and manage your time wisely you can maintain a high GPA and still have a decent social life. The one thing I've noticed is that it is harder to do research and volunteer during the season and practice times due to time constraints, but I feel like I have made good use of my summers to boost my EC's.

 

[njbmd]

Hey I have a question for all you athletes , were you able to balance college sports and athletiics and still get excelwnt grades?( I don't mean intramural sports) I mean real programs.

I was on the varsity tennis team (D1) and played lacrosse and soccer. If anything, my participation in sports helped my grades and discipline. In residency, I played softball and soccer. Again, the sports greatly help with stress reduction.

Even playing on the varsity tennis team didn't really take much time away from my studies (I was a chemistry major with physics minor) but made me a more efficient student. If my grades dropped, I would have been dropped from the team.

 

[searun]

I was a varsity soccer player for 4 years in college, and team captain my senior year. I also competed in regional and national snowboard competitions during my 4 years of college. I graduated with a 3.8+ gpa and did well on the MCAT. I was a biochemistry major.

However, the time committment of athletics made it impossible for me to do any volunteering or get much clinical exposure. So I took two years off after I graduated from college. The first year I devoted to filling in the holes in my application and got the clinical exposure and volunteer experience that I needed to have a solid application. The second year I applied to med school and worked construction to make money.

It worked out for me and I am glad that I did have that two year break in my formal education. But I do not believe that I would have had a successful application if I had applied to med school during my senior year in college. I needed the extra time to pull everything together. That said, athletics was a definite plus in my application.

 

[imer]

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[witness23]

Myron Rolle?

http://www.research.uky.edu/odyssey/spring99/kovach.html

there actually has been people from the NFL and the MLB that have went onto med schools as well.

if you enjoy both, you can do it