Question for former student athletes...

[emgibbs]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Looking for some different perspectives on this topic:

If you had a NCAA eligibility remaining during veterinary school, would it be at all possible to balance the commitments of a varsity sport AND the rigors of vet school?
What if scholarship $$$$ was involved? Would that influence your approach to the situation or would you say it's imminent burnout and to avoid any other serious commitments outside of school?

 

[supershorty]

No. I was a professional athlete before vet school and there was absolutely no way for me to maintain training at that level and keep my grades up during school, even during first year.

 

[Georgethecat]

I'd say highly unlikely. While NCAA says it only allows 20 hours per week during the season, the reality is that it was much closer to 30+ hours per week once you accounted for travel time to practice, mandatory but not counted team meetings, time spent in the training room, etc. Never mind the time spent traveling and competing. With vet school hours being anywhere from 8am - 5pm daily, there's no way to put in the hours needed to compete or mesh that with a team's schedule. The physical fatigue would also be a negative when it came time to study. That was hard enough in undergrad and vet school takes studying to another level.

On a positive note, being used to 5am practices makes 8am classes seem not so terrible 🙂 My recommendation would be to enjoy the new chapter in your life and use whatever sport you enjoy as an outlet and stress relief.

 

[Ashgirl]

Looking for some different perspectives on this topic:

If you had a NCAA eligibility remaining during veterinary school, would it be at all possible to balance the commitments of a varsity sport AND the rigors of vet school?
What if scholarship $$$$ was involved? Would that influence your approach to the situation or would you say it's imminent burnout and to avoid any other serious commitments outside of school?

Possible? Sure. Easy? Most likely not.

I think I read an article about someone on the girl's basketball team that was got accepted to vet school and I believed was going to juggle both? I have no idea how that went or how feasible it was for her.

How many hours a week would we be talking here? Would it be possible to do this outside the 8am-5pm hours that vet school brings? Would this be an all year thing or just for a few months? Ideally, it would be nice to start vet school first and make sure you got the hang of that before you added a ton of extra commitment.

I mean, it's doable, but you have to understand that you may find it very overwhelming to do both. Would you be willing to quit the team mid-way through? Would they be flexible with you possibly juggling 3-4 tests in one week?

I'm not going to sugar coat things here. For me, even a 5-10 hour a week job would be impossible for me do with the rigors of vet school. But again, that's me, and several classmates have odd and end jobs and end up managing okay. It really is dependent on the person and how they adjust to vet school.

 

[SportPonies]

I mean, it's doable, but you have to understand that you may find it very overwhelming to do both. Would you be willing to quit the team mid-way through? Would they be flexible with you possibly juggling 3-4 tests in one week?

Also depends on what school you go to. I can't say that this is something I would choose to do for myself, but Illinois does only have a test every other week that covers every subject.

 

[battie]

There was a diver on the US team during the last summer olympics who was in med school. The caveat is that the med school did some juggling to make her still be a student, but have her in the fewest amount of scholastic commitment possible. It was not a normal situation.

 

[ziggyandjazzy]

Are you still even eligible to participate in NCAA athletics while in vet school?

 

[DaDappette]

Looking for some different perspectives on this topic:

If you had a NCAA eligibility remaining during veterinary school, would it be at all possible to balance the commitments of a varsity sport AND the rigors of vet school?
What if scholarship $$$$ was involved? Would that influence your approach to the situation or would you say it's imminent burnout and to avoid any other serious commitments outside of school?

That would really be person dependent, as to whether or not you could handle the rigors of doing both. I used up all 4 years of my NCAA eligibility, but I go to school in Canada now and I will be on the field hockey team next year (I started practicing with them halfway through their fall season though, but it's nowhere near NCAA level or commitment). I have never been through school without participating in a sport- it helps me focus and manage my time better because I know I don't have those 2-3 hours a day for school work. I also have classmates on the rugby team, upper years on the rugby team, some on the track team, etc. and they all make it work, so it is possible. Is it difficult? Yes, but it's worth it for my own mental/physical wellbeing so I'm willing to sacrifice that time in August-October/November.

Scholarship money should still work the same. If you are good enough to be offered a scholarship, you can absolutely take it. At my undergrad school, there were a lot of PT/OT grad students playing on scholarship.

 

[Awapi]

A girl at UGA cheered varsity football her VM1 year, she said it was doable. I was also a varsity athlete in undergrad (many...many years ago) and I'm about to finish my first semester and I also think it would have been doable for me had I not lost eligibility before the typewriter was invented. However, I think it's very dependent on the person - I am a good compartmentalizer and can put school out of my mind and also don't stress about it as much as the average person. I think you know yourself best, if you think you would need more control over your time or it would stress you out to have a game right before a test, then it probably would.

 

[RS1]

Definitely doable, depending 100% on your study habits, time management, and stress level.

I'm halfway through third year and have been an athlete and held a job throughout all of vet school. I don't require much sleep and having more to do makes me more productive.

 

[supershorty]

I guess it depends on what the sport is, too. I rode horses and so just getting out to the barn was a 45 minute drive - time-wise, I couldn't afford to make it happen. If you're able to practice on campus, maybe it's do-able.

 

[pp9]

Also depends on what school you go to. I can't say that this is something I would choose to do for myself, but Illinois does only have a test every other week that covers every subject.

Sorry to derail, but you guys are having tests every other week now? I knew your class had some changes in what material you were taught/actually had to know for exams, but did they change the number of exams too?

 

[battie]

Sorry to derail, but you guys are having tests every other week now? I knew your class had some changes in what material you were taught/actually had to know for exams, but did they change the number of exams too?

No, it's a quiz weeks 2 and 6 and test weeks 4 and 8

 

[SportPonies]

Sorry to derail, but you guys are having tests every other week now? I knew your class had some changes in what material you were taught/actually had to know for exams, but did they change the number of exams too?

Bats ninja'd me. I just call the quizzes tests haha.

 

[DJ Khaled's Pet Tiger]

Looking for some different perspectives on this topic:

If you had a NCAA eligibility remaining during veterinary school, would it be at all possible to balance the commitments of a varsity sport AND the rigors of vet school?
What if scholarship $$$$ was involved? Would that influence your approach to the situation or would you say it's imminent burnout and to avoid any other serious commitments outside of school?

Echoing above - I doubt you can maintain both athletic and academic excellence while in grad school. Playing a sport is miserable enough in undergrad, no?

 

[emgibbs]

Thank you so much for the input everybody! I agree with those saying that it's best to start a new chapter in your life and use sports as a recreational outlet for stress. Competing during undergrad was difficult enough (although it forced me to be more regimented).

I was mostly curious to see if anybody on SDN had pulled off the balancing act of being a vet student and student athlete. Kudos to those who have, that's extremely impressive! I appreciate all of your advice and stories.