Looking for first hand experience on if it’s possible to play in college and be pre med. interested in hearing experience for both D1 and D3.
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While there are some instances of D1 athletes succeeding on a pre med track, in general it's very rare. The schedule is a grind, basically all year, making science classes with labs very challenging. More pre med track kids go D3. They'll have some un official commitments in the off season but nothing like what D1 has. Then there's the importance of top grades for med school admission. I forget the conference name but the one with Emory, UChicago, Rochester etc offers D1 like campus experiences but D3 sports, plus excellent pre med academics.
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My D had a D1 coach tell her that, while they would never tell her what to major in, being a science major and playing a D1 sport was extremely challenging. For every lab science class you take the lab has the work equivalent to another class. Most pre-med/science majors take 2 lab science classes per semester, so that's the work of 2 more classes. In many schools labs are in the afternoon which can interfere with practice time and mid-week travel requirements. The coach told her that most of the pre-med players in their program ended up taking classes over the summer as not to be overloaded during the fall season, so it's definitely doable if you are willing to do that. She ended up at a high academic D3 where she is a double science major. The workload is a lot, especially in the fall, but she's managed it well. The off-season soccer commitments are definitely less than at a D1 program.Comment
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My daughter was at a recruiting event at a Northeast DI school where the coach told the group, "If any of you plan on pursuing a Bio/Chem degree(pre-Med) a Pre-Law degree or a Teaching degree, you should choose a different major if you plan on playing on my team." He said that those areas of study require a commitment that would be in direct conflict to the soccer commitment. It was nice that he was upfront like that.Comment
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Go to a Patriot or Ivy League school. They encourage bio, chem, etc. Is it easy? No but you can fulfill your academic and athletic dream.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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Just look over the declared majors of the rostered players at the programs of interest. It can give you a very good idea of how it can or cannot work tat the program/school. Most times there's lots of "sports marketing" and other business degreesComment
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Yes I think that's a decent assessment - the thing about pre-med is all the lab time involved. I'm not sure what they mean by pre-law though...I think that is just major in some form of humanities and take the LSAT as a senior...seems compatible with college soccer. Or maybe I'm just old and things are more complicated now.Comment
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There really isn't a "pre-law" major. Law school applicants are pretty diverse, anything from political science, english, business, some criminal justice. Business schools usually require at least two years of working while less so with law schools. Business schools tend to skew very heavy business undergradOriginally posted by Guest View Post
Pre med is nearly all science majors. The lab work is very tough with a D1 schedule because there's less down time. D3 works better because ou can move some lab heavy classes to the spring when you're not playing all the time.
Take a look at the majors of current players at any school and that will give you give idea if players have found ways to make it work/the coach supports it. You'll see a whole lot less at D1 programs. Plenty of business, marketing, communications, sports management, computer science. Also keep in mind D1 athletes get a ton of academic support that D3 athletes don't. There it's more sink or swimComment
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It is truly absurd that kids will kill themselves with club soccer to get to play at a top school, and then that very school's sports program basically prevents them from undertaking the academic curriculum of choice. Complete stupidity, especially for sports that are non-revenue generating.Comment
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Why should a player care if their sport generates revenue?Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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They shouldn't. The question is why the college feels the need to put so much on them for a sport that doesn't generate revenue.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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The crazy thing is for 99.99% of kids soccer is all over by 22 anyway yet they are limited on lifelong decisions like college major.Comment
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Many won't even play for 4 years.Originally posted by Guest View Post
So here's a solution: don't let it happen to you. People trash D3 soccer but there's a reason some good players choose it - they don't want their college experience dictated by sports. Or seek out the D1 programs with coaches/schools that aren't solely focused on results and work with athletes to reach their academic goals. There just aren't many of themComment
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ADs get pressed by schools, boards and alumni to run good programs. Maybe not top ones but at least solid ones. Most sports are non revenue so it's hard to justify an athletic program that has lots of losing teams. Losing teams are less attractive to desirable student athlete recruits. An AD wont keep their job long, neither will losing coachesOriginally posted by Guest View PostComment
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All true, and for parents taking the long view very wise. But convincing a competitive teenager of that is not easy.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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