Academic Index, Ivy's, Measuring course load?

<p>Along those lines, my friend’s D (recruited athlete) now attends an Ivy. She was a 1960 SAT, 3.8 WGPA, exceptional athlete and very good student. Her Mom says she is doing better than ever, because she is finally getting enough sleep at college. Her practices are limited to 2 hours daily, on campus, and the class time is about half of what of her daily time was attending high school. I mentioned this to my son and he thought her schedule sounded like heaven. She does take a full courseload and is doing very well. There’s hope.</p>

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<p>As a counterpoint, D is an Ivy athlete and as a D1 program they bump right up to the 20 hours per week practice limits imposed by the NCAA. May vary by school and sport</p>

<p>I am not sure if the more sleep, lighter class time, 2-hour-a-day-practice student athlete life is the norm for Ivies. None of the Ivy athletes I know have such a condition. As Varska said, it must depend on the school and sports.</p>

<p>^That “lighter” schedule is not the norm where my D is. And as I have pointed out many times in different threads, official practice time is only one part of the athletic picture. The student will need to attend team meetings, one-on-one meetings with the coach, team bonding events, and banquets; host recruits; occasionally help out with major competitions hosted by his school; see the trainer for prescribed treatments; go to PT and do PT exercises on own; get x-rays and MRI’s (happens a lot in D’s sport, due to frequency of stress fractures); travel to competitions and miss class in the process, etc.</p>

<p>Just the process of walking to the athletic facilities, changing, practicing, showering, getting dressed, getting some dinner and getting back to room/library is about 4 hours most days – even if practice is only 2 or 2.5 hours. That’s a regular practice day – no travel or anything else. It’s a pretty fair time commitment, to say the least.</p>

<p>Agreed, and some days there may be double sessions, which would involve the student doing some kind of lifting or cross-training on his own in the morning.</p>

<p>Of the Stanford and the Ivies D visited, only Yale seemed to have a lighter schedule than the others.</p>

<p>I did not mean to imply it’s a cakewalk. However, I know the high school (tough, competitive) the girl attended before, gunning for the APs, etc. and my point was really that the courseload and time spent AT SCHOOL as a senior was 8 hours daily, then ECS 3 hours 6-7 days a week, then homework, basic hygiene etc. Eating. Commuting. There was little time for sleep, never mind social life outside of ECs. She was chronically fatigued. Now, she is not spending 8 hours a day in class. Her full courseload reflects her interests and future plans rather than an academic college application, so is undoubtedly more interesting to her. She has more flexibility.<br>
I saw her parents last weekend and they confirmed that she is so much happier and successful than when grinding it out in high school to get there. Now that it is the Spring racing season, I’m sure the pressure will ratchet up a bit. But, for her experience (maybe she is the only one) getting there was harder than being there. So far. And good for her and others like her. I hope my son does not have to be miserable to achieve his goals. That is no great achievement in my book. It’s college afterall.</p>

<p>You guys are making me wonder why anyone would pursue this path.</p>

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<p>It’s a tremendous amount of work / time commitment, but that doesn’t mean ‘being miserable’ - some people thrive on that and wouldn’t have it any other way.</p>

<p>Yes. If the student is committed to his sport and enjoys the challenge of pursuing his athletic goals, then the hard work is fulfilling and the team relationships are fun. That said, there are times when it’s a grind. Do people who train for the Olympics have fun every day, or is it sometimes thankless and stressful?</p>

<p>All true. It’s so individual, I suppose. So far my S thrives on all that - but again he was pleasantly surprised at the thought that he may not have to get up at 5:00am every morning in order to pursue his passion. He would be thrilled to pursue his passion until midnight though - nightowl that he is.</p>

<p>^ You have a point there, ain’t nobody likes 5:00 am wakeup calls :)</p>

<p>Our K1 has a very heavy schedule…because the 20 hrs is related to “official” practices…that doesn’t include “on your own” lifting, captain called practices, team mtgs etc. Travel means missing classes/rescheduling etc.</p>

<p>In hs K1 carried all APs plus sport. It is easily as much work now as D1…</p>

<p>It is easy for one to speculate…especially if you don’t have a student in college…so kids wanting to go D1 at a top school should get good counsel from their coach and GC before taking it on…
because it’s an entirely different thing to actually be doing it. </p>

<p>Many scholar-athletes do not stay with their sport for 4 years because of the demands of a heavy training schedule and heavy academic demands…especially as STEM majors when labs etc and P sets are heavy.</p>

<p>K1 spent 19 hrs on one P set alone…</p>

<p>and will have no spring “break” as the break is 2 weeks of heavy doubles daily.</p>