Balancing pre-med and sports

<p>Like every other Indian on this planet, I have decided to go the premed route. I know it is a very difficult route, and was wondering if you guys could help me. </p>

<p>I want to do rowing in college, but have heard that doing sports really hurts your GPA. (requires 2 hours per day versus your average extracurricular activity of four hours per week) However, I think it would look good on the med school application. </p>

<p>What do you think? Is it possible to balance pre-med courseload and sports, and is it worth it? Does it give the average pre-med an extra edge?</p>

<p>It's certainly possible. Probably depends on how quickly you can pick up material and how many times you have to study it before it really sinks in.</p>

<p>As for if it's worth it, I'm not sure rowing gives you a pronounced edge over other premed students. If you really enjoy the sport, then yes. If you are doing it purely to put on your transcript, there are other unique activities out there that would eat up less of your free time.</p>

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[quote]
Like every other Indian on this planet, I have decided to go the premed route.

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<p>Not quite. anyway...</p>

<p>I don't know if i would row. Trust me, in college sports are taken a lot more seriously. Do you know what division your school is for rowing? If its a competitive sport it would take up a ton of your studying time. If its a club sport, id say go for it since its just for fun. Or just do it on your own time w/ friends, but you really don't want to mess up your grades for med school so make sure you still dedicate a lot of study time. good luck.</p>

<p>Maybe if you were a national champion this would make up for some reduction in GPA, but not much. Otherwise you would have a stronger application with better grades, and some sort of health related EC's on your record. </p>

<p>Row for exercise or for fun, but don't expect it to help you get in med school, and don't let it ruin your GPA.</p>

<p>I would like to play NAIA soccer in college. Would playing a sport make it extremely difficult to keep good grades because of practice, leaving school for games, etc, while majoring in Biochemistry? Would it affect my chances of getting into dental school?</p>