<p>Is being a letter-winner on a college sports team considered a top college EC for med school admissions? I know one young man who's not had time to do much else on campus, except study like crazy (maintaining a 3.8 GPA) and train like crazy for his sport (earning 8 varsity letters). His sport (like most of them nowadays) is year round. I certainly believe in the value of playing a sport--so many intangibles that make one more prepared for contributing to society... The question is...do med school admission committees agree; if so, how much?</p>
<p>Very valuable. My gut tells me that at some schools it might be near the top of “other” but saying that…it will NOT make up for a complete dearth of volunteering or certainly not clinical exposure. At the research heavy schools it won’t make up for a lack of that, either.</p>
<p>I think it was valuable on DDs application, collegiate all american and play on a team that went to national championships. She had very average stats and got 10 of interview invites, though I will say that as I recall, on the 4 interviews she completed, I don’t think any one asked her about her sports, but I do believe it certainly checked a box on the review pre-interview.</p>
<p>Bumping this thread…Thanks for the comments. Any other thoughts?..</p>
<p>It’s valuable only if the rest of your application is good. Never use sports as an excuse for why your courseload or GPA were low or why you don’t have as much research as everyone else. If your application as a stand-alone is great then playing D1 sports (or on a similar level) can gain you that coveted acceptance.</p>
<p>What about intramural sports?</p>
<p>IM sports would be listed as an activity and probably indicate well-roundedness, but that is not going to be a tipping point for admissions</p>
<p>do they give out awards or anything for IM activities? I could play DII or DIII baseball (maybe a really bad DI school) but if I chose to just play IM at a college I attend and if I’m really good at my sport are there any recognitions or things that I could receive that would help on an app?</p>