Engineering + Sports

<p>I'm interested in being an engineering major. I also want to play college baseball. I've heard that it is tough to do both for many athletes. I've been getting interest from a few top academic schools. I'm guessing that the ability to do both depends on the school, but I'm just looking for input.</p>

<p>I think if you plan accordingly like having time management skills and study early for classes before lecture and devoting a set time to sports but not letting it take over your life, you’ll do fine. </p>

<p>I know a classmate that’s on the volleyball team, did some research, he’s an EMT and is taking engineering classes and somehow he manages it all but of course, he stopped doing research in lieu of other things but I think he might go back (albeit he sometimes sleeps in class because of lack thereby) but he’s doing really well in terms of grades and whatnot.</p>

<p>Remember: You can do anything as long as you put in heart, time and effort into it!!! Plan accordingly is the most important thing!!</p>

<p>Look at the roster for baseball (and all of the other sports) at the schools you are interested in. I’m sure you will find other student-athletes who are engineering majors. It’s not easy being an engineering major, let alone participating in a sport on top of it, but it can be done. It all depends on what’s important to you.</p>

<p>It seems to me that (serious) student-athletes are often as successful or more successful than other students simply because they HAVE to manage their time so well. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Difficult? Yes. Possible? Absolutely </p>

<p>[From</a> Poly to the pros ? the Chris Gocong story (part 1) | Mustang Daily - News for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://mustangdaily.net/for-chris-gocong-it-all-started-at-cal-poly-part-one/]From”>http://mustangdaily.net/for-chris-gocong-it-all-started-at-cal-poly-part-one/)</p>

<p>The key, as has been said, is time management. You’ll be either practicing or in the weight room from 3-6 almost every day. But would you be studying then anyway? Probably not. The toughest part may be the travel. You’ll miss lots of class time when you’re in season. Get behind and it will be tough to catch up.</p>

<p>My daughter is considering engineering and is hopeful about playing softball. At an excellent engineering DIII school, she was told by admissions that it absolutely was doable and that the varsity coaches of all sports there understand that academics come first. Its hard to tell if this was a sales job or if it was true. But I did look at the roster of the softball team at this school and several women were engineer majors. This team also won their league championship.</p>

<p>A friend’s son is a rising freshman and plans on balancing football and electrical engineering at a DII school.</p>

<p>My guess is that if you are interested in DIII, you will be okay. DII will be more difficult and DI possible but very difficult.</p>

<p>Best wishes to you.</p>

<p>We had an All-American Center starting on our football team’s offensive line who was also an Aerospace Engineering major with a 3.8 GPA at UIUC when I was there. I would say that is a pretty strong endorsement for it being possible. There was also a ECE basketball player a couple years ago who played a lot and had a good GPA.</p>

<p>When I was at Texas, the football team’s kicker was a member of the civil engineering honor society, so he did OK!</p>

<p>My daughter graduated from Northwestern with the same engineering class as Eric Peterman, who played wide receiver and got drafted by the Bears. And I think a pitcher for the Phillies last year went to NU, and for sure Joe Gerardi has an engineering degree from NU. So, it can be done. And my D says they will get you tutors if you play. And if they do it for softball, for sure they do it for baseball.</p>

<p>Thank you for the replies. I’ve gotten the most interest so far from a D1 in PA and a DIII in NY. Both great engineering schools.</p>

<p>Things should heat up in the fall for me with visits.</p>

<p>Yes but you may find doing internships and doing ANYTHING ELSE apart from athletics and academics and sleeping and eating impossible.</p>

<p>I don’t know the specifics, but I believe that the permissible hours for practice are less for D3 than D1. That might be something to consider.</p>

<p>Being a DIII athlete and an engineering major are definitely compatible, not sure how easy it will be with DI. I am a DIII two season athlete and engineering major, I also do research. It is doable, but at times gets busy.</p>

<p>Team D3 athletics and engineering, yes. But in D1 team athletics, your sport IS your major.</p>

<p>S is an engineering major and just completed his four years as a D1 athlete at a Big 10 school. It is hard but doable. Again…time management is the key. One of the biggest obstacles he faced was scheduling required courses for his major during non-practice time. Although in four years he managed to complete enough hours to graduate (which resulted in the acquisition of a couple of minors), some required courses still need to be taken. What has ended up happening is that he will return for a semester (or two) to complete his degree and minors. The result of having spread out the hard core technical courses over an extra semester or two really made a difference in being successful both as an athlete and a student. (FWIW…he has almost a 3.7 gpa.)</p>

<p>a number of famous athletes majored in engineering in college…stanford bball coach Charmin Smith, golfer Bobby Jones, etc…</p>

<p>It’s all about time management. Although I am not an “official” athlete, I am a triathlete that trains a decent amount; roughly 12-14 hours per week. I managed to start a triathlon club, train for collegiate nationals, maintain my 3.7, and be a treasurer of our on-campus BMES organization. I did have to make some sacrifices; like staying in on some Fridays when my communication major room mate was out on the town, but it was definitely worth it. I can imagine the travel demands of an athlete being much more of an issue for athletes that have races more than once a semester, though ;)</p>