So I am 16 and have been doing fencing since last June. However, I suck A LOT. The lowest rating for fencing is an E, but im still stuck as unrated. Literally, the only reason I do this is because colleges seem to hold an affinity for sports players, particularly fencers. This is where my question resides. Statistically, do sports (especially fencing) actually contribute to one’s chances of getting into say, the Rutgers BS/MD program? Please don’t say something along the lines of “if it’s your passion do it”. I would appreciate a clear statistical answer, especially from people who have already been there done that. Im debating quitting fencing as it: 1. Wastes large sums of my time. 2. I have no talent, skill, or passion for athletics. Yet I debate the other side as well because it keeps me in shape and, depending if I get ranked, can help me get into a college (or so i believe).
Colleges hold an affinity for people who are authentic. Unless you’re trying to tell people you enjoy being bad at something in a misguided effort to appear attractive to colleges, I can’t for the world think of a reason why you’d want to remain in fencing.
Do you know the people who are attractive to colleges? Attractive people due to their academics and what they’re involved in based upon the choices they make.
Your hobby in fencing will not matter to colleges. Do something you love and are good at.
If you’re interested in BS/MD, then why aren’t you doing something medically related for your resume?
There are multiple undergrad schools besides Rutgers with the 3+4 BS/MD program with Rutgers Medical (NJIT, Stevens, and Drew for example), but Rutgers Medical makes the final decision as to which applicants at each school are accepted to the 3+4 programs. Rutgers Medical won’t care if you fence (or do any other sport). If you don’t enjoy it, do something you enjoy.
Look at the minimum recommended GPA, test scores, and EC recommendations for each school’s version of the 3+4 BS/MD.
For example, Drew University specifically recommends shadowing or other medical ECs.
http://www.drew.edu/undergraduate/areas-of-study/pre-med/dual-degree
Unless you can actually win competitions/improve your rank, it’s just a hobby, which generally doesn’t count for much.
So the actual sport itself isn’t what matters to Bachelor/MD programs. The reason that Bachelor/MD programs CAN like someone who plays a sport, is because there are certain lessons (that you can’t learn from a textbook) that you can learn in playing a sport (esp. team sports) that are applicable in medicine. Are you someone that can work well and get along with a group of people towards a common goal? Are you someone who can do something for the entire team to benefit, even though you yourself might not? Are you able to be a leader? Are you someone that practices to hone in on a particular deficient skill to improve yourself without easily throwing your hands up in the air and giving up (i.e. in medicine there will be MANY TIMES in your career in which you will be in frustrating situations that are outside your control). So sports can tell me something that other parts of your application – your academics, can’t tell me. Same with participating in marching band, dance squad, cheerleading, etc. It can be a good proxy.
If I was interviewing someone who was doing a sport or the other things listed above, I’d want to know what he/she has learned from that experience that they think might be applicable to medicine. After all, it isn’t academics, so it’s not required, so why is that person doing it, and more importantly what things did you learn from it as a person, that you think you didn’t really have personal experience with before?
The reason you hear to do what you’re passionate about, is because in an interview, you’re much more likely to be enthusiastic about it and it shows in an interview. If you’re not passionate about it, I’ll be able to tell pretty quickly as I’ll ask questions that you wouldn’t be able to fake through without looking very cautious and scripted. If you truly hate it and have absolutely no passion for it, then I don’t see why you’d continue to do it, esp. as you’re not likely to win any awards or trophies for it.
I honestly don’t know what you mean by “a clear statistical answer”.
^Was going to basically say this.
From a regular college admissions standpoint, your fencing is a nice hobby. At your level it will serve absolutely no benefit beyond any other productive activity you could engage in.
I’m not experienced with the BS/MD admissions scene. As a traditional applicant to MD/PhD programs, I was told more than once that my D1 fencing was a plus. Not the fencing part, but the D1 athletics part. Varsity athletics at the high school level is incredibly varied in the level of commitment required. With D1 athletics it’s a little more clear to people what the time commitment was and the sacrifices I had to be making to perform well enough to maintain a spot on a D1 team as well as have good grades, research experience, and leadership experience in other orgs. I heard nearly verbatim some of the things Roentgen is saying from MSTP directors and faculty when I was interviewing. Sports was often grouped with music performance in an organized fashion (e.g. college jazz band, not strumming on the guitar in the quad) because it also demonstrates many of the same attributes they want to see. I don’t know the exact number of club/varsity athletes and serious musicians who apply, but they definitely seemed to be overrepresented in medical school.
I think you should quit because, as per your own words, the only positives you see from this activity are staying in shape and hoping it will boost your chances. It probably will not do the latter, particularly because you see no other positives in it, and there are of course many other ways to stay in shape. I thought about quitting the team in college after my sophomore year because it was a big time commitment and I knew I would never be good enough to be all conference (which was a goal I had set for myself after freshman year and spent the summer intensively training to get better). However, unlike you, I found competitions to be exhilirating. Even as frustrated as I was by the results - being on the strip was incredible, and there was nothing like it. I was too competitive to get that satisfaction from IM sports, particularly because I was definitely not good enough at football or soccer to play in the higher levels, and no sport besides boxing (which I did that summer to try and improve my conditioning, hand/foot speed, and ability to read distance) challenges you mentally like fencing does. I also enjoyed my teammates and being part of the team, and so I stayed and decided my goal was just going to be to be good enough to at least split with one other guy for the 3rd starting spot. That would definitely never get me to all conference, but whatever, all I really wanted/needed was to go to practice, work hard, and compete. The process was enough fulfillment for me even though the results I would have liked at one point to achieve never came.