IB diploma AND a sport

Applying to College
1

I am really stuck on whether to do tennis this year (my junior year).

I’ll start by giving out some background information- I have always been more academically geared and I try to focus on my grades being at their best. I am #1 in my class of around 600 and I have a 4.7 GPA. I wanna do something in the medical field (family physician, pediatrics, I’m not that sure yet). Next year (my junior year), I’m going to be starting the IB diploma program which is a rigorous program that I have heard takes up a lot of your time. My schedule next year will be Honors Algebra 2, IB Bio, IB English, IB Spanish, IB HOTA, IB Art, and TOK. In addition, I took a psychology class during this summer at my local community college. Clubs that I’ll be participating in are Leo Club (all four years, leadership positions sophomore year-probably senior year), NHS (junior & senior year), art club (junior & senior year). I do about 20-50 community service hours a year. This year, I’m also going to do a medical internship and a few other things that are required with the medical program at my hs (job shadow, internship, etc.)

Okay so I began doing tennis last year (sophomore year) and I got into the JV team. It was lots of fun to go out and play against others and all. Currently, I think I will probably make JV this year as well, with a slim chance of varsity (our teams are quite strong). Practices are 2 hours daily but games, every Tuesday and Thursday take around 4 hours, leaving me around 2 hours for homework to get a decent amount of sleep.

I am completely stuck on whether to challenge myself and do tennis on top of the rigorous course load that will be ahead of me. How do colleges look at these things when you are applying?
Should I keep my grades up by not doing tennis or should I challenge myself and test my time management- but then maybe get a few B’s in the process.
(Btw my top college choices are currently Stanford and UCLA)

2

Lots of IBD students in my DS20’ school are year-round athletes, my DS is a year-round swimmer. They (swimmers) spend more than 20-hr/wk for swimming practice alone. So, it is very doable to do both IB and sports, and you really have to have good time management skills.
If you enjoy tennis, then I would say give it a try, see whether you could juggle school/clubs/sport. You won’t be recruited for your tennis abilities. But tennis will be a good physical activity that keeps you strong/active.

3

Will tennis REALLY prevent you from having top grades? Are you going to spend those 2 hours per day studying?

Most people need some kind of break and tennis is better than video games or watching TV or chatting with friends online. But, if you can’t be a top student and do tennis, then don’t do tennis. Colleges want to see grades first, but are also looking for students involved in other activities, including sports.

4

Thank you for your reply. I did fine last year managing both, so I think that if I truly push myself, I will be able to maintain my grades. I will use those hours for studying but I will probably have to do a lot over the weekend to get ahead a bit.

5

Thank you for the reply!! I think I will do it to push myself :smiley: