Dear past/present student athletes,
I have the opportunity to become a college athlete this coming fall at a school. During my freshman year I would not receive any athletic scholarship but would still acquire the rest of student athlete perks. I could potentially get money starting sophomore year if I really prove myself, but here’s my problem…
I want to go to law school, becoming involved in numerous clubs, INTERNSHIP (very important), possibly student government, study abroad a semester, double major, have somewhat of a social life, and get really amazing grades so I can get into an amazing grad school.
Being a student athlete involves grueling training and an endless schedule, is it possible to do all I want to do and still be an athlete? Am I better off just not joining the team?
Thank you!
I’m no athlete, but I am familiar with other student athletes and what they accomplished at their universities. You can study abroad and do internships in the summers, while pursuing your sport during the academic year. It is possible to get excellent grades while doing a sport – you just have to manage your time well. Scholar athletes are actually highly regarded by employers, who recognize the drive and commitment that pursuing a sport involves on top of academics. On LinkedIn, scholar athletes identify themselves with that very term right in their title, because they know that some employers will search for students like that. If being a college athlete is important to you, whether you get the scholarship or not, then go ahead and try it out. You should know pretty quickly if it is too much for you to handle on top of classes, and then you can just stop participating in the sport.
If you are asking if it can be done, the answer is yes. Many have done what you are hoping to do and much more. But playing a sport takes a lot of work and sacrifice. For some, they wouldn’t want to “give up” all of the other things they could be doing. For others, they couldn’t imagine their collegiate lives without their sport. Only you can decide if it is worth it and where it falls in your priority list…
I don’t think it is a sacrifice, but a choice. There are a lot of benefits to being an athlete, but you might have to forego other activities. Sometimes the coaches control more choices such as class schedules and availability to participate in clubs, but my daughter has had a lot of opportunities to participate in other activities at her school. Her social life is centered around the team, but that’s because her boyfriend (and the boyfriends of teammates) also play the sport, her roommates are teammates, and that’s what she chose. She belongs to a few academic clubs, a sorority, and still had a lot of free time to go to the beach.
If she wanted to do study abroad or an internship, she’s have to schedule it for the summer or maybe the fall. She’s in a spring sport so is restricted in things she can do in the spring. It’s a choice she made for all the benefits she gets: athletic scholarships, clothing and equipment, food (sometimes), teammates, leadership opportunities, and an athletic experience. She likes it. (and woohoo, #9 in the country this week!)
I am a lawyer and a former scholarship athlete. Like others have said, you can be successful academically and athletically in college. But you are right that being an athlete, at least at the D1 level, involves trade offs. Your study abroad options will be limited to non existent, depending on your sport, you are not likely to have time for “numerous” other activities, etc. I have no first hand experience in D2 or 3, but I am sure athletics at that level also require a significant committment that will make other extra curriculars difficult to say the least. There is an old saw that is more true than not. You can be successful academically, socially and athletically. Pick two.
On the other hand, there are significant benefits to being an athlete. Put aside, for a minute, the life long friendships that come from sweating and striving day after day together. A lot of sports, particularly the more popular ones, have active alumni and “friends” groups that can be a tremendous resource for things like internships. And while I don’t think that being an athlete helped me get into law school, I know it helped me land my first job. As my hair has grayed I have had the opportunity to hire a number of young lawyers and paralegals. I love resumes from former competitive athletes. It shows me the kid knows the value of work, is competitive, and understands that there is failure ahead as well as success. Those are very valuable traits that are not always otherwise apparent in a resume or interview setting.
At the end of the day, you should make your decision on what is in front of you. Do you think you will enjoy continuing your sport in college? Or are you ready to hang em up and try something else? Don’t worry so much about the if-come right now.
A friend of mine who wanted to be a lawyer had a tennis scholarship to a D1. H ended up quitting and going to another school w/o athletics. He found it was too much of a time crunch doing both.
I agree, but I think my daughter is successful at all three. Academically, has a high gpa and receives awards like ‘scholar athlete’. Athletically? She’s a captain and ‘power ranked’ third on her team. Socially? That’s probably where someone judging would say she’s not as strong, but she’s in a sorority, has a boyfriend, is asked to be a roommate by almost everyone she knows (she’s clean and likes to bake), belongs to a few groups on campus. She needs a lot of down time for studying and just de-stressing, so isn’t looking to be homecoming queen or social chairman. I don’t think if she wasn’t an athlete she’d suddenly join 20 clubs or run for student body president (in fact I know she wouldn’t).
There are a few activities she would have liked to do but can’t because of time. Everyone has to make choices at school on what they can do and what they can’t.
There is no general answer. You have to choose what you want to do. Can it be done to play on a team and later go to law school? Absolutely. It has to be worth it to you to play. Talk to the coaches about study abroad, about internships. They might let you take a season off (especially if you aren’t getting a scholarship). It also isn’t a lifetime commitment. My daughter is a junior and several of the girls she played with in high school are no longer playing on their college teams.
I would tell my sons - if you cannot imagine your college experience without being a committed athlete then do it. If you have doubts then your question is also answered.
I have two athletic sons. My older son is at a competitive school and decided that he didn’t want a commitment to a team to determine his other collegiate choices. He is on a club team which happens to be treated like D1 at this school and this is right for him. Being on a club team does allow him flexibility. My younger son is a committed D1 athlete and will start school in the fall. There was never a discussion as to whether or not committing was a possibility. There is no right or wrong answer. Everyone is different. Good luck.
It kind of depends on the level of academics and athletics you are specifically looking at as well as your standards for your own performance. D1 and D2 are more voracious than D3 and better schools require more bookwork to get top grades. And as mentioned, there will be trade-offs in choices you’ll be allowed to make (study abroad, major, free time, etc.) But even within those boundaries you have to decide if what’s possible meets your standards. Most people who love a sport and are good enough to play at a top level will sacrifice to continue playing. But it’s a personal calculus that weighs your specific options and determines your eventual level of satisfaction. You have to know your abilities, your school, your team and what constitutes success.
To be honest, you sound like you don’t want to take the full plunge into 30 hr per week athletics. If you were just asking a general life balance question I’d advise finding a school where either sports or books are at a level where you can truly succeed while leaving time to really tackle the other. For example, my daughter chose to play hard at a D3 school that met her academic needs rather than settle for lesser academics and play at a good D2 program (or a bad D1.) In your case it sounds like you have a specific school and team already in hand, so I’d suggest talking to coaches and team members about how feasible it is to get where you want to go. A lot depends on how well the school supports its athletes, how rigorous the academic standards are in general and within your major, how good a student you are, the travel requirements for your sport and a bunch of other things that really depend on your individual situation. Talk to real people about your real case to get a substantial answer.
I don’t think you have to choose academics over athletics, and I don’t think all D3 school are academically better than D2 or lower (sports) ranked D1. My daughter rejected many D3 schools that people on CC think are better, and are certainly ranked higher and carry more prestige. However, for my daughter who is in engineering, those weren’t the right choice for her. Some were so small that she would have outgrown their science and math programs by junior year. me
The top D3 (athletic) teams are practicing just as much as D1 or D2 teams. They may even have more travel time as some of the towns the schools are remote. Middlebury to Gettysburg? That’s a haul.
Middlebury plays in the NESCAC and thus, rarely faces Gettysburg (other than in tournaments). Every other school Middlebury faces on a regular basis is in New England or New York.
Schools play out of conference. This year Midd played Franklin and Marshall (in PA) and College of NJ (in NJ). Year before they played Gettysburg, but in Middlebury (so it was Gettysbury that had the haul). Playoffs are at the schools until the final weekend, so somebody is traveling somewhere, and then everyone travels to the playoffs.
It’s still rough, and travel time doesn’t count in the 20 hours of practice time limit per week. OP is concerned about time, and especially time the sport would take him away from campus and other activities. Traveling will cut into time for clubs and activities on campus, and that’s going to happen at a D3 school too.
Actually, the Midd v. F & M and the College of NJ games were held during Midd’s spring break. The NESCAC has restrictions on travel during the week. That is why the in league games that are at a distance are scheduled for weekends. I knew one NESCAC team that had to fly with multiple stops to Florida because the players would have had to miss part of one class in order to make the available non-stop flight. The NESCAC schools are pretty serious about travel not interfering with studies.
The you should advise the OP to go to a NeSCAC school so there is no missed school. He seemed to be concerned that playing a sport (at a non D3 school because he was talking about a scholarship) and it was suggested in post #8 that a D3 school might (might, not would) require less time. My opinion is that it doesn’t always work that way, that the very top D3 in whatever sport it is put in just as much time as D1 or D2 schools, and that all divisions travel. Your post #12 shows that in order to meet the rules about attending class, travel time might be increase in a D3 school and the school doesn’t care if it is your time (nights, weekends) just if it is class time.
The OP is concerned about time. Traveling to games takes time. Practice takes time. Even for D3 schools.