<p>Hoping some of the experienced parents on this board can provide some helpful insight. Son is a rising junior in the midwest that has grown up with a soccer ball at his feet. He plays on a very successful travel club team and also has a solid high school team as well. We are looking for advice on playing in college while focusing on preparing for medical school, while a major in biology or biomedical engineering will be his focus he wants to continue his love of the game during college.
With academics coming first, but also the drive to play, which division do most players end up focusing on? Can DI players make all of the required labs with these majors when traveling both season? Is there time for research? Where does DII fall in the mix? Or is DIII more competitive soccer wise as well as possibly a stronger educational base? Looking for insight with regards to Indiana, Ohio,Michigan and the Kentucky based schools.<br>
As a parent our focus is to support his quest, but we also want to be informed.<br>
Thank you in advance for your comments.</p>
<p>As a parent in similar position, we have spent some time looking at D1 and D3 programs. As we have heard from coaches and recruiting info, the difference between D1 and D3 (apart from athletic scholarships) is the amount of time spent on the sport, rather than the skill level of the players. Parents and players that we have spoken with describe D1 as close to a FT job during the school year, on top of academics. Sure, there are fabulous soccer programs with excellent students, but those kids are working very very hard. </p>
<p>We have spent time looking at the rosters of D1 and D3 programs and what was an eye opener for us was how deep the quality of player is at both types of schools. If you look at great academic schools with lower ranked D1 soccer programs, (as in ranked 100-150), those kids are still all-state from their high school teams and DAP, state championship etc players at the club level. So, the quality of player is very high even at the weaker soccer programs. Initially, we had a vague thought that soccer could be a way into top 20 schools with bottom 100 soccer programs but looking at their rosters, they have plenty of top talent and my student may not be in a position to contribute at the level they are looking for. </p>
<p>We also thought that D3 soccer was where talented but not quite D1 caliber players wind up. What we have found looking at rosters and talking to coaches, in fact, is that in many cases, the caliber of player on D3 programs, especially top programs, is comparable to D1. What is different is the time commitment those students are making to their sport – still significant, but less than D1 as there are differences in how robust their spring season is, when they report to school for fall season etc. You can get a sense of the strength of D1 and D3 programs by looking at the Bennett rankings, which ranks soccer programs as well as conferences. </p>
<p>As a parent of high school player, I cannot offer details about how players manage pre-med or engineering or other time-intensive majors. It happens at D1, but our sense from visits is that is more manageable at D3. For instance, at D1, there is a full spring season, with travel for friendlies etc. At D3, there are shorter limits on spring practice and play. </p>
<p>Good luck to your son!</p>
<p>I have two in college, one pre-med (BioChem major), non- athlete, does volunteer research, rising junior. Research professor expects about 15 hrs week + summers, which would not be feasible with 20hr min commitment (plus travel) for DI sports. </p>
<p>Second child, D1 athlete, STEM major, rising sophomore, was one of only 2 STEM majors on team (albeit not soccer) at an academically focused school. There is no time for anything else and had difficulty fitting in one lab per semester due to times needed for practice. His Chem lab was from 6:00 – 9:50pm on Mon, the only section that fit. He had weights/agility in the am and regular practice in the afternoons, typically 6 days/wk. He could not take a lab class from midday Thurs. through Fri due to team travel, (you cannot make up a lab class the way you can a lecture). He just finished taking a science class (plus lab) during summer school to stay on path for timely graduation. </p>
<p>Both were strong students and varsity athletes in HS. The non – athlete has commented on his sibling’s experience, saying he would never get the grades he now does if he was on a team, just not enough time.</p>
<p>So while anything is possible, having personally seen both scenarios (with or without sports) and the difficulty balancing everything, let alone an engineering major (notoriously heavy load) I would advise against D1, and seriously consider a non-engineering major at a DIII school that supports pre-med requirements, if he wants to stay with soccer. There are always those kids that succeed in balancing it all, (the Olympian doctor !!) but I would push for the best odds for success if it were my child, and consider pursuing DII or DIII first. </p>
<p>My son is pre-med in a D2 program. He will do an internship this year along with regular academics and soccer. So far it has not been an issue for him, although he definitely works hard at making it work. He is a very social person and still has time for friends and some outside individual sports. He did not really look at D3 schools as he was looking for a large school and most D3’s are smaller. He did look at some D1 programs but this D2 school was really his dream school. We have found that there are a lot of D1 level players playing D3, NAIA, and even on college clubs. The difference is the practice time and even that depends on the school and the coach. After the regular season is over, his team still does daily practices and then plays a spring tournament season. It is pretty much year-round. His school especially, and his coach somewhat, definitely emphasize academics over sports, probably more so than many D1 programs. When he investigated playing college soccer, it really ended up coming down to finding the schools that were a fit academically first, and then pursuing the soccer angle from there. So much depends on individual coaches but the issue there is that coaches can leave during the 4 years so there are no guarantees. </p>
<p>You can do it, but it will be difficult. If you are the kind of person who is great at scheduling their time and asking for info if you need it, you will be okay. There are a lot of resources available for college athletes that most college students.</p>
<p>You might consider having your son target an engineering school, where most people on the team will be engineering majors, if he is set on BE. BE and Bio are <em>vastly</em> different majors however, and a BE student would be advised to do a co-op for a summer or a semester. A bio major would be more likely have time for a sport and pre-med.</p>
<p>For us, my son will be taking summer courses to make up anything he can’t fit or needs to meet pre-requisites to stay on track. This should be possible at many colleges.</p>
<p>This topic has been discussed a lot lately on this board. I suggest you do a search to see what others think. </p>
<p>In summary, you are asking two very different things. Soccer with engineering or soccer with pre-med are going to be vastly different end goals in mind. The goal with engineering is typically to survive and get an engineering degree. It is a four year grind. The goal with pre-med would be to boost your undergraduate grades to get into medical school. So, as you search the various posts on the topic, I’d keep those goals in mind. It is two very different paths. </p>
<p>Thank you all for the helpful insight. I realize BE and biology are two very different paths, he is still trying to determine which path with lead him to his eventual career, being an MD or working with prosthetic development; That is a lot to determine while still in high school. We have found a very limited few school that offer the premed program with a minor in BME which seems to fulfill his desire for both fields.
I agree with Midwestmomofboys in that the roster appears very deep on D3 schools as well as the D1s in the area. We have a family friend that is playing D1 at a middle ranked school and he recently had to change his major due to the time conflict and demand of the 2 seasons. His experience is one of the reasons I posted this thread to learn more about what others have encountered.
Thanks fenwaysouth, I know you have an abundance of real life experience based on your previous posts. It just appears that while looking at the soccer specific rosters of a few schools the D1 players are mainly business based, or at least not science, while the D3 roster varies in majors selected. I will try a more specific search to research some more.
Thank you all for your time and advice, much appreciation! </p>
<p>I toyed with the idea of med school, having majored in BE, but ended up getting a PhD in a natural science. I wanted to do research, and interviewed with the dean of the local state medical school (I had all the pre-med classes with my BE major) He said I “wouldn’t be welcome” if I was interested in research over patients, and that they were looking for students who wanted to be primary care physicians.</p>
<p>I’d probably try to convince my son to do club sports if he wanted pre-med and engineering, but even now, we are focused on D3 for him because of the engineering only - almost everyone on his team is an engineering major as it is a tech school with only a few other majors. We looked at D2 schools and very few if any have engineering, let alone computer engineering that he is interested in. </p>
<p>Remember also, he could consider taking it slow, and perhaps taking a few years off before going to med school. The NCAA eligibility will be more of an issue than getting into med school the September after he graduates. Med school can wait a few years, and I’m sure a motivated student could do BE and pre-med and D1 athletics if they weren’t tied to four years/eight semesters.</p>