<p>I have a child who is an excellent student, class of '15. SAT 1740 (no prep score - retaking after a class in May '14), weighted GPA 4.6, 3.8 unweighted and in the top 5% of HS class. Looking at going Biology/Pre med. There are many schools available to us but there is one somewhat limiting factor we are trying to work with and that is that there is a strong desire to play a varsity sport. We are searching D3 LAC schools that offer the desired major and working with coaches on the sports front.</p>
<p>We have gained interest from several coaches and an actual offer from one so far. The school where the offer is from is a place she really likes and sees herself at but we are having a hard time pinning down the worth of the education and value of the degree which is important for med school applications. We realize that MCAT and GPA along with strong recommendation letters are all important, maybe more so than the name or reputation of a school.</p>
<p>Removing the sports angle does not appear to be an option. Of course, we could "forbid" it but feel that if that happens that motivation, drive and enthusiasm for school in general will decline. She has managed her sport and school for years and never caused us any concern that sports were in the way. </p>
<p>What advice or experience can anyone lend in this situation? </p>
<p>Are the interested coaches from top, mid-range, or regional LACs? Certainly, the GPA, opportunity for research, and MCAT scores matter the most, but all else being equal, a good GPA from a top school may get the edge. OTOH, many students start out pre-med and decide they don’t want to do it. </p>
<p>One key is to make sure she would be happy at the college if she ends up not playing her sport - due to injury, too much bench sitting, not liking the team, or a disagreeable coach. Many kids drop their sport. Others I know transfer quickly, because they realize the school was a very bad fit. Others love their sport enough to say at a school they might not have chosen otherwise. And some are incredibly happy with both sport and school. I hope she is the latter. </p>
<p>Also, from what I have heard, some kids get a lot of interest from coaches until someone better comes along. If there is a kid that wants to play D1 and is just finding out that will not be possible, that kid may move down to D3 and take a spot. Nothing is certain until the acceptance is in hand. And actually getting to play is not certain until the season starts. </p>
<p>Agree you don’t want to say you can’t play. However, I might require her to apply to a few schools where she probably can’t play, but which would be a great fit academically and financially so she has good options this time next year. </p>
<p>Good luck. We are tentatively adding a few D3 schools where son could possibly play to a mix of schools he would not have a shot. </p>
<p>1) Her SAT score is low in comparison to the rest of the academic stats. Has she considered the ACT?</p>
<p>2) I know lots of kids who go away to a LAC thinking they will play a sport, my ds included, and it doesn’t work out for a variety of reasons. I would make sure her college choice is not based solely on the sport. If she were to get injured/cut/change her mind, would she still like the school?</p>
<p>^^
Excellent advice from @mom2and I was in the middle of a writing a post based on S’s experience, but was afraid it would be outdated. Mom2and’s post says everything I wanted to say and more. </p>
<p>We went through this with our son last year. He had very good academics and test scores and had worked very hard in HS to maintain his grades. However, his priority all through HS was to play his sport in college- we were like you and felt like taking that away from him might also take away some of his drive and motivation. Even if he later suffered an injury, at least he wanted to know that he had tried his sport in college. One issue that we had was when he first started looking at colleges his sophomore year, he was only looking at them from a sports perspective. We kept trying to drill it in that if he were injured his first year, he would want to be at a program where he would be happy with the school even w/o sports. Finally as a junior, he matured and realized that the academics were really the top priority. At this point, he started putting together a list of schools where he felt he would be a good fit academically. He also put together a list of requirements that he had for college- size of school, general area of interest, location, etc. Next he researched teams at each of his schools to see what opportunities he might have at those schools.While he did have some coaches approach him with great interest, If their school did not meet his requirements he let them know it was not a good fit for him. One of his requirements was that he wanted a very large school. That immediately limited his opportunities to mostly D1 and D2, although there were still some D3’s of decent size in the mix. Once he had his list, he started aggressively contacting coaches-sending out his hi-lite video, emailing and calling. As time went by, he eventually narrowed his list down to his top 5 and concentrated on those schools. It is a daunting, time-consuming process and I have to give him credit for really deciding what he wanted and pursuing it. He was like your daughter and has handled his sport and academics successfully in the past- his sport is very important to him and he would someday like to play professionally. We felt it wasn’t our place to take away that dream. We just wanted to make sure that he has a good education to fall back on. So far he is handling both academics and sports well in college- he almost seems to thrive more academically when he is spending hours on the field! BEst of luck with this process.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I’ll try to answer some questions to add perspective.</p>
<p>SAT score - we’re pretty sure it’ll go up next time around but who knows for sure. She is planning to take the ACT as well, it has been postponed due to weather twice now. </p>
<p>We have reminded her of injury potential, play time issues and all the other associated sports elements that could become sources of either annoyance or complete dissatisfaction to her throughout the search thus far. We have maintained she should approach the schools considering each carefully as a place she should appreciate and be content with should the sport go away for one reason or other. She has maintained from the start that she wants a small school with low student teacher ratio and is not at all interested in mid size or huge universities. The school that has her interest now, we believe, and can only take her word for it, that she is content with all aspects of it outside of the sport.</p>
<p>The rub is that the school is not well known for its biology/pre med program. We are awaiting some answers to questions from the bio department and admissions. I should mention that she qualifies for and would definitely be participating in the honors program at this school.</p>
<p>We do plan to have her apply to other schools where sport is not a possibility and she will still be visiting some larger schools to keep gaining perspective to ensure that a small school is truly what she wants. The sports angle does make things complicated and there truly are no guarantees in it anywhere.</p>
<p>If she stays pre med minded and makes the grades to continue on in it, we feel she should get her college years to continue playing and living her dream since when med school starts she will then be so busy she may not have much time for the “fun” stuff.</p>
<p>If it were my kid I’d be more concerned with the school’s track record getting kids into med school than I would be the “reputation” of the bio program. Your D can major in Classics or Philosophy and still cover off all the pre-med requirements- and at many top schools, the “best” med school candidates are the ones who have done that.</p>
<p>But this means the college has advisers who know their stuff- they can help students take the right classes in the right order, they can tell a philosophy major what kind of summer activities or EC’s are highly beneficial for med school applications and interviews, etc.</p>
<p>Having good or bad bio is only a small piece of the puzzle. Doing well in organic chemistry for example- critical for a med school applicant- can be done at a wide range of colleges, but having experienced people walk you through the application process doesn’t happen everywhere.</p>
<p>That’s a good point blossom and those are the questions we are awaiting answers on! We briefly met a bio professor while touring the school and have reached out to her for more info. </p>
<p>Look at the med school application page for a bunch of U’s in your general area. If the state the college is in has a public med school, start there. Look to see the stats on who has matriculated in the last five years. If you don’t see anyone from this college who has started at this state’s med school- that’s a red flag.</p>
<p>Some of the most talented med students I know only got into one or two med schools (it’s not like undergrad where a kid can have their pick of 8 or 10 places). So seeing who enrolls in the med schools within a three or four state area of this college can be a good proxy for who gets in where.</p>
<p>Seems like you may have to let her take her own path and pursue her sport. If she stays pre-med, there will probably be a way to take the required courses (maybe a semester at another school, courses at a nearby school or summer classes near your home). Or she might decide to transfer after trying her sport in college. </p>
<p>Ultimately, you can only lay out the potential pitfalls and she will have to make the decision (given that you want to let her make this choice). She could always do post-BA set of classes designed for med school admittance (of course that means more money) if the school does not provide. </p>
<p>Are there other D3 schools in the mix with better bio AND possibility of the sport. </p>
<p>In my opinion, all students who enter college with the intent of going to medical school should also think about – and start to prepare for – an alternate career. Qualifying for medical school is brutally difficult. Some kids simply will not make it. Others will decide that it isn’t worth the effort (for example, if it becomes obvious that the only way to earn the necessary excellent grades is to drop the varsity sport). In either case, pre-meds need an alternative, and the biology major is often not the best choice.</p>
<p>So I think that part of the conversation should focus on the question “If, for whatever reason, you end up following a different path and not going to medical school, what do you think that path might be?” And the answer to that question should play a role in selecting a college.</p>