sports/social/workload balance at WPI?

<p>S visited WPI and loved it. But he likes to be active in a lot of different things. How difficult is mixing sports/social/workload at the school?</p>

<p>Senior in high school
all advanced classes, weighted GPA 4.1, top 10% in class (but just at the edge)
SAT Math 680
SAT Verbal 610
SAT writing 600
AP Chemistry (Jr year - 4 in AP exam) , AP Calculus and AP Physics this year
Robotics team, Math Competition team, German Honor Society, NHS, Varsity kicker in football last 2 yrs, track team, literary magazine editor/poetry, acting in school play 4 yrs.</p>

<p>Love Physics, looking at Civil/Environmental Engineering, but possibly interested in other engineering.</p>

<p>So any thoughts/experiences on the balance at WPI?</p>

<p>thanks,</p>

<p>My daughter is a freshman at WPI so I can only give you an opinion from limited experience. She played a club sport this fall, not a varsity sport. Her roommate, however, is on a varsity team. They both seem to have enough time for studies, sports and some other activities. WPI is D3, so usually not as big a commitment as a D1 school. The practices can be as much time, but your travel is typically local and not as big a time commitment as a D1 school.</p>

<p>I played varsity sports at a D3 school (many moons ago and also in an engineering program) and actually did better, grade wise, while I was in season. You learn to budget your time when your in season. I found I would think I had lots of extra time when I was out of season and would then goof off too much.</p>

<p>Another point, if you could manage school and sports in high school, then you’ll probably be able to at college. A lot of times, the restictions on amount of practices with a coach is more restrictive in college than in high school. You end up having to work out more on your own in college (primarily out of season), which then does allow some additional flexability in your time scheduling.</p>

<p>These points are made for WPI but would probably apply to just about any D3 school. Some of my most memorable times in college were playing varsity sports. Go for it!</p>

<p>HPuck36, that is great input, thanks! </p>

<p>How does she like WPI experience so far, with the accelerated class terms and the alleged M/F ‘ratio’ issue?</p>

<ul>
<li>K.</li>
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<p>buzzlook: She is really enjoying her time there. Has made a bunch of new friends as you would expect. Since you only take three classes in their shortened terms, the workload has not been a problem. She’s busy, but never complained about it being too much. She has been home the last week and it has been fun seeing her old friends. And since it is the break between A and B terms, she hasn’t had the specture of school assignments hanging over her head (which is also true for spring break). </p>

<p>We live in southern California, so this next term is going to be a big change weather wise for her. She has already had the shock of the different slang (and accents) that the kids talk with.</p>