So it’s pretty clear that UChicago is very rigorous, especially with the quarter system. I’m being recruited for a varsity sport (a 20 hour/week commitment) and I’m wondering how the workload will stack up. Any student athletes here to comment? I’m strong academically, but I don’t want to have to squeeze my way through to a B+.
Most people (who aren’t specifically choosing classes/profs for grades or aren’t top 20% of the class) squeeze their way through to a B+, athletics aside. You might want to go to a different school.
20 hours per week is about right. 2 hours training per day and other 10 hours for games/meets/travels.
Chicago is a DIII school. Academic has higher priority than athletics - both coaches and students know that. Generally student-athletes there like sports themselves. Most of student-athletes were doing sports in high school and some of them are quite good according to DIII standard. I think coaches are reasonable. They expect athletes to spend 20 hours per week on sports but they are flexible enough to change schedules to compensate class conflicts. Or athletes can miss sometimes due to other things. I think it is a sort of honor system when compared to DI program. Athletes are not on scholarships or anything like that. But you usually do not let your team down due to your absence.
The extra effort on sports is not extreme at all. Anyway a student will do something else besides academics. The student-athletes may have or have developed better time management skills. It is a good experience - you make friends, have some team spirits, meet other student-athletes from other schools, travel to other cities, etc. If you are great your name will appear inside Ratner center.
I do not think sports make your grade worse as long as you manage time well. Many my D’s teammates have good grades and have found good jobs or good doctor programs after graduation.
If you have an opportunity to join a varsity team you should try it. You can always drop next year if you change your mind later.
As an undergrad at Chicago (admittedly this was some time ago), I got to know a lot of different athletes (and played pickup games with them on occasion). Back in my day, the teams resembled fairly good high school teams - meaning, at the college level, the level of play wasn’t too high, and the level of commitment wasn’t too overbearing. 20 hours a week seems about right, and the intensity wasn’t that significant - it’s similar to what any good high school player experiences balancing sports and academics.
Today, sports at Chicago have improved somewhat. I think the intensity has gone from being on a good high school team to being on an all-star high school team. So, the intensity has probably gone up a little bit (the teams today are considerably better than the teams of yesteryear, and athletes come in with more accomplishments). The time commitment has probably stayed the same though. At the D3 level, teams generally play fewer games, travel less, have less year-round obligations, etc.
This point noted, I think there’s one other big plug to put in about sports at Chicago: if you’re on a team, you have a built-in social network, right from the start. Don’t underestimate this. Many athletes form a four-year bond with their team, and really enjoy having this network. It won’t be your ONLY network, because the nature of the commitment isn’t too intense, but it’s generally good to have a network of people - who are part of different dorms, in different majors, etc. right at the start.
Finally, keeping a B+ average shouldn’t be a problem at all. The overall GPA of the College is now above that, and athletes do just fine. Being an athlete gives you a “hook” in other ways too - employers/grad schools etc. like college athletes. Always have, and pretty much always will.