Varsity Athletics and Academic Success

<p>So accepted to W&M - will play varsity sport I am concerned that the sport commitments will mean that
academic and college life experience will suffer. Is it possible to be a D1 varsity athlete and still take challenging academic courses and experience all the great cultural and social groups W&M has to offer. (Please note: not a genius, work for good grades) Or would it be better to accept an offered place at another good school with a lesser sports commitment to get the full college experience. (btw- love W&M - but struggling). Any other varsity athletes or students out there who can give advice?</p>

<p>DS was accepted to W&M top 5 of a pretty competitive school. He was captain of cross country, broke the school record for the mile. After being on campus for a few weeks and running with the team he called to say he wanted to quit. he felt bad letting his team mates and the coach down but wanted to keep his record of a very high cum he had in HS. It was tough with the rigor at W&M. He started running club with others who left the team They actually beat the team 2 years running at the “open” meet, lots of good athletes left the teams due to the rigor of studies.</p>

<p>W&M athletes are routinely recognized for their high academic achievements by the conferences they participate in.</p>

<p>That said, maintaining your high school GPA is EXTREMELY difficult for ALL students at W&M. Almost any student that comes to W&M with that goal will not achieve it. Tons of high school 4.0 kids come to W&M, and sometimes a graduating class has zero 4.0 students… </p>

<p>I can also tell you that there is a recent alum in the NFL that was very involved in the music program.</p>

<p>Obviously being on a sports team is a built in group of friends, so they logically hang out together a lot.</p>

<p>Jssaab1’s kid might’ve been able to get a really high GPA and run, but he decided it wasn’t for him. At some point in life you have to make choices about certain things. Some people might be happy to sacrifice some tenths on the GPA to play a sport. Others may not. Neither is right or wrong, but depends on the individual.</p>

<p>And we should remember that undergraduate GPA does not dictate your life after graduation.</p>

<p>My son was a top student and athlete in high school and is on a varsity team at W&M. Although he does not have a 4.0 average, his GPA is still high and he is doing very well in his sport as well. If you apply yourself and organize your time, you can be successful at both. That said, he does not have much time for socializing. He tries to go to interesting events when he can (he is going to see Maya Angelou!). He doesn’t mind the lack of socializing though because he is doing what he wants to do. I agree with soccerguy that life is about making choices. You have to do what is right for you.</p>

<p>Agreed, you need to do whats right for you, My son is a Dual Major ( Econ and Math) and does an NSA research project during the school year, he felt he would have to drop the math major if he continued to run and he just loves math (he does it for fun)</p>

<p>Feel free to contact the coach who will put your student in touch with a current athlete on the team if that will be helpful.</p>