<p>I’m a two sport athlete (Swimming and Track & Field) and I have obtained a considerable amount of success in both sports. I was voted All-Conference team in both sports, Academic All-American in swimming, and am slated for all american status in two events at D3 Track & Field Nationals barring a bad race or a DQ. I go to a prestigious LAC and am involved with activities outside of athletics. However, I am wondering how much do admissions committees take into consideration my participation in athletics and my athletic accolades? Also, should I bother reporting the accolades? Finally, I heard a rumor that some schools use athletics as a selection factor when calculating GPA’s much in the way that they take into consideration the rigor of the applicant’s undergraduate school. Is there any truth to that?</p>
<p>I can only speak from what I have seen. I have on SDN/mdapplicants that some student-athletes have had somewhat lower stats (gpa/mcat) as compared to their peers with respect to schools to which they were accepted. However, it is difficult to control for all variables. It matters how you come across as a complete package in the end.</p>
<p>Even at the D3 level, it’s a positive, and there are obviously a lot of things you can draw on during your interviews to talk about. There shouldn’t be any doubt that success on the athletic field will make you a better physician than you otherwise would have been. Certainly, a D1 athlete even if they haven’t had similar success as you, makes a bigger impression (one of my classmates played in the women’s volleyball final four - that’s pretty hard to match).</p>
<p>I’d put down the accolades depending on how your post-secondary experiences list turns out. The All-American ones for sure. If putting down most of them fills 8 of your 15 allotted spots, I’d pick the top 4 or 5 athletic ones and leave it at that.</p>
<p>Weill admission dean has said they look at athletics as any other activity that would take that much time out of your day, and it is not looked as heavily as it is during undergrad admissions, not even close.</p>