<p>I have talked to the coaches from 6 ivy leagues (all except Princeton and Penn) and Georgetown. I am fairly certain I can get into one of those schools based on my athletic ability. My high school is one of the top schools in the US and I have about a 3.9 GPA taking really hard classes (5 APs this year, 1 is double period). I have almost a 2100 on the SAT. I am not asking whether I can get in, but rather if I do get in to one of those schools (Yale is my favorite so far) will I be able to do well (above a 3.5 GPA)? I also want to attend medical school, maybe UVA or UNC. Do a lot of recruits suffer in the ivy league academic environment? Do many recruits have a 3.5+ GPA throughout college? Also, since athletics take a large time commitment, are athletes disadvantaged? Thanks!</p>
<p>IMO, if you want to go to medical school, attend a school with rampant grade inflation and avoid schools with grade deflation ( e.g., Princeton). It seems that med school admissions depend more upon objective stats (grades and MCAT) then your outside activities which severely impact the time you have available to study.</p>
<p>For example, in Princeton, in a recent physics II quiz, the mean was 36%; in a Calc III quiz the mean was a 37%. (And think about the students who were admitted and chose to focus in science at Princeton.)</p>
<p>Additionally, really press the coach to list his athletes’ majors. Do not think you will be the outlier - think of yourself as just one of the typical athletes. On my S team, many started in STEM, very very few finish in STEM. Those that finish in STEM are, IMO, brilliant and true outliers in a school full of outliers.</p>
<p>I don’t know your sport, and some of my observations are sport specific ( e.g., football, baseball, basketball) which require extraordinary time commitments and, in season, unbelievable time commitments.</p>
<p>All that having been said, if, for example, your major led you to finance careers, your time in the Ivyies as an athlete is an incredible advantage in the job market. For my personal observations, even middle of the class athletes land incredible jobs.</p>
<p>The athletic commitment in the Ivies will easily take a 4 hour bite out of each day while in season, and have you traveling every other weekend, so yes, it can be tough to maintain a top GPA. But people do it. D had several teammates admitted to top med schools coming from STEM majors/concentrations. But there were also some smart kids that really struggled. They changed majors and their final GPA really worked against them when it came to getting the most competitive internships or grad programs.</p>
<p>I think the difference wasn’t intelligence as much as it was self-discipline and time management, and like any skill, the longer you do it, the better you get. First year for any Ivy athlete can be a real sleep-deprived shock. Good to be prepared going in.</p>
<p>paxys8 - the two posts above are golden advice. absolutely spot on IMHO. at my son’s ivy (STEM major), everything is graded on a curve. It is ridiculously competitive even as a senior. As stemit points out, that may not be a good situation (lower GPA) if you are considering a medical school. However, we know several undergrad STEM majors that have gone on to study medicine and they were well prepared. It is going to depend mostly on your major, self-discipline, time management, and your role on the athletic team. </p>
<p>Everybody’s situation is different. Press the coaches for answers for your specific situation. You will be glad you did. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I agree with the above advice. You should always consider the value of the street cred of an undergraduate degree from a fantastic college. You should also consider where you will possibly end up in that fantastic graduate pool after 4 years and where that puts you in terms of graduate school applications. </p>
<p>Pre-med and athletics is difficult. Consider resigning yourself to taking summer courses (with your college’s approval) or staying an extra year. My son is looking towards engineering, and we are facing the fact that if he gets into his top choice, an Ivy, he will need to take as light a course load as possible at least during his sport season, but D1 usually has a lot of commitments in the off-semester too.</p>
<p>Depending on which sports you are in, ivy and Georgetown coaches have to look at your AI ( Academic Index: a combination of your SATs, GPA ), and you need to meet the minimum AI , which is usually within one standard deviation of the entire applicants’ median AI, to be recruited. SAT 2100 is just near the average for Ivy athlete or Georgetown ( unless you are the QB of a football team). Each ivy or Georgetown has a different AI minimum ( Princeton and Yale have the highest AI requirement for athletes)
It really depends on your sports and success in your sports. Speak with the coach, who is usually very good at telling if you are in the ballpark or not.</p>
<p>Your GPA in school will depend on how hard you work and your time management , no matter if you go to these schools or other D1 schools.</p>
<p>I</p>
<p>So, your question is you want to be pre med and you need a high GPA to get into medical school, and you are wondering if this is attainable if you play division 1 athletes.</p>
<p>The first question would be when is practice and will that affect you going to your labs?</p>
<p>But, beyond the logistics, and sometimes you won’t be able to take a class because it is the same time as practice, it is more a question of time, or lack of time.</p>
<p>Can you get a A in a class with a curve …
when your peers have 20-25 more hours than you do to study?</p>