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I was briefly on the crew team at Stanford while also pursuing both the pre-med and the engineering tracks and always choosing the highest levels of courses available, which was in some cases higher than is common for either track (for example 60 series of physics instead of 50 series (engineering) or 20/40 series (pre-med)). I believe NCAA limits practices to 20 hours per week. I’m not sure of the limit for men’s crew, but we usually we usually practiced ~25 hours per week, including travel time. The numbers of hours per week is similar to the number of hours one would work at a part time job, so in that sense it is like a job. However, I’d expect that most students at Stanford have interests outside of the classroom that take up this many hours or more, like they did in high school. Most students aren’t spending nearly all their free time studying, regardless of major or whether they play a sport. There were quite a few people on the crew team who also did pre-med and a few who did engineering as well. The crew bus left for practice at 6AM, which was unpleasant, particularly in the winter, when it was dark, cold, and raining. They chose such an early time, so the athletic practice would not interfere with scheduling of classes. We’d arrive back on campus just before 9AM classes each day. Stanford encourages athletes to be successful academically and does not restrict athletes from pursuing pre-med, challenging majors, coterminal masters degrees, etc. When I was there, they gave “scholar athlete” awards to many athletes each trimester. I’d expect the percentage of “scholar athletes” to vary quite a bit from sport to sport, which likely relates to how much the sport influenced admissions decisions and the potential for becoming a professional athlete after graduating. It’s been my limited experience that most athletes on women’s teams tend to be focused on academics. Similarly the amount of travel will vary significantly by sport. Which sport does your D play?</p>