College degree vs Time Commitment for soccer

[Unregistered]

This is for parents who already have son/daughter playing college soccer.

Whether it is Div I, II or III, do your student/athletes have a choice of what they want to major in during their four years of college?

For example, can you be a Biology or Chemistry major? Typically, most of the science courses require a laboratory offerered in the afternoon.

Has your child been told that the major of their choice would not be possible playing a sport?

[Unregistered]

This is for parents who already have son/daughter playing college soccer.

Whether it is Div I, II or III, do your student/athletes have a choice of what they want to major in during their four years of college?

For example, can you be a Biology or Chemistry major? Typically, most of the science courses require a laboratory offerered in the afternoon.

Has your child been told that the major of their choice would not be possible playing a sport?

It varies by the school. In any case it is obviously difficult to handle technical/lab type majors and a sport. You have to decide on priorities each week and one suffers. Best to adjust your schedule to be light during your season, plus take summer classes.

[Unregistered]

This is for parents who already have son/daughter playing college soccer.

Whether it is Div I, II or III, do your student/athletes have a choice of what they want to major in during their four years of college?

For example, can you be a Biology or Chemistry major? Typically, most of the science courses require a laboratory offerered in the afternoon.

Has your child been told that the major of their choice would not be possible playing a sport?

I have a daughter playing D1 her second year in college. It's not easy no matter what your major is. Traveling this weekend and missing mid terms. Able to make them up though.

My youngest was very interested in Quinnipiac. The coach won't take players who want to major in nursing or PT.

[Unregistered]

This is for parents who already have son/daughter playing college soccer.

Whether it is Div I, II or III, do your student/athletes have a choice of what they want to major in during their four years of college?

For example, can you be a Biology or Chemistry major? Typically, most of the science courses require a laboratory offerered in the afternoon.

Has your child been told that the major of their choice would not be possible playing a sport?

Best reason to go D III. Academics take priority over athletics.

[Unregistered]

It varies by the school. In any case it is obviously difficult to handle technical/lab type majors and a sport. You have to decide on priorities each week and one suffers. Best to adjust your schedule to be light during your season, plus take summer classes.

D3 here and team is loaded (at lest six that I know of) with science majors, with some pre-med. No one misses class for practice. Weekday away games may require some classes to be missed, but never nearly a full day since they schedule those with no more than a 2-3 h bus ride for those games. Since they are typically playe at 7 PM, bus usually leaves between 3:30 and 5:00 depending on how far away game is.

[Unregistered]

D3 here and team is loaded (at lest six that I know of) with science majors, with some pre-med. No one misses class for practice. Weekday away games may require some classes to be missed, but never nearly a full day since they schedule those with no more than a 2-3 h bus ride for those games. Since they are typically playe at 7 PM, bus usually leaves between 3:30 and 5:00 depending on how far away game is.

Do D-3's travel the day of the game for all away games? I imagine playing a game after 3 hour or more bus ride is not easy. Do D-3's ever travel night before and stay over? If so, how long a trip does it typically have to be for them to do an overnight?

[Unregistered]

I have a daughter playing D1 her second year in college. It's not easy no matter what your major is. Traveling this weekend and missing mid terms. Able to make them up though.

My youngest was very interested in Quinnipiac. The coach won't take players who want to major in nursing or PT.

This is an interesting story. So if you do have a daughter/son who wishes to pursue a degree in Medicine whether it be an MD, Dental, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy...or a degree requiring courses that don't fit into the soccer schedule then either pick a different degree or play somewhere else.

As far as not taking them during the season, most of these courses are year long courses. Taking them in the summer would not be covered by any scholarship and would also be very difficult.

Is there anyone here that has a son/daughter pursuing this type of degree and playing D1 soccer?

[Unregistered]

I have a daughter playing D1 her second year in college. It's not easy no matter what your major is. Traveling this weekend and missing mid terms. Able to make them up though.

My youngest was very interested in Quinnipiac. The coach won't take players who want to major in nursing or PT.

Your youngest must be a boy because Quinnipiac girls coach told my daughter he prefers to recruit kids in medical programs like PT because that is the strength of the school and he is much more likely to land a kid who is going for one of those majors.

Either that or the coach told us 2 different things (and that would not surprise me either).

[Unregistered]

There are all sorts of obstacles to study and free choice of major for varsity athletes in D1. Its the time commitment - up at 5 AM for the 1st session, cleaned up and off to classes by 8:30-9:00, and back to practice mid-afternoon. It's not just a question of what types of classes are off the table (like chem labs). But the time and fatigue rule out a lot of other activities and social life. Course the intensity dials down off season, but the damage to academics is done - this is why these kids are in econ or some other very flexible major. If they were pre-med, they'd have a tough time keeping up the GPA, unless they take very light course loads in the Fall, and go to school in the summer. This is why I wonder about the sanity of people - especially the parents - who push the soccer thing into college. What are they gonna graduate with? A degree in soccer?

[Unregistered]

There are all sorts of obstacles to study and free choice of major for varsity athletes in D1. Its the time commitment - up at 5 AM for the 1st session, cleaned up and off to classes by 8:30-9:00, and back to practice mid-afternoon. It's not just a question of what types of classes are off the table (like chem labs). But the time and fatigue rule out a lot of other activities and social life. Course the intensity dials down off season, but the damage to academics is done - this is why these kids are in econ or some other very flexible major. If they were pre-med, they'd have a tough time keeping up the GPA, unless they take very light course loads in the Fall, and go to school in the summer. This is why I wonder about the sanity of people - especially the parents - who push the soccer thing into college. What are they gonna graduate with? A degree in soccer?

Foolishness. Although time issues are there for all collegiate athletes (and maybe a little more intense for D1 ) the fact is that there are lots of D1 athletes that thrive in the super intense environmet (and pressure) of D1 competition and and a demanding academic schedule. Its not for everyone, but for those that can handle it... the world is their oyster. For the rest? well their experiences are as varied and personal as any other student group and their success rate in the real world are just as good, if not better.

[Unregistered]

There are all sorts of obstacles to study and free choice of major for varsity athletes in D1. Its the time commitment - up at 5 AM for the 1st session, cleaned up and off to classes by 8:30-9:00, and back to practice mid-afternoon. It's not just a question of what types of classes are off the table (like chem labs). But the time and fatigue rule out a lot of other activities and social life. Course the intensity dials down off season, but the damage to academics is done - this is why these kids are in econ or some other very flexible major. If they were pre-med, they'd have a tough time keeping up the GPA, unless they take very light course loads in the Fall, and go to school in the summer. This is why I wonder about the sanity of people - especially the parents - who push the soccer thing into college. What are they gonna graduate with? A degree in soccer?

yes 99% of D1 girls will will be playing in women's rec leagues or co-ed indoor beer league after college. maybe a few will try coaching.

[Unregistered]

There are all sorts of obstacles to study and free choice of major for varsity athletes in D1. Its the time commitment - up at 5 AM for the 1st session, cleaned up and off to classes by 8:30-9:00, and back to practice mid-afternoon. It's not just a question of what types of classes are off the table (like chem labs). But the time and fatigue rule out a lot of other activities and social life. Course the intensity dials down off season, but the damage to academics is done - this is why these kids are in econ or some other very flexible major. If they were pre-med, they'd have a tough time keeping up the GPA, unless they take very light course loads in the Fall, and go to school in the summer. This is why I wonder about the sanity of people - especially the parents - who push the soccer thing into college. What are they gonna graduate with? A degree in soccer?

So you're basically saying you can only play D1 soccer if you go into majors like psych and econ? So if your kid's a very good soccer player and would like to play D1 and/or try for pro but also likes medicine, he's going to have to choose between a career in soccer or medicine?

[Unregistered]

College is full of trade-offs everyday. There are so many possibilities and things to do, from meeting the next founder of a billion dollar tech venture or being that person to wasting your time drinking every night - . Every varsity athlete gives up a lot to pursue their sport, how much depends on the sport and the division. You won't find D1 athletes in the sciences very often. At demanding schools, students are up all hours getting their work done. But you won't be studying hard - pulling all nighters - when you have a D1 game or practice that determining where you place on the team. Its not easy to do it all - Harvard had a kid on the football team get a Rhodes last year, but fact is he saw little play time. It's easy to say someone can do it all and then the worlds an oyster. But its not true. These guys give up one thing to do another.

[Unregistered]

So you're basically saying you can only play D1 soccer if you go into majors like psych and econ? So if your kid's a very good soccer player and would like to play D1 and/or try for pro but also likes medicine, he's going to have to choose between a career in soccer or medicine?

Depends on the school. In Ivy League, there's still significant prohibitions to off season practices/games that preserve about 2/3 of the academic year for a focus on coursework. Aside from the in-season blow to coursework, that still leaves a significant chunk of time to make things up. But there's obstacles - some science classes may be only given in the Fall. Might require some summer school. Fact is, though, very few Ivy students in the big D1 sports - football, basketball, hockey and soccer, are in the sciences. Most are in econ. Outside Ivies, a lot of D1 programs are pushing to training formats to the full academic year in order to be competitive. Chance of managing pre-med successfully under those circumstances are slim.

[Unregistered]

Do D-3's travel the day of the game for all away games? I imagine playing a game after 3 hour or more bus ride is not easy. Do D-3's ever travel night before and stay over? If so, how long a trip does it typically have to be for them to do an overnight?

our son is a freshman and is playing d3 soccer at a boston school, they had a conference game 4 hours from boston on a wednesday at 3pm. The bus left Boston at 10am to arrive for 2pm. There are 24 kids on the roster, only 11 went. Academics are the most important thing to the school. They played 4 Wednesday games and never had more then 14 at those games. The school rule is you can have 1 excused absence per class as long as the class meets more then once a week. After the one excused absence your child starts losing points off there average for the class.
If the class only meets once a week they can not have any excused absences before they start losing grade points.