Will I regret not running in college?

I am doing well at my current school and I cannot afford most D3 schools. My parents make over $100k so I don’t get much help with tuition at those types of schools

This is a tough one.

I graduated college in 2005 and even though I played D1 soccer, my memories of my college years are mostly with my friends, not on the field or in the weight room.

But when I thought about the memories with my friends, I realized that the friends I remember well and the friends that I still have are mostly friends that I played soccer with.

So that's a tough call my man. I'm sure you'll make new, lifelong friends at the new school that you attend and you'll get the added bonus of being able to run.

If you do end up transferring, do yourself a favor and go for it with that girl/guy that you've been eyeing all semester. Since you're taking off, it could be your last chance to go for it with her/him. That could definitely be a regret in the future if you don't go for it!

Regrets? wrote:

I have the opportunity to run at a D2 school next fall and I’m fairly certain that I would do well.

I'm curious about this part.

It's April.

You didn't run XC, indoor or outdoor this year for any school.

So what is this opportunity? Did this D2 coach say you can run for them based on high school times?

Have you been training full time all year/ any racing this year?

Yes to all of your questions. I’m only a walk on

Does the D2 school have a good program for a backup plan to premed? like Nursing ? Plenty of college freshmen think they are premed and end up getting weeded out.

This is just my experience, I had the opportunity to run D1 but I realized I was going to be one of the slowest on the team, so I said the hell with it and focused on school/friends instead. Did some lighter training to stay in decent shape. Unless you're a sprinter or mid distance guy, you will be able to hit PRs after college into your 30s if you're willing to train. I assume you're a distance guy based on your willingness to run road races. I'm talking about distances 5K and longer. And less student loan debt is a great thing.

Running Nihilism wrote:

This is just my experience, I had the opportunity to run D1 but I realized I was going to be one of the slowest on the team, so I said the hell with it and focused on school/friends instead. Did some lighter training to stay in decent shape. Unless you're a sprinter or mid distance guy, you will be able to hit PRs after college into your 30s if you're willing to train. I assume you're a distance guy based on your willingness to run road races. I'm talking about distances 5K and longer. And less student loan debt is a great thing.

Lemme get this straight... instead of choosing to run and race vs your peers you instead chose to race soccer moms, Masters runners, and little kids at road races??

man... that thing must be TINY to be THAT insecure.

Oh and that focusing on school and friends is the biggest cop out load of BS ever. Translation: I spent more time getting drunk and hanging out at the UC.

I'm not a genius, I had to wreck myself to get grad school caliber grades. And who you run your PRs against is irrelevant.

Go run in college. You'll have even more friends there and BONUS still have the friends at your old school. The sport of running will stay with you forever, but college running is something you'll never be able to experience twice, so at least do it once.

Best,

Coach P

No, you won't regret not running on a college team.

Besides, you'll need the cash for med school.

I could have run at middling D1 schools, but instead I went to my instate flagship, which happened to be Oregon. I was therefore not able to run, especially as it was the Martin Smith era and he had no interest in walkons (not a slam on him - that was/is totally understandable).

I think that I would have enjoyed running in college. But, I don't regret not doing so. I focused on academics while at school and had many great experiences, both during and after college. I wanted to have a lot of academic options as an undergrad without paying a lot of money, so Oregon was the best choice for me. The other public options either weren't running schools anyway (Oregon State), or were too small (all the 'directional' publics in Oregon).

If I had to advise you, I'd suggest not going to a D2 to run, unless we're talking about one of the very few D2s with noteworthy academics. If you have a decent instate flagship, then perhaps you could go there and join the running club - some of those are very good.

I just read the OP but nothing else so am not biased by what everyone else wrote. I don't think you should go to the other school. I don't think you will regret not being part of their track or XC teams.

I DO, however, think you should run. Train and compete. You may actually regret not doing this. Do don't need a school's endorsement to participate in the sport. World record holders don't need it, I didn't need it at any age, and neither do you. Do it. Go for it. Don't glorify some school but only yourself.

Running seriously (self sponsored)> running seriously (university sponsored) > running seriously (as a real pro) > running not seriously > not running at all.

It is very difficult to be both serious and self-sponsored (especially when you are young).

Most likely you will wind up not running or not running seriously.

I'm not sure why people hate on D2 academics.

Of the runners on my D2 team that everyone thinks is terrible academically, one went on to a PhD at Harvard and one to a PhD at Johns Hopkins. Other teammates went on to careers in teaching, social work, and coaching.

If your worried about D2 academics affecting graduate and medical school chances -- don't.

I’m not worried about academics, I believe i have a solid chance at med school either way

Regret wrote:

I’m not worried about academics, I believe i have a solid chance at med school either way

I ran cross-country and track on and off (due to injuries) during my first two years of college, while majoring in engineering. I noticed that my grades shot up when I wasn't running with the team, but I was struggling academically when I was running with the team. I finally made a decision to quit running with the team for my remaining years and college. My grades shot up and I made it into engineering graduate school.

So my advice would be to stick where you are, run on your own. Switching schools, joining a team, and moving away from home are 3 events that could destabilize your situation and goodbye med school.

Oh boy. I’m still 50/50 on what to do. Maybe I ought to flip a coin aha

dez pppl don't know wrote:

I'm not sure why people hate on D2 academics.

Of the runners on my D2 team that everyone thinks is terrible academically, one went on to a PhD at Harvard and one to a PhD at Johns Hopkins. Other teammates went on to careers in teaching, social work, and coaching.

If your worried about D2 academics affecting graduate and medical school chances -- don't.

You got me wrong - I never said D2 academics are terrible! I only suggested to the OP that, given the price and his current trajectory, that transferring would only make sense if the school to which he would transfer is 'noteworthy.' I went to Oregon, certainly NOT 'noteworthy' for academics, and did just fine. Most D2 schools have average academics, just like Oregon and most (by definition of average) other schools.

As the OP seems to already know, med school is mostly about grades, MCAT, and volunteer hours, not prestige of school. A truly great school, though, can have some resources that your average college/university doesn't have.

But you're right - if you apply yourself you can go far academically starting from pretty much any accredited non-profit.

When I was in med school, I was on the admissions committee. We looked very favorably upon applications who were also student athletes. In my med school class we had at least 10 (out of about 130 students) who were D1-D3 athletes. Some schools look more favorably at volunteer hours but others care more about other extracurriculars like sports. Good luck either way.