D1 Sports Walk-On Worth It?
It is possible that I would be able to walk-on to a varsity team at a lower-Ivy school. However, I have my reservations. While I understand that this would be a great opportunity and I would love being on a tight-knit team, the practice schedule is really demanding and would take time away that I could be using for studying, Greek life, relevant extracurriculars, or just having fun and enjoying college.
Would D1 varsity sports really be that beneficial where it would be worth it to sacrifice so much for it, in terms of both college experience and finance/consulting recruiting? I've heard that varsity sports can be very helpful for recruiting, is this true?
Played college sports. It’s huge if you can swing it. Teammates are still some of my best friends to this day so don’t worry about the Greek component. Huge for recruiting outside of school network, can use the sport network if you need. It sucks at times but I’d do it again if that means anything.
If you're on the fence about whether or not college sports is for you, it probably isn't.
I would agree with this. I currently play a sport in college (not at an ivy, but still at a challenging school) and it is way more than I expected between balancing studying, practices, workouts, and having some extracurriculars to put on my resume. You really gotta love the sport you would be playing because if you don't, it could be miserable and take away from your college experience. On the other hand, you create awesome connections with your teammates and sports teach you a lot of life lessons that employers look for. Basically just weigh the pros and cons and decide if it is something you want to put yourself through because it is not easy.
This, people who are committed to stuff like this would take it in a heartbeat.
Adding onto this one. I played baseball in college and knew guys that were absolute die hards decide that playing a sport while in college wasn't worth it. Guys that were on the fence absolutely did not make it. You need to be committed to it and truly love it to survive, in my opinion. Having said that, the benefits that Corn Field laid out above are also very true. You become very close with those teammates and those bonds tend to last a lifetime.
I was a walk on at a power 5 school. I quit after my junior year because I had no shot of getting meaningful playing time. At least in my school, athletes were able to join greek life and had access to alumni through the athletic alumni advisors. Its a decision only you can make, but I have no regrets with my decision.
you don’t just walk onto a d1 varsity sport if you’re not in love with the game like that...to answer your question directly no— it does not give any tangible boost to your resume if you have to sacrifice so much to do it. Athletes make that sacrifice because they LOVE that sport and would give anything up to compete. Don’t force it man, you’ll make yourself miserable.
Ex-athletes run Wall Street. Enjoy playing the sport you love for 4 more years — some people would give anything to be in your position. You’ll be fine.
lol
Current D1 student-athlete who can provide some color on this. I personally have found that being on a sports team is a lot more fun than not. Yeah it can be demanding but if you can't compete and do college simultaneously then you are probably gonna get shit on in IB. The pro side is that you always have a group to party with and definitely helps socially. As well I think this brings up something that I see on this sight over and over again which is college kids foregoing opportunities so that they can get into banking. Make the most of your time in college because its fun as fuck and your not getting the years back.
Lastly, you are not even on the team yet so maybe try to actually walk on first and then make the decision. If you are doing it just to do get a better shot at recruiting then you are probably not cut out for it anyways. I have never heard a teammate or fellow athlete say they are on the team for better shot at IB recruiting.
I think this is a simple decision. If you really love playing that sport, than walk on to the team and if you don't love it then don't do it. All sorts of things can help your chances for recruiting (primarily because they expand your network), including being an athlete, joining greek life, participating in a club (IB club, investment club or whatever). If you're looking at walking on just to improve your chances, then spend that time (probably 20-30 hours per week or more) on a handful of other activities that you either enjoy or will improve your resume. At the end of the day, nobody gets a job simply because they played a sport. They reach out to alumni, build good connections and come well prepared for an interview.
Don't join a D1 sport just to bolster your resume. The reason athletes fair well in recruiting is because being able to perform at a high level athletically while at the same time keeping up a good GPA, being involved in extracurriculars, etc is challenging, and it shows grit and good time management skills to do both. If you join a sport just for your resume, you'll probably feel crushed by the time commitment and end up suffering both in the classroom and on the field. Like everyone else has said, joining a sports team is an awesome experience (at a lower ivy and I play a club sport, didn't make the varsity team as a walk on but friends with lots of guys on the team) if you love your sport, but it certainly isn't worth it to play varsity sports for four years just to get an IB job. You could boost your resume just as much with investment groups, networking, and internships and only put in a fraction of the time as you would practicing for your sport.
Similar sentiments to those above. Played a college sport and made the best friends I have in my life. There’s a deep bonding that occurs when experiencing the shitty parts of college sports together and getting through it.
Socially the sport teams functioned as a group on campus and did plenty of mixers with sororities and were friendly with a few frats.
Professionally, I think there is a lot of truth behind the skills you gain from being a college athlete. When I was in college I thought it was BS, but after starting work I realized I was much more comfortable taking harsh criticism and dealing with different types of people than some of my peers.
You only get the chance to play college sports once, so might as well give it a shot for a year and see what you think. Worst is you’ll get a couple free pieces of gear.
Played D1 Baseball and I would say it is definitely worth it because of all of the things mentioned above. I would mention a couple things to consider too:
What sport? Because different sports have different commitments. Didn't go to an Ivy but I know they prioritize academics, so they miss as little class as possible. For instance in Baseball they limit practice hours a little bit more and play a shorter schedule and only have games on the weekends, which is different from other D1 schools.
Just so you know, all Ivy league athletes are technically "walk ons" as no Ivy league school offers athletic scholarships.
Walk-on compared to a scholarship elsewhere?
D1 sports are worth it, is a D1 walk-on spot worth it? Only you can answer that.
I was lucky to play D1 football at a (mediocre) Big 10 school and can for sure tell you that the relationships and alumni connections are worth it. A lot of my former teammates and football alumni work in some sort of finance role, so networking in that sense is very relaxed and not as structured as regular networking for IB/PE/whatever.
D1 sports are a huge sacrifice as well. Don't forget that. 35+ hours a week focused on your sport, with the addition of homework and trying to perform in the classroom is a lot for some people. That's why I mentioned only you can answer if a walk-on spot is worth all that. Sports are a huge time commitment, but you do (should) learn how to appropriately manage your time and determine what truly is important in that moment.
Re: recruiting - 99% of all interviews I've had have started off with "I see you played football at U of xyz, how was it to against play U of zyx? What did you think of the coach, etc" Essentially all my interviewers have spent half the time talking about my football background and the other half rushing through the position, expected work, etc. More often than not, they remember you and your story compared to the run-of-the-mill semi-target student with a few internships and extra-curriculars.
^^^ I played D1 football as well and I got my internship (small shop to be fair) by meeting this managing partner/co-founder who also played ball and during the "interview" we literally only talked about football. Wouldn't recommend that strategy at BB/EB lol
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