Balancing IC and Grades

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Seniormom

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Probably goes for any school - how do you balance the travel for your sport with your school work and other commitments? Especially if you are a stem major and have lots of lab work?
 
It isn’t easy. My son said it was a lot to handle as an aero major and being on endurance team and doing the military stuff.

He said his view of the d1 athlete changed over the years - said they work their tails off. Many at USNA graduated with distinction.

Time management is key.
 
Maintaining a good GPA is expected, and athletes on Academic probation may be removed from travel teams and perhaps the team, itself. I tell all of my students that they must use weekends and anticipate the 'tough' weeks when multiple GRs (tests) and papers are due by starting assignments early. USAFA has a "Strategies for Academic Success (SAS)" program, which we used to call the "how to study program," that I recommend that cadets join. As an AFA Physics instructor, I found that many cadets did not study effectively and efficiently. I ask my students in high school to practice these techniques 'now' as study skills are imperative, especially for a cadet athletes.
 
Seniormom said:
Probably goes for any school - how do you balance the travel for your sport with your school work and other commitments? Especially if you are a stem major and have lots of lab work?
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Your son or daughter will find other STEM majors on their team as well as others on a variety of teams throughout USAFA. Although I was not a STEM major at USNA, I still had over 90 credits of STEM courses over my 4 years and my son (same sports team) was an Aero major at USNA. In general, I'd say that the key is to stay up with your classes don't let yourself get behind. Its not easy to study/do schoolwork while on Athletic travel but in my experience, lots of us did it whenever we had a chance. I never skipped practice for schoolwork/projects but I saw teammates do it when they needed to.
 
OldRetSWO said:
Your son or daughter will find other STEM majors on their team as well as others on a variety of teams throughout USAFA. Although I was not a STEM major at USNA, I still had over 90 credits of STEM courses over my 4 years and my son (same sports team) was an Aero major at USNA. In general, I'd say that the key is to stay up with your classes don't let yourself get behind. Its not easy to study/do schoolwork while on Athletic travel but in my experience, lots of us did it whenever we had a chance. I never skipped practice for schoolwork/projects but I saw teammates do it when they needed to.
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Thanks. I’m pretty nervous for him. It’s a fall sport so we decided he’d give it a go and can always stop the following year.
 
Seniormom said:
Thanks. I’m pretty nervous for him. It’s a fall sport so we decided he’d give it a go and can always stop the following year.
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My DD's roommate was an IC. I seem to remember tutors, study sessions with the team, and lots of support to help keep up with grades.
 
Most are STEM majors by design. These DOD institutions are unparalleled with history of those that have come through in school, training, day to day and in battle. They have learned that it's all about setting priorities and leadership at all levels. Set priorities and "make is so".
 
Planning planning planning combined with really knowing how to study efficiently. You have to be on top of every homework assignment, GR (test), paper and project and know exactly when they are going to pile up on you. For me that meant at the start of every semester, laying out the due dates from all my classes on a full paper sized calendar. I color coded based on whether it was HW/Test/project/paper, so at a glance I could see where the rough spots were. Often doing well means that every time you see daylight in your academic calendar, you pack that with homework to get ahead. Depending on the sport/team, you also often will have tutors that travel with the team. Smaller teams have to choose what tutor to bring, but generally that can be worked out with the coach. I was a math/physics double major and a tennis IC. I had a major math test I was struggling to prepare for that coincided with a 5 day trip to a tournament. We were going to bring a physics tutor, but since I could tutor physics, we ended up bringing a math tutor for me instead.

I also have some fun memories of getting up at the crack of dawn before the matches started at a tournament to take a history test because it had to be done the same day as the cadets at USAFA. I think there were 3 of us in the class so that's what we got to do while our teammates slept in.

The key is staying on top of it and knowing when you need to ask for help. My roommate senior year is now in the World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), but at USAFA she was on the track team. There were many late nights where I stayed up to help get her through her astronautical engineering homework, but she was one of the most diligent students at USAFA. Constantly studying and training for her sport.
 
According to conversations with my DD it’s about communication and prioritization. Communicate with the professors to work around the travel schedule and communicate with your squad leaders. Then prioritize from there and realize you can’t do everything.
 
Plan ahead. Prioritize effectively. Prepare constantly. Exercise self-discipline.

That’s what DD did while juggling a challenging STEM major, holding major billets and captaining her sports team. It can be done, but you must be mindful, deliberate and purposeful with your time. Always ask: What’s important now? Always look over the horizon to see what’s coming. Always get ahead when you can. Always know the trade-offs that must be made — and choose wisely.

By the way, all these things? The foundation of a great leader and officer.
 
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