Parents who have been through the process: talk to me about gpas and kids doing sports year round

[Anonymous]

My son is high school freshman and had a 99% HSPT. After his first semester he’ll have a 3.6/3.7 unweighted gpa (weighted closer to 4.0). He’s struggling with the amount of homework and getting things in on time, but is very bright especially in math and science. We think these things can improve but his classes will get harder through the years.

He currently plays a sport every season but we want him to possibly re think that for next year and going forward. It definitely impacts how tired he is and how much time he has to study. He is pretty good at two of the sports and not great at the one. He enjoys all of them and his friends with all of them. I don’t think we would say “no sports” but maybe cut down to two and eventually one?

We don’t care where he goes to school as long it is a good fit. What we don’t want is for him to really want to go to a school and not have the gpa for it come junior year when he’s actually paying attention/knows how this works. He is taking several hard classes and I assume he’ll take AP classes starting in junior year. I do think you’ll be well prepared and I also think that his study skills will hopefully get better overtime – – fingers crossed!

So here’s my question: parents have been through this possibly with a similar type of kid what advice do you have? And how should we steer him? Other things you learned/I may not know?

[Anonymous]

Don’t overthink it. Some kids can have multiple commitments and still have great gpas. That doesn't seem to be your kid. Colleges don’t care much about students being three sport athletes but care a ton about gpa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t overthink it. Some kids can have multiple commitments and still have great gpas. That doesn't seem to be your kid. Colleges don’t care much about students being three sport athletes but care a ton about gpa.

This. Participating in a sport as a non-recruitable athlete is not a big factor for college admission.

I would go down to 1 and then pursue an interest that is less time consuming in addition outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Are these school sports or travel sports?

If travel or a sport like hockey/swimming where practices impact sleep due to pool/rink times; then yeah dial it back. But exercise and being on a team is good for kids, too!

Maybe get a tutor or even a executive functioning coach to help him learn to study/manage time efficiently.

[Anonymous]

Sports if non-recruit does not help your college application. Like not at all. The only thing is that your kid will learn a ton from a team sport that is not relevant to college admissions. And they stay healthy, happy, and social. So it's your kid's call.

[Anonymous]

It wouldn't hurt to drop one sport. Honestly, getting the GPA as high as possible is the best strategy for college. That said, a well-rounded 3.6/3.7 kid will have lots of good options for college.

[Anonymous]

OP here – – thank you both. This makes sense and you are right, I think some kids can handle it but it’s very impactful to him. But you don’t know what you don’t know. And I think it’s been good socially. Hoping next semester might be slightly better and then we’ll regroup over the summer. And it’s not like he’s doing terrible by any mean. But again, we just don’t want to be in a situation come junior year where his GPA precludes him from schools he might otherwise be interested in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these school sports or travel sports?

If travel or a sport like hockey/swimming where practices impact sleep due to pool/rink times; then yeah dial it back. But exercise and being on a team is good for kids, too!

Maybe get a tutor or even an executive functioning coach to help him learn to study/manage time efficiently.

One is a club – – swim. The rest are school sports. He has worked with an executive coach on an off through middle and we re-engaged when assignments weren’t being turned in. He does have ADHD, which I didn’t mention, so we thought he might have the energy to do it all, but that has proved to not be the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sports if non-recruit does not help your college application. Like not at all. The only thing is that your kid will learn a ton from a team sport that is not relevant to college admissions. And they stay healthy, happy, and social. So it's your kid's call.

OP here: we agree in sports have been wonderful for him, which is why we said that he should go for it. Now we’re just not sure about three, or even two

[Anonymous]

1. Is taking sports away going to make your child unhappy and negatively impact him socially? Is sports a good outlet for his mental health? You might be “fixing” one problem while creating another.

2. Your child may drop a sport or two, raise his GPA and still not get into the schools he wants. There are no guarantees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wouldn't hurt to drop one sport. Honestly, getting the GPA as high as possible is the best strategy for college. That said, a well-rounded 3.6/3.7 kid will have lots of good options for college.

This is helpful to hear! -OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t overthink it. Some kids can have multiple commitments and still have great gpas. That doesn't seem to be your kid. Colleges don’t care much about students being three sport athletes but care a ton about gpa.

This. Participating in a sport as a non-recruitable athlete is not a big factor for college admission.

I would go down to 1 and then pursue an interest that is less time consuming in addition outside of school.

Everything in life isn’t about peak college admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here – – thank you both. This makes sense and you are right, I think some kids can handle it but it’s very impactful to him. But you don’t know what you don’t know. And I think it’s been good socially. Hoping next semester might be slightly better and then we’ll regroup over the summer. And it’s not like he’s doing terrible by any mean. But again, we just don’t want to be in a situation come junior year where his GPA precludes him from schools he might otherwise be interested in

It sounds like a good time to start discussing what types of schools he is interested in and what it takes to get there for those schools. Working on it together should be your path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is high school freshman and had a 99% HSPT. After his first semester he’ll have a 3.6/3.7 unweighted gpa (weighted closer to 4.0). He’s struggling with the amount of homework and getting things in on time, but is very bright especially in math and science. We think these things can improve but his classes will get harder through the years.

He currently plays a sport every season but we want him to possibly re think that for next year and going forward. It definitely impacts how tired he is and how much time he has to study. He is pretty good at two of the sports and not great at the one. He enjoys all of them and his friends with all of them. I don’t think we would say “no sports” but maybe cut down to two and eventually one?

We don’t care where he goes to school as long it is a good fit. What we don’t want is for him to really want to go to a school and not have the gpa for it come junior year when he’s actually paying attention/knows how this works. He is taking several hard classes and I assume he’ll take AP classes starting in junior year. I do think you’ll be well prepared and I also think that his study skills will hopefully get better overtime – – fingers crossed!

So here’s my question: parents have been through this possibly with a similar type of kid what advice do you have? And how should we steer him? Other things you learned/I may not know?

It will be your job as a parent to only get him excited about schools when he is a HS junior that are mostly targets and safeties (with a legit reach thrown in there) so what you describe won't happen.

Don't have him tour Harvard, Yale and Princeton (which may not excite him), when you know even a reach for your kid is BC as an example.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on what you're aiming for. If the student is shooting for very selective universities, time management becomes really important in high school.

My DC played basketball all his life. Was very good. Played JV freshman year of high school. But he quickly realized the time commitment was enormous and that it lasted all year since the team played AAU during the "offseason." There was literally no time to pursue other significant ECs and maintain high grades in the most rigorous classes.

He chose to give up on varsity basketball and play rec instead - for the fun of it. At 6'2, he didn't have the size to be recruited. Plus his high school hadn't sent a player to a D1 school in a gazillion years. Recruitment was not happening regardless.

Freed from the basketball obligation, he became a leader of several student clubs, volunteered, maintained perfect grades in a heavy AP schedule, had outstanding internships, and today goes to a top 20 university. That never would have happened if he had continued to play basketball at the varsity level.

There are so many demands on time for a high school student. Eventually, they have to figure out their goals. And make choices accordingly. Varsity high school sports in America is so time consuming today. It doesn't always work for students that have larger goals.