D1 Colleges/Universities with pre-med tracks and softball

[BRsoftballDad]

I wanted to start a separate thread from the engineering and nursing threads in order to specifically highlight a pre-med track.

Just some background, my 2025 DD wants to go to go pre-med. She also plays on a national level team that plays a pretty loaded schedule. When talking about majors, she would love to go pre-med but we have heard time and time again that most D1's will tell you that it's not possible with the workload involved with athletes. So, if given the opportunity to play with a P5 school, she was planning on majoring in something like Biology and just trying to take the MCAT afterwards. Well, this weekend, my DD attended a camp she was invited to at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA (pronounced nack-uh-dish). The coaches loved her and wanted all of her contact information, schedule, etc. The camp had some drills, scrimmages, and a campus tour. During the campus/facilities tour, one of the current players mentioned that she was on a pre-med track. Well this instantly caught my DD's attention and she talked with her for 15 solid minutes about various things with the major. The current player, a senior, said that she was a TA for 2 different chem courses in addition to being pre-med and playing softball. So it sounds like it could be possible. Maybe just not in P5 schools.

Anyways, I wanted to start a thread about it because it's not possible to Google "D1 schools with softball that allow pre-med students"....lol. So I'll start the list....

Northwestern State University (Natchitoches, LA) D1 Southland Conference

 

[_MIA_]

What is a pre-med major? I have known kids that went to Med school as bio majors, chem majors, BME majors, math majors. You just need to make sure you take the courses that Med schools want to see on your transcript..some majors make that easier (like Bio..)

 

[LEsoftballdad]

What is a pre-med major? I have known kids that went to Med school as bio majors, chem majors, BME majors, math majors. You need to make sure you take the courses that Med schools want to see on your transcript..some majors make that easier (like Bio..)

Exactly! You can go to medical school with a history degree so long as you have the proper prerequisite classes at the undergraduate level.

My daughter is a 2024 and wants the same thing. Whenever she's asked what her major will be, she answers "something in the sciences." Are there some schools with major blocks? Yes, but that's because some majors require clinical rotations or other work requirements that cut into softball time.

Mark Hamilton played in the major leagues and went back to medical school after he finished his career on the field. The same goes for former NFL player, Myron Rolle.

If your daughter is smart enough and good enough at softball, most schools will find a way to accommodate her academics and softball life.

 

[_MIA_]

Exactly! You can go to medical school with a history degree so long as you have the proper prerequisite classes at the undergraduate level.

My daughter is a 2024 and wants the same thing. Whenever she's asked what her major will be, she answers "something in the sciences." Are there some schools with major blocks? Yes, but that's because some majors require clinical rotations or other work requirements that cut into softball time.

Mark Hamilton played in the major leagues and went back to medical school after he finished his career on the field. The same goes for former NFL player, Myron Rolle.

If your daughter is smart enough and good enough at softball, most schools will find a way to accommodate her academics and softball life.

I was good friends with about 5 or 6 BME undergrad majors at Duke in my first few years there as a graduate student. All but one went to Med School (one of them actually got a combined PhD/MD).

From a softball perspective, Dot Richardson has a medical degree.

 

[Vertigo]

Agree with the above. “Pre-med” is just filling the requirements for med school. Usually colleges will have a “pre-med program” which means that they provide support to the student interested in med school be it through specific advisors, meetings, shadowing, etc.

The easiest path is probably some type of science major since those majors usually include a lot of the pre-reqs already. But as mentioned, any major can apply to med school as long as per-reqs are completed.

 

[malletfinger]

“Premed track” is possibly a better term. I have doctor friends who were English majors that just also took the prerequisite courses and scored well on the MCATs.

Stanford has a few players supposedly on the premed track. A sister of one of DD’s coaches came from their softball program to become a doctor (although she was injured for a couple of seasons).

I can’t imagine any of this is easy though.

 

[malletfinger]

Oh, take a look and see how many orthopedic surgeons were former athletes

 

[LEsoftballdad]

“Premed track” is possibly a better term. I have doctor friends who were English majors that just also took the prerequisite courses and scored well on the MCATs.

Stanford has a few players supposedly on the premed track. A sister of one of DD’s coaches came from their softball program to become a doctor (although she was injured for a couple of seasons).

I can’t imagine any of this is easy though.

I thought I had a great avatar. Peppa Pig is classic!!!

 

[schwabach]

“Premed track” is possibly a better term. I have doctor friends who were English majors that just also took the prerequisite courses and scored well on the MCATs.

Stanford has a few players supposedly on the premed track. A sister of one of DD’s coaches came from their softball program to become a doctor (although she was injured for a couple of seasons).

I can’t imagine any of this is easy though.

Which leads to the other observation made on this board. You can play softball and pursue a challenging major or you can play softball and have a social life but you can't do all three. I am sure this isn't completely true but there is a lot of truth to it.

 

[BRsoftballDad]

“Premed track” is possibly a better term. I have doctor friends who were English majors that just also took the prerequisite courses and scored well on the MCATs.

Stanford has a few players supposedly on the premed track. A sister of one of DD’s coaches came from their softball program to become a doctor (although she was injured for a couple of seasons).

I can’t imagine any of this is easy though.

My apologies....yes. Pre-med track. Major was the wrong term.