[willcipriano]

We have this weird system where if you aren't good enough to become a doctor purely on academics we will also consider how good you are at baseball. It's quite insane on its face but it's how lots of midwits end up with "advanced" degrees. Those dad's are probably trying to make that happen.

[SkipperCat]

Do advanced programs give athletic scholarships? I've never heard of a master's program offering that nor have I ever seen Yale Medical School's baseball team.

[Loughla]

I'm very confused by your statements. Maybe it's too early but I legitimately don't understand what you said. Can you please explain a little?

[oniony]

They're saying the schools accept (measure) applicants on both their academic and sporting prowess. I believe they are suggesting that, if a child is not very academic, a parent may try to get their child into a prestigious school by "encouraging" them in sports.

[BoxFour]

> we have this weird system where if you aren’t good enough to become a doctor purely on academics we will also consider how good you are at baseball

This is not how any of it works. At all.

[smcl]

You surely also have to pass the required classes and attend medical school, though right?

[willcipriano]

You know what you call a doctor who got C's? A doctor.

[mycologos]

OK, but it's not like there's a section on the USMLE that says "by the way, how fast is your fastball? how many 3s can you make in a minute? what's your mile time?". The argument that being an athlete makes it significantly easier to become a doctor is weird, because getting into a good undergraduate institution is not the main hurdle to becoming a doctor.

[smcl]

I don't know about elsewhere but in the UK and Czech Republic, Medicine is a particularly challenging field of study that aggressively weeds out underperformers. You're not making it through unless you actually know what you're doing.

If studying medicine it's easy enough in the USA that the tough part is getting admission (which I doubt) then I think your priority would be to fix your degree courses rather than fiddling with the admissions process. It's still weird to me that you can get into university by throwing the ball good, but if someone can balance what is basically a unpaid professional athletics career and get a decent degree too then more power to them.