What to Expect

Exercise physiology is more than just physical fitness. Students learn to help people and encourage them to be their best.

Dennis Beaver majored in exercise physiology at the University of New Orleans because he wanted to become a coach for high school and college athletics.

"Exercise physiology is a natural progression and a complementary area of study for strength and conditioning," says Beaver. "Athletes need a coach's help, but a coach has to be able to give accurate guidance, not make it up on the fly."

Students can expect to average about three hours of homework a week for each course they're taking, he says.

One of the most common difficulties students have in college is balancing their classes, homework, work and personal life. Successful students learn to budget their time.

"It can be very difficult to get everything done," says Julie Crago. She studied kinesiology. "Time is very important and so is discipline."

Beaver says you have to make an effort to understand the subject matter. "You do yourself...a disservice by simply glossing over the material and just learning enough to get by," he says. "For someone like myself, with a full-time job that involves a lot of travel and coaching part time, dedicating enough time to study and research is the most difficult."

Survival Tips

Crago says students should be involved in a lot of extracurricular activities. "I love being in kinesiology because there are so many fun people and we get along real well. This helps when it comes to exam time."

Getting involved in extracurricular activities such as sports, academic clubs or theater can also help a student start to balance many things as they will have to do in college. Clubs will help develop leadership and communications skills.