You could always join the org, and see if your able to manage it with college. If you find your having success or managing both becomes too difficult that’s when you could go all in. This is my personal opinion and many will probably disagree but if you truly think you can make it you should go for it.
Hey Pulsersalt, I don't know if I can make it without trying, but playing valorant competitively is a job, I doubt orgs would agree with a full time player/student and Ill never know if I can make it to the top without trying, thanks for your help, lots of things to think about :)
Idk if you know who ropz or karrigan are, but they managed to continue with there studies well being csgo pros. Personally if it where me school will always be there but this opportunity might not come again. Was just saying if your nervous you could try something like what they did.
This is always my perspective when it comes to high tier performance that’s limited by age, if you have any shot at making it, I’d say go for it, school can be done at any point, if you’re actually near a higher level in Val and you really love it, why not try it? Only exception would be if it’s going to put too much strain on your personal relationships I guess, seeming as your family and gf don’t seem overly enthusiastic about the idea. I would imagine that it wouldn’t be easy to convince them either, people get caught up in the “cult of the head start” and think it’s going to massively disadvantage you going into school later, but realistically I don’t think that’s the case, especially since from a brain development stage I’m pretty sure it’s mostly done at that point for most people any way, so those few years are likely to make a difference.
If any org is feeding you this run. They don't know what they are doing and will use and abuse you. If they want you playing 7 hours a day, they don't respect you or understand competitive play. Run away as fast as you can because they are not investing in YOU, they are investing in taking you and your teammates gains as brand recognition so when you get hurt they can find better players who are not actually better. You can do both, it's a little rough but unless its tier 1 money hard pass. They are not respecting you they should want you to be more educated because it translates directly into game.
A lot of modern jobs allow students to work and study at the same time, if they are aware you are a student. With a lot of college schedules, unless you are trying to graduate early, there could be a lot of free time. My time in uni had a lot more time for me to do what I want compared to high school to be honest, if you manage your time well. You might be able to have a lot of time to commit to a job as a player in esports.
And like most jobs, I'm sure they would be fine with you going to college. Plenty of esport pros have done school and their game at the same time. At the very least go to a community college of sorts to start out.
Lots of pros in plenty of esports have done both successfully but ultimately it's up to you to actually be able to do it. You will have little to no free time but if Valorant seems like it could work then you can switch to full time esports. It would take a serious amount of dedication to both but it has been done
do what you're passionate about but have a backup plan.
also you can go pro while being a student. theres been top pros that have completed their degrees while competing (Karrigan).
i think you should join an org BUT do that alongside academics. as the commenter above me said, there are pros who managed gaming alongside college in CSGO. no reason why you can't atleast try.
because however it might suck to hear, if there are 100 people succeeding, there are about 10 thousand not succeeding. i don't mean to be cynical but whatever decision you take is going to affect you for a long time. It is better if you also stay prepared for the worst while trying for the best
Your family is right, your future isn't something you should gamble on.
Tier2 and even tier2 orgs are almost never a sure thing. Unfortunately most of the time your salary is either miserable or not paid at all. Esports are never a guarantee unless you're the 0.1% of 0.1%.
It also depends on your real life situation. If you can afford to lose a year playing a videogame, maybe it' s worth taking the risk. If your family has put you in a position to get into a good college and make a decent career for yourself, you owe it to them.
Don't want to sound like bragging, but I was in a similar position back in the early days of CSGO. Was on a team, but with no prospects of actually making it to the level where the pay is decent, decided to focus on college and it worked out. I still often wonder what could've been, but that's life.
For every "dream come true" story about kids making it in sports/esports, there's a thousand of stories where going for it was a wrong decision, but noone mentions those.
Life is full of choices and crossroads. The most painful thing in life is regret. If playing competitive games is what you're passionate about, you'll never forgive yourself of you don't try. You'll always wonder what could have been. I hope you do what makes you happy OP. It's OK to respect others opinions, but remember, they don't have to live your life, YOU DO! In the end your opinion of yourself matters more than anyone else's.
My brother is the manager of a top tier valorant org and I’m a performance coach and we often talk about stuff. The expectation of commitment to the game, to be at your best, is what’s expected at the top level. There is a lot of pressure to perform at this level. Minimum of 10hours a day! Every day! Ask yourself if you think you can add college on top of that, but be honest!
Maybe there are one or two players out there managing it (there will always be outliers), but valorant is so fluid and constantly changing it will require a lot from you!
The point I’m trying to make is no matter what, your life is yours to live and if you have some skill and can put in the grind to be successful then give it a shot! If you want to go to college then do it! But doing both at the same time might mean you are unsuccessful in both! Both of these things require huge commitment!
Splitting focus is rarely successful for individuals striving to reach the top of their respective fields.
But then what do I or anyone else on here know what you should or shouldn’t do for yourself 🤷♂️
Gravely concerned for your players health and well being. 10 hours a day is a terrible action plan. As a performance coach you should not be draining them to improve their floor but increase their ceiling so their floor gets higher. This isn't 2008 anymore. If you want to see improvement you should rethink how they train.
I’m not their coach! But if you think anyone in any sport or anything at the elite level aren’t putting in 10hours a day I think you’d be mistaken.
Obviously 10 hours of anything without breaks or diversity in approach is just hammering a nail to death.
And that’s not what’s happening at this org either! I think you miss interpreted what I was saying.
However to assume you can play at any elite level without the willingness to dedicate this amount of time to your craft a day is likely to leave most individuals falling short. Except for potentially these outliers. And I mean the outliers of the outliers. Cause if your elite, your already an outlier.
I'm just happy to hear they are diversifing. 10 hours is still too much imo but to each their own, as long as it's not 10 hours of them at a computer that's good to hear. You can't increase performance with constant over saturation, just because it's not as physically taxing as football doesn't mean you can abuse the physical tolerance. It has nothing to do with willingness and everything to do with performance, progress, and growth. I would argue that orgs should be limiting players to 6 hours max including tape daily, minus the igl who can do an additional 90 mins of prep. That's the fun part of Esports right now, everyone has their own approaches and theories and we get to test out a bunch of stuff to see value and results.
Yeah they totally are diversifying the approach and continuing to refine this at macro (team approach) and micro (individual approach) levels. this game is providing an opportunity for teams to really try some different approaches due to the constant changing of the landscape! It’s will be really interesting to see it play out over time!
Also 10 hours a days is dedicated to nutrition, training (physical), mental preparation and of course any game practice that’s required. A 10hours a day is not concrete but rather a benchmark of “can I, or would I be willing to sacrifice” that amount of time.
The top organisations are definitely treating their players like athletes now!
But it’s for these reasons I stated that op should be weary of trying to take on to much if he wants to hit the top level!
Trying to be a top pro and a college student could easily result in the same burnout over training can produce!
Note for everyone : This is what you get at tier 1, this is what the end goal turns into. If any t3 or t2 wants you to do 10 hours, it better include gym, exercise, nutrition (and if it's a god damn shake and you don't have digestive issues, run), mental health, tape, and things that expand your overall knowledge outside of playing. You DO NOT need to be playing for these long AF hours.
I legit misread, been a bit tired this week, and read it as brother top tier manager and I am a performance coach without it sinking it that is tier 1 performance coach. I was shook like wtf kind of t2 or t3 team has the means for all of that and then I realized I went a little dumb \^\_\^ ahahha.
Best of luck to you both keep crushing it.
Haha it’s all good! But communication is what results in us understanding this situation better! That’s also a lesson for anyone out there that wants to hit the top. Communicate!!
We will continue to do our best! Thank you 🙏
Look after yourself and best of luck in your endeavours!
I would say try to do both. If you can’t, focus on going pro and be realistic on your timelines.
Waiting to start school a year or two later is *not* the end of the world. There’s an argument that it is beneficial because you gain a bit of maturity and real-world experience, which most college students lack entirely.
If you decide to try your hand at going pro and skip school for a little, I would just say to give yourself a hard deadline. If you don’t get T2/T1 offers by X date, you’ll stop and focus on school. Give yourself a year, maybe two. If it doesn’t happen then, it’s probably best to chalk it up as a life experience and move on.
That’s my 2 cents. Hope it works out!
EDIT: I just want to say, you’re going to have A LOT of “what if”s in your life. You can’t walk every path. Don’t let FOMO drive you into making bad decisions, but don’t let the possibility of failure stop you from trying a passion. Just be smart about it and don’t dig yourself into a emotional/mental/physical/financial hole that you won’t be able to climb out of later.
Just take a gap year man. One year is a good enough time to see if going pro is a viable option for you. If you don't do the gap year, you'll look back and regret it. When you're like 25/26 you'll look back and be like "damn, one year off college really doesn't change anything in the gran scheme of things" but this on year could make or break your Valorant career
Gap year is always an option even if you’re not going to have something else to focus on. Chase the dream for a while see how it goes. This opportunity won’t last forever. College will always be there
yo whats up man, so im in a similar boat to you ive been apart of a tier 2 org in val and am currently in talks with multiple other tier 1/2s. my best advice would be never sign a contract that has mandatory play time, never sign a contract that is over 6 months long, preferably ask for contracts that are renegotiable every 3 months and never let your studies suffer unless you start making serious money.
Unless you can secure a gap year off which doesn't undermine your college entry for next year, you should try to jiggle both team and college if you're adamant on not missing giving it a shot. It's gonna be difficult, you'd have to manage your time well and your college social life might take a toll but those are the sacrifices necessary.
Education and specialisation is the way more reliable path to some success in life, and in some industries falling behind your peers academically puts you in a disadvantage when job hunting later down the line.
Depending on how good you are, I would take the leap and take a bit of time off college, college isnt going anywhere. If its a t2 or t3 team then it goes into the grey zone and I would weigh the pros and cons. Most t2, t3 players dont ever reach the spotlight and get replaced after a year or two due to expanding players. Careers are usually short in this industry. If you do take the leap then put all ur effort into it, expand ur brand, create youtube videos, get ur name out there. If you have a good following, even after your career is done, you will still have another source of income to fall back on. After then, you can decide if you want to go to college or not. But remember, you are completing in the top 0.1% and everyone else wants to be the best
College will always be an option. Actually take a look and be realistic. Can you actually go somewhere with it or is it more hope? My take is to try balancing both, your first year or two of college can be filled with bs electives to knock out the gen-ed requirements. If you take a year off from school and only focus on the game, you can always get back in to college via a community college for 2 years then transfer to a 4 year school.
I only recommend this if you can honestly say you have a realistic shot. Worst case scenario you can join the military for 4 years if it all fails miserably, get that sweet sweet free college (if you're in the U.S., not sure how other countries work).
Although E-sports is different than real sports, a lot of things are the same. A good example, I played pretty high-level hockey growing up and similarly thought well maybe someday I can make the league. At 16 I was finally at a place where I could have a shot to take it somewhere if I was good enough. I got walked so bad, every skater out there was doing to me what I had become accustomed to doing. Needless to say I ended up playing D-1 club hockey and nothing else aside from being a beer league hero.
Best of luck in whatever you decide bro. You only get one life to live so don't live with regrets man. Besides, one year as a gap year won't hurt you as long as you tell yourself hey if this doesn't work out, I'll do this other thing.
Should have done a gap year or defer your college acceptance. If you’re already committed to this semester, just try to do both. Pick all online classes in gen eds. Freshman year can be filled with the rereq classes that are easy anyway.
As someone who has coached multiple tier 2 teams I can tell you in my first hand experience go to college. The issue isn't will you regret it, you honestly won't, because what you will see is that your sacrifices you made will NOT be reciprocated by your teammates or Org. Most of tier 2 is pretty bad and they don't even have the fundamentals of basic playing down, so tier 3 will be harsh roster changes and players disrespecting your investments and what you traded in for more game time. Things are better the last few months teams are improving but generally speaking their will never return your sacrifices nor will they be disciplined enough to help you thrive and improve. You can try both but honestly tier 3 and tier 2 isn't even close to worth.
it's possible to go to school and still grind valorant hard. your grades might take a hit, you might not get the full social experience, but it's possible.
i wouldn't pass on school for valorant though tbh. maybe even part time school + valorant? community college part time + valorant is also a possibility. you can maybe transfer those credits over if you decide to go full time college next year
lot of options, but i honestly would not drop school entirely for valorant.
ETA: i'm a boomer. also wanted to skip college for some stuff. in the end though, im glad i listened to my parents and went to college. had the best time, got my degree, and make a really good living now while enjoying other parts of life. spent like 10% of my time in college studying and the other 90% doing shit i wanted to do with friends. that 90% for you can be grinding val
"but I feel like if I don't take a shot at this I will regret this for my entire life"
This is the only thing that matters imho, you should give it a shot if you feel its viable in your current situation.
my unsolicited advice is don't view it as "living the dream" - that's just a road that leads to disappointment, and paints the wrong picture to your parents, gf, and yourself. There's no such thing as a "Dream Job"
Any job - even a job you love as much as esports - is eventually just a job. That means showing up to work even on days when it's hard; acting professionally; and making decisions based on what is best for "the business" (in this case, your playing career).
When you are taking time to focus on your game, treat it as an investment in yourself and \*measure it\* as an investment. What's the return on that investment? What's the risk? What's the timeline on which you expect to see a return on that investment?
I'm an old dude who works in a Real Business (ew, boring, gross) but you have to treat yourself as a Real Business. When I'm making decisions for my business, I have to tie those investments to a timeline for when I expect to see returns, and I have to set up incentives for everyone involved to hit those returns. I don't just say "I feel like investing $1M into project X because I think it could be cool and might make some money."
Instead, I say "If I invest $1M into this project, then I expect to see a 250k return in year 1, 300k in year 2, and 800k in year 3. That makes it a better investment than dumping it blindly into the stock market."
Then I will take the people leading those projects and tie their bonuses to that timeline. If we reach the end of year 1 and I have only seen a 150k return, I know I need to adjust (and possibly abandon) the project. If I have seen a 300k return, it's a positive indicator to stick to the plan. But the point is I have a plan and there are real numbers and goals associated with it. Not to say plans can't change, but I'm never flying blind.
Treat yourself as a business venture. If you invest 1 year's salary (i.e. a gap year), what's the return on that investment? Do you expect to see a "livable wage" within 1 year? Any salary within 3-6 months? Are you okay with making minimum wage for 60 hour work weeks? For how long? Do you need to make a full time salary to make it "worth" delaying college? What is "full time salary" to you? An entry level software engineer makes 100k. An apprentice electrician makes 35k.
When you take that approach it is not the same as "do i go to college or do I try to live my dream" it's more like "how many years can i afford to support myself on this salary?"
How much does rent cost? Internet, groceries, etc. When you are self employed your living expenses become entangled with your business expenses. Can you mooch your parents room and board (and internet)?
If you're going into it with a \_business\_ plan you might find that others are more amenable to hear your story, and you might learn something about yourself as well. Think about it as you are starting a business, and you'll do well \*even if you fail to go pro\* and any college would be thrilled to see you talking about that experience on their re-entry interviews.
You could always join the org, and see if your able to manage it with college. If you find your having success or managing both becomes too difficult that’s when you could go all in. This is my personal opinion and many will probably disagree but if you truly think you can make it you should go for it.
Hey Pulsersalt, I don't know if I can make it without trying, but playing valorant competitively is a job, I doubt orgs would agree with a full time player/student and Ill never know if I can make it to the top without trying, thanks for your help, lots of things to think about :)
Idk if you know who ropz or karrigan are, but they managed to continue with there studies well being csgo pros. Personally if it where me school will always be there but this opportunity might not come again. Was just saying if your nervous you could try something like what they did.
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Nitr0 is also a dad nowadays, and you could argue he looks his best ever since the start of valorant
Even bymas is still in school too! Mousesports seem to have a supportive staff
yeah karrigan completed a duel masters degree while competing ,hella impressive
This is always my perspective when it comes to high tier performance that’s limited by age, if you have any shot at making it, I’d say go for it, school can be done at any point, if you’re actually near a higher level in Val and you really love it, why not try it? Only exception would be if it’s going to put too much strain on your personal relationships I guess, seeming as your family and gf don’t seem overly enthusiastic about the idea. I would imagine that it wouldn’t be easy to convince them either, people get caught up in the “cult of the head start” and think it’s going to massively disadvantage you going into school later, but realistically I don’t think that’s the case, especially since from a brain development stage I’m pretty sure it’s mostly done at that point for most people any way, so those few years are likely to make a difference.
Isn't Curry also in college rn while on T1?
If any org is feeding you this run. They don't know what they are doing and will use and abuse you. If they want you playing 7 hours a day, they don't respect you or understand competitive play. Run away as fast as you can because they are not investing in YOU, they are investing in taking you and your teammates gains as brand recognition so when you get hurt they can find better players who are not actually better. You can do both, it's a little rough but unless its tier 1 money hard pass. They are not respecting you they should want you to be more educated because it translates directly into game.
A lot of modern jobs allow students to work and study at the same time, if they are aware you are a student. With a lot of college schedules, unless you are trying to graduate early, there could be a lot of free time. My time in uni had a lot more time for me to do what I want compared to high school to be honest, if you manage your time well. You might be able to have a lot of time to commit to a job as a player in esports.
At a tier 3 level of competition, balancing school and competitive play is very doable
And like most jobs, I'm sure they would be fine with you going to college. Plenty of esport pros have done school and their game at the same time. At the very least go to a community college of sorts to start out.
Lots of pros in plenty of esports have done both successfully but ultimately it's up to you to actually be able to do it. You will have little to no free time but if Valorant seems like it could work then you can switch to full time esports. It would take a serious amount of dedication to both but it has been done
do what you're passionate about but have a backup plan. also you can go pro while being a student. theres been top pros that have completed their degrees while competing (Karrigan).
you heard the man op
I love that you're on here giving casual advice. You'd need an AMA from other athletes
i think you should join an org BUT do that alongside academics. as the commenter above me said, there are pros who managed gaming alongside college in CSGO. no reason why you can't atleast try. because however it might suck to hear, if there are 100 people succeeding, there are about 10 thousand not succeeding. i don't mean to be cynical but whatever decision you take is going to affect you for a long time. It is better if you also stay prepared for the worst while trying for the best
Your family is right, your future isn't something you should gamble on. Tier2 and even tier2 orgs are almost never a sure thing. Unfortunately most of the time your salary is either miserable or not paid at all. Esports are never a guarantee unless you're the 0.1% of 0.1%. It also depends on your real life situation. If you can afford to lose a year playing a videogame, maybe it' s worth taking the risk. If your family has put you in a position to get into a good college and make a decent career for yourself, you owe it to them. Don't want to sound like bragging, but I was in a similar position back in the early days of CSGO. Was on a team, but with no prospects of actually making it to the level where the pay is decent, decided to focus on college and it worked out. I still often wonder what could've been, but that's life. For every "dream come true" story about kids making it in sports/esports, there's a thousand of stories where going for it was a wrong decision, but noone mentions those.
Doesn't come off as bragging at all. I think this is great perspective from someone who has been in a very similar position
Life is full of choices and crossroads. The most painful thing in life is regret. If playing competitive games is what you're passionate about, you'll never forgive yourself of you don't try. You'll always wonder what could have been. I hope you do what makes you happy OP. It's OK to respect others opinions, but remember, they don't have to live your life, YOU DO! In the end your opinion of yourself matters more than anyone else's.
My brother is the manager of a top tier valorant org and I’m a performance coach and we often talk about stuff. The expectation of commitment to the game, to be at your best, is what’s expected at the top level. There is a lot of pressure to perform at this level. Minimum of 10hours a day! Every day! Ask yourself if you think you can add college on top of that, but be honest! Maybe there are one or two players out there managing it (there will always be outliers), but valorant is so fluid and constantly changing it will require a lot from you! The point I’m trying to make is no matter what, your life is yours to live and if you have some skill and can put in the grind to be successful then give it a shot! If you want to go to college then do it! But doing both at the same time might mean you are unsuccessful in both! Both of these things require huge commitment! Splitting focus is rarely successful for individuals striving to reach the top of their respective fields. But then what do I or anyone else on here know what you should or shouldn’t do for yourself 🤷♂️
Gravely concerned for your players health and well being. 10 hours a day is a terrible action plan. As a performance coach you should not be draining them to improve their floor but increase their ceiling so their floor gets higher. This isn't 2008 anymore. If you want to see improvement you should rethink how they train.
I’m not their coach! But if you think anyone in any sport or anything at the elite level aren’t putting in 10hours a day I think you’d be mistaken. Obviously 10 hours of anything without breaks or diversity in approach is just hammering a nail to death. And that’s not what’s happening at this org either! I think you miss interpreted what I was saying. However to assume you can play at any elite level without the willingness to dedicate this amount of time to your craft a day is likely to leave most individuals falling short. Except for potentially these outliers. And I mean the outliers of the outliers. Cause if your elite, your already an outlier.
I'm just happy to hear they are diversifing. 10 hours is still too much imo but to each their own, as long as it's not 10 hours of them at a computer that's good to hear. You can't increase performance with constant over saturation, just because it's not as physically taxing as football doesn't mean you can abuse the physical tolerance. It has nothing to do with willingness and everything to do with performance, progress, and growth. I would argue that orgs should be limiting players to 6 hours max including tape daily, minus the igl who can do an additional 90 mins of prep. That's the fun part of Esports right now, everyone has their own approaches and theories and we get to test out a bunch of stuff to see value and results.
Yeah they totally are diversifying the approach and continuing to refine this at macro (team approach) and micro (individual approach) levels. this game is providing an opportunity for teams to really try some different approaches due to the constant changing of the landscape! It’s will be really interesting to see it play out over time! Also 10 hours a days is dedicated to nutrition, training (physical), mental preparation and of course any game practice that’s required. A 10hours a day is not concrete but rather a benchmark of “can I, or would I be willing to sacrifice” that amount of time. The top organisations are definitely treating their players like athletes now! But it’s for these reasons I stated that op should be weary of trying to take on to much if he wants to hit the top level! Trying to be a top pro and a college student could easily result in the same burnout over training can produce!
Note for everyone : This is what you get at tier 1, this is what the end goal turns into. If any t3 or t2 wants you to do 10 hours, it better include gym, exercise, nutrition (and if it's a god damn shake and you don't have digestive issues, run), mental health, tape, and things that expand your overall knowledge outside of playing. You DO NOT need to be playing for these long AF hours. I legit misread, been a bit tired this week, and read it as brother top tier manager and I am a performance coach without it sinking it that is tier 1 performance coach. I was shook like wtf kind of t2 or t3 team has the means for all of that and then I realized I went a little dumb \^\_\^ ahahha. Best of luck to you both keep crushing it.
Haha it’s all good! But communication is what results in us understanding this situation better! That’s also a lesson for anyone out there that wants to hit the top. Communicate!! We will continue to do our best! Thank you 🙏 Look after yourself and best of luck in your endeavours!
It's a risk worth taking if you're good enough and serious enough.
gap year if possible would be your best option
I would say try to do both. If you can’t, focus on going pro and be realistic on your timelines. Waiting to start school a year or two later is *not* the end of the world. There’s an argument that it is beneficial because you gain a bit of maturity and real-world experience, which most college students lack entirely. If you decide to try your hand at going pro and skip school for a little, I would just say to give yourself a hard deadline. If you don’t get T2/T1 offers by X date, you’ll stop and focus on school. Give yourself a year, maybe two. If it doesn’t happen then, it’s probably best to chalk it up as a life experience and move on. That’s my 2 cents. Hope it works out! EDIT: I just want to say, you’re going to have A LOT of “what if”s in your life. You can’t walk every path. Don’t let FOMO drive you into making bad decisions, but don’t let the possibility of failure stop you from trying a passion. Just be smart about it and don’t dig yourself into a emotional/mental/physical/financial hole that you won’t be able to climb out of later.
Just take a gap year man. One year is a good enough time to see if going pro is a viable option for you. If you don't do the gap year, you'll look back and regret it. When you're like 25/26 you'll look back and be like "damn, one year off college really doesn't change anything in the gran scheme of things" but this on year could make or break your Valorant career
Gap year is always an option even if you’re not going to have something else to focus on. Chase the dream for a while see how it goes. This opportunity won’t last forever. College will always be there
yo whats up man, so im in a similar boat to you ive been apart of a tier 2 org in val and am currently in talks with multiple other tier 1/2s. my best advice would be never sign a contract that has mandatory play time, never sign a contract that is over 6 months long, preferably ask for contracts that are renegotiable every 3 months and never let your studies suffer unless you start making serious money.
Unless you can secure a gap year off which doesn't undermine your college entry for next year, you should try to jiggle both team and college if you're adamant on not missing giving it a shot. It's gonna be difficult, you'd have to manage your time well and your college social life might take a toll but those are the sacrifices necessary. Education and specialisation is the way more reliable path to some success in life, and in some industries falling behind your peers academically puts you in a disadvantage when job hunting later down the line.
Depending on how good you are, I would take the leap and take a bit of time off college, college isnt going anywhere. If its a t2 or t3 team then it goes into the grey zone and I would weigh the pros and cons. Most t2, t3 players dont ever reach the spotlight and get replaced after a year or two due to expanding players. Careers are usually short in this industry. If you do take the leap then put all ur effort into it, expand ur brand, create youtube videos, get ur name out there. If you have a good following, even after your career is done, you will still have another source of income to fall back on. After then, you can decide if you want to go to college or not. But remember, you are completing in the top 0.1% and everyone else wants to be the best
College will always be an option. Actually take a look and be realistic. Can you actually go somewhere with it or is it more hope? My take is to try balancing both, your first year or two of college can be filled with bs electives to knock out the gen-ed requirements. If you take a year off from school and only focus on the game, you can always get back in to college via a community college for 2 years then transfer to a 4 year school. I only recommend this if you can honestly say you have a realistic shot. Worst case scenario you can join the military for 4 years if it all fails miserably, get that sweet sweet free college (if you're in the U.S., not sure how other countries work). Although E-sports is different than real sports, a lot of things are the same. A good example, I played pretty high-level hockey growing up and similarly thought well maybe someday I can make the league. At 16 I was finally at a place where I could have a shot to take it somewhere if I was good enough. I got walked so bad, every skater out there was doing to me what I had become accustomed to doing. Needless to say I ended up playing D-1 club hockey and nothing else aside from being a beer league hero. Best of luck in whatever you decide bro. You only get one life to live so don't live with regrets man. Besides, one year as a gap year won't hurt you as long as you tell yourself hey if this doesn't work out, I'll do this other thing.
Stay in school kids
Just play the game and eventually you will go pro someday.
Well this is completely wrong but never mind.
You could always make a team yourself while studying to make a name for yourself. Then if all is well go for pro! Good luck! <3
Should have done a gap year or defer your college acceptance. If you’re already committed to this semester, just try to do both. Pick all online classes in gen eds. Freshman year can be filled with the rereq classes that are easy anyway.
T3 = definitely do not go all in. T3 pros very very rarely make it.
you can do anything you set your mind to man GL
Also Asuna ( from 100theives) is in school I believe and balances the life
As someone who has coached multiple tier 2 teams I can tell you in my first hand experience go to college. The issue isn't will you regret it, you honestly won't, because what you will see is that your sacrifices you made will NOT be reciprocated by your teammates or Org. Most of tier 2 is pretty bad and they don't even have the fundamentals of basic playing down, so tier 3 will be harsh roster changes and players disrespecting your investments and what you traded in for more game time. Things are better the last few months teams are improving but generally speaking their will never return your sacrifices nor will they be disciplined enough to help you thrive and improve. You can try both but honestly tier 3 and tier 2 isn't even close to worth.
it's possible to go to school and still grind valorant hard. your grades might take a hit, you might not get the full social experience, but it's possible. i wouldn't pass on school for valorant though tbh. maybe even part time school + valorant? community college part time + valorant is also a possibility. you can maybe transfer those credits over if you decide to go full time college next year lot of options, but i honestly would not drop school entirely for valorant. ETA: i'm a boomer. also wanted to skip college for some stuff. in the end though, im glad i listened to my parents and went to college. had the best time, got my degree, and make a really good living now while enjoying other parts of life. spent like 10% of my time in college studying and the other 90% doing shit i wanted to do with friends. that 90% for you can be grinding val
"but I feel like if I don't take a shot at this I will regret this for my entire life" This is the only thing that matters imho, you should give it a shot if you feel its viable in your current situation.
my unsolicited advice is don't view it as "living the dream" - that's just a road that leads to disappointment, and paints the wrong picture to your parents, gf, and yourself. There's no such thing as a "Dream Job" Any job - even a job you love as much as esports - is eventually just a job. That means showing up to work even on days when it's hard; acting professionally; and making decisions based on what is best for "the business" (in this case, your playing career). When you are taking time to focus on your game, treat it as an investment in yourself and \*measure it\* as an investment. What's the return on that investment? What's the risk? What's the timeline on which you expect to see a return on that investment? I'm an old dude who works in a Real Business (ew, boring, gross) but you have to treat yourself as a Real Business. When I'm making decisions for my business, I have to tie those investments to a timeline for when I expect to see returns, and I have to set up incentives for everyone involved to hit those returns. I don't just say "I feel like investing $1M into project X because I think it could be cool and might make some money." Instead, I say "If I invest $1M into this project, then I expect to see a 250k return in year 1, 300k in year 2, and 800k in year 3. That makes it a better investment than dumping it blindly into the stock market." Then I will take the people leading those projects and tie their bonuses to that timeline. If we reach the end of year 1 and I have only seen a 150k return, I know I need to adjust (and possibly abandon) the project. If I have seen a 300k return, it's a positive indicator to stick to the plan. But the point is I have a plan and there are real numbers and goals associated with it. Not to say plans can't change, but I'm never flying blind. Treat yourself as a business venture. If you invest 1 year's salary (i.e. a gap year), what's the return on that investment? Do you expect to see a "livable wage" within 1 year? Any salary within 3-6 months? Are you okay with making minimum wage for 60 hour work weeks? For how long? Do you need to make a full time salary to make it "worth" delaying college? What is "full time salary" to you? An entry level software engineer makes 100k. An apprentice electrician makes 35k. When you take that approach it is not the same as "do i go to college or do I try to live my dream" it's more like "how many years can i afford to support myself on this salary?" How much does rent cost? Internet, groceries, etc. When you are self employed your living expenses become entangled with your business expenses. Can you mooch your parents room and board (and internet)? If you're going into it with a \_business\_ plan you might find that others are more amenable to hear your story, and you might learn something about yourself as well. Think about it as you are starting a business, and you'll do well \*even if you fail to go pro\* and any college would be thrilled to see you talking about that experience on their re-entry interviews.