Some advice on ecs pls help!

cubs77 · 07-21-2008, 07:35 PM

So, I have this dilemna. Im attending a public school with nearly 4000 students. The first 2 years of my high school career I played baseball and football. Well, I diddnt make the varsity baseball team, and now doing football my junior year. I like football, but the only problem is I dont think im ever going to play and I mean ever (except for jv)! The practices are so boring as I never see the field. i want to quit, but my Dad keeps on telling me colleges look for a 4 year commitment. If I quit I will probably join another sport or club. Will colleges reject me if I dont have an activity for 4 years?
P.S. some colleges I want to go to are University of Illinois, University of Chicago or other big ten schools. I have a 4.5 GPA all honors and AP classes.

dchow08 · 07-21-2008, 09:00 PM

They won't reject you because you don't have an activity for 4 years. That's ridiculous. No college will do that. I mean, colleges don't want to see you committed to something that you find really boring.

briguy · 07-21-2008, 09:43 PM

hey cubs i know how u feel. i'm in the same situation with soccer. i'm a junior and i'm pretty sure i wont be making varsity; i have conditioning tomorrow morning and i was seriously thinking about calling it quits and not going tomorrow. i've decided to stick it out for this week. i think if you have other extracurricular activities you will be alright. ha i might just give cross country a try...i just absolutely hate high school soccer.i used to enjoy the sport but it feels as if the coach hardly knows im there.

hereicome09 · 07-22-2008, 09:03 PM

It's important to do things you actualyl enjoy doing. A 4 year commitment is important, but if you're not going to be on varisty and don't enjoy it at all, then why do it? I'd advise joining a club and investing a lot of time into the club. Hopefully, by senior year you'll be able to have a leadership position and your strong dedication to the club will show during admissions.

cubs77 · 07-22-2008, 09:40 PM

So your saying it could make a difference if I diddnt do something for 4 yrs. Also, I thought that most public colleges diddnt care that much about ecs, but really just looked at Class rigor, gpa and sat/act. Is this true?

chinnychinchang · 07-22-2008, 10:20 PM

the top ten schools are private colleges. They take into considertion ECs, etc. Also, not being committed for 4 years is absolutely fine. In fact, I think they would appreciate that you quit realizing you were not happy. Colleges must know that several students just stick to things to pad their resumes. Not everyone finds their interest immediately and this is known. It should not make a difference quitting football. However, if you quit most to all things you started, that would be dangerous and would not show committment.
I hope this helps :-)

stemps · 07-22-2008, 11:18 PM

A thought: If you quit football, you could possibly write about it in the essay or additional info section (if you're using the Common App) and explain why and look into the deeper meaning of it (individuality, entitlement, etc.).

I hate recommending essays to applicants because sometimes I feel as if it sounds like I'm convinced I know more about the your situation than you do. However, if it does seem reasonable, it's worth thinking about. If there's something on your transcript/activities list that the college finds concerning, it can't hurt to explain your situation, especially if you do so in a mature and unassuming manner.

highopes · 07-23-2008, 10:11 AM

I feel the exact same way about cross country - I've done it since 7th grade, but lately I've just been dreading going to practice.

I'm going to stick it out, though, because all my friends are on the team, and even though I'm not as competitive a runner as I used to be, I'm trying to make the best of it.

On the other hand, if you have absolutely no fun at football, you might as well quit and try something new, right?

aisgzdavinci · 07-24-2008, 04:48 AM

It won't matter too much. I have one, but I absolutely hate it.

Northstarmom · 07-24-2008, 06:23 AM

The relatively few colleges that factor ECs into admission (and those colleges tend to be extremely competitive colleges like HPYS that have an overabundance of high stat applicants) are impressed by the depth of one's EC involvement. "Depth" means awards, projects you organized, leadership, how your involvement made a difference to yourself and others.

It's a waste of your time to continue with an EC that you hate and aren't very good at. Instead, you could be involved in an EC that you love and have lots of talent for. That's the kind of EC in which you'd be likely to accrue the kind of accomplishments that impress the colleges that care about those things.