<p>OP, I found this article online about the value of debate in admissions. @Corinthian, I think it shows the value of qualifying for Nats even without breaking/placing. It’s written by a Yale professor:</p>
<p>“The National Forensic League, with its mission of “Training Youth for Leadership,” is one of a handful of national high school organizations which leading colleges use as a “barometer of success.” Qualification to NFL Nationals is viewed as a considerable accomplishment with late elimination round success being even more noteworthy. The fact that the NFL is also seen as the national high school speech and debate honor society is even more significant; with the higher degrees of membership and NFL Academic All-American status carrying more weight than ever in college admissions reviews.”</p>
<p>Also, there’s an idea for an award OP, NFL Academic All-American is achieved by having 750 NFL points and a minimum GPA (I think it’s like 3.7) and minimum test scores. It isn’t as hard to achieve as a Nats qualification- a team mate and I both got ours early on junior year, before either of us qualified for Nats. Here’s another interesting statistic from the article:</p>
<p>“The Wall Street Journal report did specifically highlight a “consistent trend”—one that forensic coaches have known for a long time—that dedicated participation in drama and debate has significantly increased the success rate of college applicants at all schools which track such data. State and national award winners have a 22% to 30% higher acceptance rate at top tier colleges and being captain of the debate team “improved an applicant’s chances by more than 60% compared with the rest of the pool,” according to the report. This is significantly better than other extracurricular activities that tend to recruit from the same pool of students as forensic teams such as school newspaper reporter (+3%), sports team captain (+5%), class president (+5%), and band (+3%). Even without winning major awards, participation in speech and debate develops valuable skills that colleges are seeking out and that is reflected in the above average acceptance rate (+4%). Colleges and universities today are looking for articulate thinkers and communicators who will become active citizens and leaders of tomorrow.”</p>
<p>So I think debate could be a very valuable activity if you really chose to pursue it. Here’s the rest of the article: <a href=“Accidental Hero . College Admission | PBS”>http://www.pbs.org/accidentalhero/parents/college.html</a></p>