<p>My student has participated in a sport at a very high level with 10+ hours per week, 48 weeks per year, but will not play division one, will the student be hurt by the participation in the sport? My student is also first chair in a state orchestra and does intend to participate in music in school. Student is on State team in sport.</p>
<p>He or she will absolutely not be hurt by playing a sport to that level. I don’t see any reason why that would do anything other than help.</p>
<p>Thank you fgsfds, though, I’m still not sure of this since my student will not be contributing to the campus community in the sport. I’ve seen on some threads the sentiment that a student will only be seen favorably if they are a recruited athlete. My student loves the sport, but loves academics and music way more at this point in life.</p>
<p>You’re reading too much into it. Student shows dedication – which is transferable to non sports endeavors, no?</p>
<p>I think what you may be confusing Tspwt5 is the concept of a “hook”. Granted, being a recruited athlete is fantastic, and offers a distinct advantage in admissions, being a athlete shows massive dedication and is great no matter what.</p>
<p>I think what OP is concerned about is that the sport is very time-consuming and thus detracts from the kid’s participation in other ECs. I think colleges don’t really care what your extracurricular pursuits are as long as you demonstrate commitment, leadership and achievement.</p>
<p>Thank you T26E4 and wrightm, we do so hope the dedication and commitment is obvious; seems odd to be so limited for space on the Common App to show this. It comes down to marking hrs per week & weeks per year. I guess adcoms are used to seeing this. It has been an interesting process. Student is in the midwest and D1 schools in the area asked S to play, but they are not the research oriented institutes he is interested in. That meant reaching well beyond our geographic area, and doing so in a subjective sport. Most important though, S discovered he wants great academics, and at some schools he visited, athlete hosts suggested he take lower level courses when admitted. S decided to play club level and apply to superb research universities. He saw that many, if not most, of admitted applicants have ec’s quite different from his. Some do have varsity sports, but instead of the additional year round high level club ball that he has played, they tend to have involvement in school clubs and other types of activities and research.</p>
<p>Among my classmates were many obviously high performing athletes before college that did not continue in their sport once at Yale i.e. they pursued ECs outside of their previous sport. They weren’t uncommon. I don’t know which sport your son plays but many of the top scholars were folks who were or had been athletes. Yes, some people took lesser classes – but there were tons of folks who were genuine scholars.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son. He wouldn’t be odd whatsoever at Yale.</p>
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<p>Your student is a D1 recruitable athlete who is more interested in academics and research and also wants to contribute to extracurricular life on campus in the musical realm. He sounds like a very attractive candidate. His extracurricular credentials are solid and he does not need to ‘pad his EC resume’ by listing BS activities.</p>
<p>Of course, at the top schools what will matter most is his academic record.</p>
<p>A final question regarding ec’s: on the Common App Activities page, the character limit on the description of the activities prompt was very short, and my S included high school honors and time commitment (10 hrs wk, 48 wks), but the time commitment is actually for both high school and club activity. He applied early action, and I’m wondering if he should forward an explanation ASAP. He fully meets the academic criteria, and I should have realized the need for better explanation. In short, I failed to have him list his club activity and honors separately.</p>
<p>^^Don’t worry about that and I wouldn’t bother sending in an explanation. There will be many different ways in which your son’s commitment and accomplishments will be apparent to the admissions officers. Sometimes less is more.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>