Nervous about listing a sport or activity on your Common App if you didn’t see it through to senior year? Don’t panic, these admissions experts say: https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/real-scoop-colleges-view-quitting-sport-activity/
The solution in the article seems to be “just leave it off your application”. That’s true when you’re experimenting with clubs or sports. There is another side to this coin too. Sometimes you have to quit an activity in order to progress or to diversity your experience. For example, a STEM student may have to quit the high school robotics club in order make time for an a great internship opportunity in a robotics lab. A girl on the swim team who wants to be a nurse or a teacher might decide to quit the team in order to take a lifeguarding or swim teacher job. She won’t get the swimming scholarship, but she gets diversity of experience tied in with her passion for swimming.
Kids experiment with different activities when they start their freshman year in high school. My son played JV lacrosse for two years. After the second year, it was pretty clear, based on the level of play this particular school, that he was not going to make the varsity team the next year (required in junior year), so he “quit.” I put the word quit in quotations, because I don’t consider him to be a quitter, but more of a realist and one who was seeking to find his passion. He decided to pursue a completely different activity (arts related). Both activities are extremely time consuming (10 or more hours a week). That being said, You would not want to leave the sport off your application because one would wonder how he was spending his time during freshman and sophomore year as there were no other major activities those years.
My kid quit sports and any musical activities so he can pursue what he was more interested in. No big deal there. I listened to his reasons and agreed with him in 15 minutes. I believe in trying different activities until you find the one that really interests you. That’s what life is all about. Life is too short to do things that don’t get your juice flowing.
If you list activities such as sports or clubs, colleges like to see commitment and progress/improvement. For example, if you joined a club Freshmen year and then Junior year became Secretary of the club, and eventually became President or VP as a senior-- this shows that you were committed to this activity and also took on leadership roles. If you decide to quit a sport or club, I would recommend not listing it. If you feel it is necessary to list this activity make sure to justify why you quit (change in interest, etc).
Websensation, mine wanted to quit state orchestra at the beginning of 12th and I asked her to think about it, but said, "Any college that’s going to be impressed will already be impressed. She had been first chair one year and had a lot more music than that.
You can quit a sport. Ok? But the more competitive a college, the more important the replacement needs to be. No saying in Addl Info that you wanted to focus on improving your 1520 or had a chance to add a 4th honor society. Or found another do-nothing club.
Bigger problem is kids who quit everything after a one year try.