I am not sure if I should join Academic Decathlon, it is extremely demanding at my school, the students study over 25 hours a week from the beginning of summer until state competitions. They ranked top 20 in the USA, but I don’t know if it is worth the time since it is extremely stressful (especially with various AP classes). If I decide to join my grades might drop and I will be unable to do other ECs due to the time involved in AcaDeca. I am currently involved in sports and by senior/jr year I might be captain for the varsity team. Should I pursue AcaDeca or stay with sports all 4 years and do well in my AP classes and do other ECs. Thank you.
I would say go with what interests you more, but if you want to break it down cynically:
Sports vs. Academic Decathlon
- Which one, if either, are you most likely to win a state-level award in?
- Which one are you more likely to achieve a leadership position in?
- Which one are you more likely to get a sterling LOR out of?
- Which one would serve better as the subject of an essay?
My guess would be sports wins, but that’s for you to decide.
Stay in sports. Focus on most AP and Honors classes, but balancing the classes with sports is a huge plus. Yes, Acadec may be something that you may get huge awards, especially since your school is known nationally in the Acadec roster, but being good in sports will serve you better, and hopefully you can get recruited if your grades and test scores are good enough. It’s not worth risking your grades just for Academic Decathlon.