Are Extracurriculars really that Important for non T20 CS?

To go back to your original questions
1° yes EC’s are important for all colleges that admit 40% or fewer applicants
2° doing things “for college” won’t get you into a T20 (because they’ll have applicants with equal qualifications who actually love what they do, have found a good balance, etc)
3° it’s more important to do a few things well than many things competently - don’t spread yourself out too thin. 3 APs, 2-3 honors, 3 activities would be plenty for any university. You don’t get extra points for 5 Aps, plus self studying, plus being the leader of 3 HS clubs, plus being team captain, plus etc, etc. You can adapt Stanford’s old statement “it’s not a game of who has the most Aps, wins”, to “It’s not a game of who has the most ECs, wins”. Stockpiling Aps and ECs is off the mark. That is NOT what top schools want.
4° it’s even more important to find out what you find FUN and to have fun - being competitive about everything isn’t going to win you points (in fact, you need to have competitive AND non competitive activities, ie., volunteering for instance, and you must project that you understand the difference. It’s not all about winning.)
5° there’s nothing wrong with going to see the coach and seeing if you find track and its various events “fun”, even if you can’t compete at a high level. Keep in mind that you’re unlikely to have qualifying times for the Ivy League, so look into MIT/CalTech times. BUT even if you’re nowhere near these times as a freshman or have any hope of reaching them, ever, if you find that fun, it’s excellent for you and excellent for college because it shows you do things even if they don’t “win you something”, that you can persist through adversity, etc. [<- this third category is often forgotten by applicants who think of the academic category and of the EC category only.]
6° aim for captain of the Varsity soccer team senior year. Academy soccer isn’t an “in” to a college, it’s the way to have a shot at D1 for the sport.

@MWolf Thank you for your advice! Geography bee coaching is actually something my parents highly discourage me from doing because they think it’s a waste of time, but I love. I do it because I choked on stage last year at nationals and I’m trying to redeem myself. Also it’ll be hard to hang out with my friends this summer when I’m spending the majority of the time 600 miles away in a new state.

@momtogirls2 Lol that’s the place my dad took me every single day when I was in elementary school to train soccer. Great place.

@MYOS1634 I’ll try my best to be a captain (there are sometimes more than one captain per year, I think)…I’ve never been much of a team fellow, I kind of go out there, leave everyone in the dust, and everyone appreciates my work but I don’t give much back -_-

At the schools where admissions are done holistically, yes, ECs count heavily. The lack thereof could be an issue, even an impediment to admissions. For large schools like UIUC, it’s a Numbers game. Yes, I know many many students, especially international ones, with no ECs get accepted. They have the numbers, they get in.

Of course, it’s a whole other story if you are good enough to be a recruited athletes. In that case, it may be the reason you are accepted to schools.

For schools looking at applicants holistically, non NCAA level athletes are evaluated with their sport as an EC. It can be argued that such a sport is “counted” heavier than other ECs due to commitment level that it takes. For the more selective schools, I think itvsll depends on what they have in their admissions pool that year. Frankly, I don’t think sports count much at all if the student has some other strong EC, and something that catches eyes makes far more impact. I don’t think the high school athletes who did not go on to play college level did any better than their non athlete peers in admissions.

@squ1rrel : I know, because it’s clear from the way you react, what you think is important, etc - and I’m trying to help you understand it will not serve you well if you want to get into any school with selectivity 25% and lower. Read MIT’s “applying sideways”, take Cal Newport’s advice on underscheduling to heart.

@squ1rrel. You mentioned that one school you were planning to apply to was University of Washington. One of my sons applied there several years ago and was accepted directly into computer science (although he did not choose to attend.) His extracurriculars were: lead programmer of robotics team (that was the only club he joined), several personal programming projects, and about five or six community service activities that mainly involved being an assistant teacher and/or tech. He did have high stats also (gpa, SAT). This is to give you an idea of what is enough for the mid-tiers and lower if you have high stats.

I think it is fine to be calculating about what colleges are looking for and to combine that awareness with doing what you love most and feel most driven to pursue. When colleges look at activities I am guessing they sense what level of competency you reach, whether you are sociable and a natural leader, and what you would likely participate in on their campus.

^ Back when your S would have applied, Washington CS offered direct admission to about ten OOS students each year. As recently as 2018, the CS website would publish statements such as the following:

“For 2017, over 5,000 freshmen applicants indicated Computer Science or Computer Engineering as their first choice major. Of these applicants, around 150 students were offered direct admission. These admits have an average unweighted GPA of 3.97 and are mostly Washington state residents. Average test scores are: ACT 34, SAT math 764, SAT verbal 758."

Beginning this year, direct admission will be the most common way to enter the CS major at UW. However, I have not seen any admission statistics published for this year’s class.

“The University of Washington seeks students who can benefit from its wealth of academic and cultural opportunities and contribute to its amazing energy and rich diversity of experience. Choosing students from a very able group of applicants requires a selection process that looks beyond grades and standardized tests. The UW holistic review process considers academic preparation and performance, personal achievements and characteristics, and more. The Allen School’s Direct to Major process considers these same holistic criteria.”

https://www.cs.washington.edu/academics/ugrad/admissions/dtm

Few schools will out and out say that all they care about are the numbers.

@UWfromCA Wow, I didn’t know that such a small group was admitted directly to CS! I am so glad to hear that UW has changed their system now so that CS majors who are admitted are in the major. Considering the amount of money paid for their education, I think these kids need a few guarantees. It is terrible for the CS kids who are admitted undeclared to some schools (like UC Berkeley L&S and UCSD) to have to try to guess whether or not they have a chance of getting into the major, and whether it is worth the risk of possibly never getting in at all. I think the ease of being able to get one’s major should be factored into college rankings.