<p>im currently a senior in high school, and i am an avid debater. i havent really done many other extracurriculars in HS because i have focused mainly on debate. i have some but i,m not terribly succesful at any of them, unfortunately. my question is this: if i have devoted almost all of my out of school efforts on this one thing, but have managed to succeed to a great extent, is it ok that i have sacrificed breadth of ECs for depth in this topic? ALSO, how do schools like princeton, harvard, yale, which all have great parliamentary debate teams, value excellence in debate, especially in formats similar to college parli. i know they dont strictly speaking recruıt, but with competitive debate programs, might they give some extra value to this activity and those who really love it?</p>
<p>for reference:
-first debater from my school to qualify and attend the Tournament of Champions, Catholic Forensics League Nationals, and NSDA Nationals ever.
-winner of Princeton's annual high school debate invitational, one of the biggest tournaments at the national level
-winner of several local tournaments, finalist at others
-recipient of 4 bids to Tournament of Champions (so far!)
-captain next year
-top 25 TOC
-top 16 CFL
-1st place NSDA nationals</p>
<p>i also want to write my essay about debate or some of my supplements, though im not sure through which angle i can pursue it. it really means a lot to me. anyways, any and all ınput will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>To be honest, schools look at MUCH MUCH more than just debate. I have friends who have made on national teams and won international tournaments, but still found the time to commit to a substantial amount of other activities (eg. leadership, research, MUN etc). When you are competing against applicants like this, your ec will pale in comparison. </p>
<p>@HvePassion I disagree. This student is one of the top debaters in the world. Making it to TOC and making it to the top 25 is a remarkable accomplishment. Yes, you should have more than that, but it you say that you plan to pursuit debate in college, it will slightly make up for the lack of ECs. Have you gone to any debate camps? Those count as separate ECs and you can put it on your application. Just try to find a job over the summer. </p>
<p>I disagree as well. Doing one thing, and doing it well, is what counts. I’m not familiar with TOC, but if you are placed in the top 10 speakers in the WSDC, you’re pretty much guaranteed admission to a top school (a lot of those guys – non-Americans-- go on to Oxford/Cambridge). Can’t say if this top school will be Harvard or Yale or Cornell, but one at least for sure, as long as everything else is in place. I’ve seen people in the top 50 make it as well, but they took part in like, what, 25 tournaments, and won SO many awards? It’s incredible! Those guys did pretty much nothing else, and are currently at Harvard, Princeton, Swarthmore etc</p>
<p>I think this is an interesting article that discusses the value of debate in college admissions:
<a href=“Accidental Hero . College Admission | PBS”>http://www.pbs.org/accidentalhero/parents/college.html</a>
Written by a Yale professor. Some interesting points:
“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.” (not quite sure how NCFL compares to the NFL)
“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.”
Just some food for thought.</p>
<p>Do you have good standardized test scores? some good APs / SATiis? apply to Oxford- they love depth > breadth</p>