do other extracurriculars > sports?

Applying to College
1

this is going to be long, sorry in advance. i’d appreciate it so so much if you stick through though :slight_smile:

hi everyone, i’m a sophomore in high school right now. as a freshman, i was on jv swimming and broke two jv records.
however, after the swim season ended, i decided to quit swimming because i felt unmotivated and felt like i didn’t belong. although there were many good moments on the swim team, i sometimes felt discouraged and upset by the somewhat toxic environment created by my school’s swim team.

sometimes, girls would trash-talk and backstab each other. cliques and “groups” were formed. the jv coach only cared about a swimmer if they were funny and outgoing (i was one of the best, but quiet and relatively introverted), and the varsity coach played favorites. big time. for example, for varsity tryouts, two girls who performed poorly made varsity because they were favorites, while a friend of mine who outperformed both of them did not make varsity, despite being faster.

i also quit swimming because i thought that clubs and better grades were more important than swimming. last year, i was only in two clubs (but did really well in them) but got very, very poor grades (mostly Bs, one Cs, couple As). however, this year, i am in five clubs (and am actively participating and competing in them) and currently have the best grades i’ve ever had (all As, and only 1 A-).

however, i’ve been looking through my old swim things and have begun to somewhat regret my decision to quit swimming. i realized how much money and time my parents have spent on my swimming (swim lessons, swim team, swim gear, swim meets, high school swimming) only for me to quit just after my first year of high school. i feel really bad about this.

sorry this is really long, and i know it seems like i’m rambling, but please help me choose which one is better:

swimming, which i am decent at (but not good enough to swim in college), or extracurriculars (five clubs - math team, computer science, fbla, competitive STEM club, debate) and good grades (straight As).

many thanks to those who give me some insight on this!!

2

Grades are really important. I don’t think colleges prefer one activity over the other, but as you’ve found out, a time consuming sport can keep you from doing other things. You should at least figure out ways to get exercise to maintain your health, even if you don’t go back to the swim team. Also, is there any way to club swim for your own satisfaction, but not be on the school team? It is valid to not like the environment (coaches, cliques, etc) on your school team, and you may find yourself right back into those problems.

If you do rejoin swimming, can you keep a couple of your clubs as well?

Bottom line for what I think you are asking in your title, colleges do NOT prefer a sport over other activities. They DO prefer high grades over low grades. That doesn’t mean you should not switch back to swimming. But keep those things in mind as you make your decision.

3

You don’t like swimming, so don’t do it. All that money your parents spent won’t come back if you swim. I always considered any money I spent on activities for my kids to be for the period they were doing that sport. One daughter did gymnastics as a child, then switched to something else. She enjoyed it while she was doing it and that’s all that mattered.

Stick with the clubs you like.

4

Thank you! Club swim in itself is very time consuming - there’s 2+ hour practices everyday along with the occasional swim meet.
Last year, swimming would easily take up 24 hours of my week, which were hours that I could’ve spent actually understanding what I was learning at school and studying for exams.
I do love the sport, but not the people on my high school swim team (and some on my club team). Not sure if that made sense, but if I were able to have a private swim coach and swim that way, I’d definitely do that if it were financially possible.

5

Just don’t do clubs that seem like padding. Having demonstrated interest in your college major is a lot better than having a bunch of BS on your EC list. Also, playing a sport reflects a level of commitment so it’s nice to have that on your list when you’re competing against all the intellectual club gurus. But, it isn’t that big of a deal at the end of the day if you don’t plan on playing sports in college.

6

i’m not doing the clubs that seem like padding, lol - i actually really enjoy all of them because they all benefit me in a different way. math team strengthens my math skills, debate team helps me overcome my fear of public speaking and allows me to become more politically aware, fbla teaches me business and life skills, computer science club allows me experience STEM fields and do things i otherwise would never do, and the competitive stem club (actually includes reading/writing competitions) pushes me to hone my skills in the areas in which i am competing in.

the thing is, with demonstrating interest in my college major… i don’t know what i want to do in college, at all. i just know that i want to do something either business, law, or STEM (in no particular order), or a combination of the two. they all apply to the clubs that i am participating in right now, however, i do not know what specific major i am going over (i don’t even have a general idea, like engineering or computer science). i’ll try to figure that out by the end of this year tho.

and yes, i’ll look at your discussion

7

There are plenty of colleges that do intramural swimming and have swimming clubs for fun, if you enjoy competing but not at the top level. My sister was big into club swimming in high school (mumble mumble years ago). Tops in the state, but not anything special nationally. She kept it up for fun in college but didn’t compete, and still swims in an adult league.

Focus on grades and other things for now. But when you get to touring colleges, arrange to talk to coaches or swim team members and tell this story.

And for heaven’s sake, do not focus on a college major when you’ve got two years of high school yet to go! Focus on doing well at interesting things with interesting people. There are colleges with swim clubs where you WILL find a friend group, and feel you belong. Do things because they’re important, you love them, you’re good at them, and you’re happy doing them. That’s a recipe for success in high school, college, and life.

8

Being in 5 clubs sounds like you are spreading yourself out too thin. Take a look at this video of a former Stanford adcom reviewing an app with a bunch of clubs and titles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96XL8vBBB7o

It sounds like you are at this point just taking part in the functions of the clubs, which is not going to be competitive at very selective colleges. There is a thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at The post is at [“Those ECs are weak…”- So what’s good?]("Those ECs are weak...."- So what's good? - #3 by Northstarmom - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums)

As you will see from that link, at the most selective colleges they are looking for depth more than just participation. Stanford, for example, says

You didn’t like the swim team, so consider that water under the bridge (or “sunk costs” when you take Econ in college). Find things that are right for you. 2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them (same author, different examples) are at [How to Be Impressive](The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save This Grind?](Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) I don’t buy into his underlying explanation of why they are impressive, but take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.

9

Has this student said they are gunning for schools Stanford? Everything looks like a nail when you are a hammer… I know this ONE video from this ONE school says this – but (1) most students aren’t even trying for those schools, and (2) even a student who just dug into debate and math (for example) and won a lot in those areas still probably won’t get in. Unless the student is really targeting the very tippy top schools, the activities they have picked will be fine. One of my kids listed 14 activities in the activities section of their common app. Got into UChicago (ranked right alongside Yale this year) and everyplace else they applied.

10

I don’t think I have, and if I had done so, it was when I was extremely naive about the college admissions process. Now, I’m more informed and will probably be applying to top schools that are really good, but not elite (for example: UC Berkeley instead of HYPS).

Can you share the video you talked about? it seems interesting.

Congratulations on your child getting into UChicago! What activities were they?

11

My UChicago kid had the following major ECs: Quiz Bowl (top 5 in state individually), Davidson THINK summer program, FIRST Robotics, entomology, club fencing, volunteer at a food bank for a couple of years, and US Biology Olympiad (self studied, got her bio teacher to proctor for her). She also had a smattering of school clubs she enjoyed as well that she listed (but she put them in priority order on the Common App).

12

It’s really impressive that she managed to balance all those extracurricular activities. There’s no doubt that she will have success in all her future endeavors; best of luck to her!

13

Her school was small and encouraged kids to do a lot of ECs. She also did a lot of stuff in the summer. But --she had great test scores and solid grades. Without that, she wouldn’t have gotten in the places she did.

14

Swim is very time consuming and you’re going to need as much time as you can get when you’re taking those AP classes and doing test prep/college apps your junior and senior years. Also, if you don’t think you would get recruited, then it’s probably not make or break. Just make sure to find extra-curriculars that you can thrive in and that connect to your future major and you can easily fill the void of swimming on an application. In fact, it might be even better to take up an internship in your prospective major rather than swim. Just my opinion though

15

You can stay connected in other ways if swimming is really important to you- check out the YMCA or other local organizations to see if you can help with swim lessons or see if there is a special olympic team that needs help coaching (especially if you can swim with them as a unified partner in games). Sharing your passion with others is extremely fulfilling if competing isn’t an option for you anymore.