<p>I was having a discussion with my friend, and she said, "Top colleges prefer athletes over artists." I countered that by saying, "Colleges want people who love what they do for the sake of doing it." She said, "Of course, but I'm just saying that athletes are a more valuable asset for a college, because in college sports are extra curricular. So the history major can still play for the team, whereas the artist in high school can become a physics major and never contribute to art because the galleries are being populated by graduate students and majors of art."</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>I'm an entering freshman (don't judge, I'm not a college-obsessed {meaning I do EVERYTHING for the sake of what looks good on an application} girl and never will be, we were watching Legally Blonde and started talking about Harvard) and that had me thinking about my activities in high school. I play a sport now and do theater. I equally love both (if I loved one over the other, I wouldn't be asking for help), and I'm a little bit better in theater (A LITTLE). Even at my private school they are fantastic in both. But due to the time commitment, I can only do one or the other and clubs. Since I like both, and they're pretty much equal in their positives and negatives, would I lose out on something if I choose theater over sports?</p>
<p>If you haven’t been playing varsity sports already (or at least freshman/junior varsity), your probably not getting recruited for sports. </p>
<p>Unless you plan on pursuing theater on a national scale, your theater won’t be counted more than an EC your passionate about.</p>
<p>I’m going to assume your not going to be recruited or perform on a national level. This means that either EC is weighted equally (assuming you show equal passion about both). Since they’re weighted equally, choose whatever you’ll enjoy more. The difference is negligible in admissions.</p>
<p>Which do you think is more likely to make rich alumni open their wallets - a winning football team or a bunch of students who excelled at art or music competitions? </p>
<p>Especially at football factories, i. e. Division IA - but not exclusively, by any means?</p>
<p>DI athletics is the number one form of advertisement a college can have. I once heard a coach say that the athletic program is the colleges “front porch”…it’s the first thing a person sees & form an opinion from.</p>
<p>If you’re not going to be incredibly competitively successful in your sport, choose theatre. Maybe pursue your sport on the side, at the club level. At ivy league schools, academically high achieving athletes are rarer in the applicant pool than academically high achieving artists. However, if your participation in theatre can get you lead roles, directorial or assistant directorial positions, and perhaps interesting roles/internships/the like over the summer, it will take you further than just playing a sport.</p>