<p>I weighed in earlier here by saying that dropping 4th year of tennis wouldn't be a problem. I'd stay with that. My kids dropped various things, but they did stick with a couple of EC's in which they were heavily involved (and "successful" in the sense that they won awards for their achievements/contributions -- in debate, news writing, art). That worked just fine for them.</p>
<p>While I don't think a decision about tennis matters one bit to your daughter's college chances or choices, I do think massguy's instincts are correct in asking about the range and depth of your daughter's extracurricular interests. If she's doing so well in academics (judging by GPA), she may well be the type of kid who manages her time so well that she can take on lots of extra activities. But the adcoms become cconcerned by a kid who seems to do everything, and to collect titles and so on (even being elected to major leadership positions) if the main evidence of accomplishment is the title and activities and not the outcomes of activities: things created, achieved, contributed, and so on. Generally speaking, kids are going to have major accomplishments/outcomes by focusing on a few EC's. Joining (or even leading) organizations may be a way to accomplish things but if there are so many of them, they seem almost certain to be thin in achievement.</p>
<p>Ask your kid, she will tell you what she enjoys, not these CC'ers(lol).
Leave it up to her to choose even if it means dropping tennis. She will have her own reasons and that's what matters.
I have a kid who plays waterpolo since 4th grade, however she's already told me she will drop this activity in 11th grade when PE is no longer required. I have to bite my tongue but I leave the EC's to her.</p>
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The daily extra driving time would really be hard on her schedule.
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<p>As the mom of two involved kids, I would like to highlight my previous comment about time commitment. I personally think that a kid who doesn't have an extra 40 minutes in a day is overscheduled. It sounded to me like the problem wasn't so much tennis, but the extra burden of travel due to court revovation. </p>
<p>Now, if the issue is likes vs dislikes, or what looks best to the adcom, that's another story!</p>
<p>My D wanted to stop the tennis.(she really didn't love it like her team mates) She would have kept with it if the general feeling was that you should have 4 years of a sport for college admissions. The extra time was not only 40 min., but because the school was unwilling to supply bus transportation she would have to drive home the players who did not have a car. It does sound somewhat ridiculous that 40+ minutes is so much extra time but I think it's probably the catalyst she needed to finally quit.</p>
<p>She loves her other activites so much more than tennis, so I agree that this is the right decision.</p>
<p>I agree savvymom, if she doesn't enjoy it and her heart is not in it, quit. As you said, maybe the additional inconvenience was just enough reason to put tennis behind her. We both know that if a kid loves an activity, they will move heaven and earth to participate, and it just isn't the case here. Better to spend the time on more enjoyable activities.</p>
<p>Don't read too much in what adcoms want(I know it's hard). I know their general idea is to show your passion and by showing commitment to something for a long time(4-year in this case) and not a serial joiner. But sometimes, there are kids who'd done some activities longer but they don't always happen during the 4-year in high school, and some kids do actually start their passion in 11th grade( not for resume padding), or true passion does change. But everybody is under the general cloud of suspicion, whether it's a true passion or a manufacturer one. The way I see it, one has to stop second guessing what Adcoms really think and get on with life, that is how one can truly develop passion.
I read in the NYT today, it says you have to be able to experiment a little with different things before you can't discover your passion and it's not instant, it takes patient to develop passion.</p>
<p>OOps,fixed typo, it should be "I read in the NYT today, it says you have to be able to experiment a little with different things before you can discover your passion and it's not instant, it takes patient to develop passion."</p>
<p>bigmac53, according to those college admission books, they want to show leadership. So starting clubs, president type of position looks better than just joiner(ie, sec,VP, etc..)</p>
<p>its not the title, its what you do with it. simply being the "president" isn't enough. it would be better to be the "secretary" and be able to say that you "created a new newsletter distributed to the school that increased community service activity, than be a "president" with no accomplishments. </p>
<p>if you are on a committee, you need to demonstrate what you added to that committee. being elected to it isn't enough, and simply taking credit for the group isn't enough.</p>
<p>to the poster who asks what schools I was talking about, yes, all highly competetive schools for admissions will be suspect of a laundry list of activities without some depth in terms of actual accomplishments.</p>
<p>Not to renig on my input to drop tennis if it was not truly enjoyable, but I have noticed a high school trend to elevate athletes. Senior awards night seems to often be "pay homage to *** night", and that person is often a popular varsity athlete. Students who are on academic teams and those who are student leaders win awards, too, but I think athletes have the edge. Do colleges see it this way, too? Is it preferrable to be your varsity sport captain rather than your student government officer or the president of your chapter of Big Brothers and Sisters?</p>
<p>Savvymom-
My Ds friend is graduating this year and he had a 2 year commitment to marching band and football (simultaneously!) in a rather large, competitive school system---kids were cut from both of those activities. He left both of those and tried golf team and volleyball-lettered in both. Was in top 5% of class, etc. The ending of this story is that he got into the honors program at our state u. and has a very generous scholarship. My D is identical to your D, and the faculty at her school have asked her to run for office because she is a natural leader- very well liked too. Your D is to be commended....period. Just because you have posted here and show concern, I am confident that you have ongoing discussions about "doing to much" --the way that we do in our house. Good luck. momnipotent</p>