I’m currently a freshman in high school and I’m on my high school’s speech and debate team (I’m a debater). This past year, I competed at local tournaments at the JV level, but sophomore and junior year, I’ll be competing at varsity level. In 10th and 11th, I’m hoping to got to the state/national tournaments. Junior year, I will be debate team captain and compete. For my senior year, I think I will just be team captain/coach because my schedule will be very rigorous that year.*
In 12th grade, I will be on my school’s We the People team. It will require a lot of time and dedication, but my school’s team is very successful and have consistently placed in the top ten in nationals.
Besides participating on the debate and We the People team, I don’t have many other ECs. Hopefully my transcript will show that I value quality over quantity??
Sports wise, I will be a four year varsity tennis player, and probably the team captain my junior or senior year.*
My involvement in music is pretty average I think. I’m not doing anything outside of school related activities:
-Concert band (9)
-Symphonic Winds-lower level band (10)
-Wind Ensemble-higher level band (11-12)
-Varsity Marching Band (10-12)
My academic record is good (3.9 UW GPA), and in all four years of high school, I will be taking the most competitive schedule available, except for math which I am one year behind in.
So my question is, is my participation in debate and my other ECs enough to make me a good applicant for colleges like Stanford, even though I’m fairly mediocre in all other aspects? And what I mean by mediocre is that there will be thousands of other applicants who are just as good, if not better.
*I’m not trying to sound arrogant by assuming that I’ll get leadership spots. In both debate and tennis teams, there are a few really good seniors, little to no sophomores, and I’m one of the best freshmen. So by the time its my senior year, I definitely think I have a good chance of being captain.
bump. any replies would be appreciated
You’ll be a good and competitive applicant with what you listed above assuming you achieve what you set out to achieve, but don’t forget its so easy to say “oh i’m going to make it to nationals in this” and etc when your only a freshman. The ECs your in now and plan to be in seem fine but you got to remember EVERYONE applying to ivies and top 20 schools have “above average” and decent ECs so don’t think its going to give you a special edge for top colleges. In fact doing ECs to “have an edge” in applying to top college is a horrible idea in the first place. I don’t think your doing your ECs just for top colleges but keep in mind you should always do stuff YOU want to do and YOU enjoy-- not what a top college might enjoy see you do. Your on the right track for the type of schools you want, but don’t forget you should be intrinsically motivating yourself towards stuff you like because in the long run thats whats going to mean something to you when you reflect back on your educational career, not just whatever school you apply and get into. Good luck you’re doing a great job so far!
thank you so much! and yeah I started all my ECs with the intent of having fun and just having a great learning experience so I know I’ll benefit years from now 
all the advice you gave was so helpful! @Heisenbergyk
The title of this thread is misleading. It seems to ask whether debate improves your chances but then the post asks whether your ECs are enough.
You do seem to be pretty presumptive about what you’re doing in the next few years. Given that you’re just a freshman, you should at the very least open yourself up to potential new activities.
sorry about that, my main question was if debate would have an good impact on my application and i added other EC’s and my grades to give more context. And I’m not sure what you mean in your last sentence? I’m planning to do just a few ECs (debate, tennis, band) but work hard and hopefully excel in them. @pamstud
Anything will improof your application no matter what. So, to answer your question, yes.
I agree, it is very important to EXCEL at what you do instead of doing a bunch of things at a mediocre level. However, what I mean is that at this early stage, what you think may be your main extracurricular activities may be replaced in the next year or two by other stuff that you find out you like more/are better at, so you should keep your options open and explore.
oh i see, and yes thats very true! thank you! @pamstud
I personally know of one student who went to the international championships for debate, and finished top 3 in the world. He was ultimately admitted to Harvard EA. However he also had stellar test scores and grades. Debate can certainly help but you would need to achieve international/national recognition for this to be helpful.
thanks for the info! do you know if he excelled/participated in any other ECs? or focused only on debate? @sgopal2