<p>I'm about to enter my Junior year of high school and have done speech and debate for two years. I'm pretty good at it, I was one place off form qualifying to nationals in extemporaneous speaking. However I don't think I will be able to commit 15 hours a week to it anymore. I'm in several other clubs: Key Club, Physics Club, Computer Science Club, am about to join NHS, and am an Eagle Scout. Additionally, I am valedictorian (hopefully after this year also) in my class of around 750 and am enrolled in 5 ap classes junior year. </p>
<p>In place of s&d, I would join HOSA which seems a little more appealing to me and requires a significantly lower time commitment. By quitting speech and debate after just two years, am I putting myself at a disadvantage; will colleges think it is bad on an application to not doing an activity for all four years?</p>
<p>It’s fine. You’re already in plenty of groups. Nobody will “look down upon” it.</p>
<p>I am quitting Marching Band after 3 years for personal reasons as well as a new job I got. My concern is not whether or not colleges will look down upon it - I just don’t think I’ll be able to maintain sanity by continuing marching band.</p>
<p>for both of you, no college will look down upon a change in a school level extracurricular. do what you feel strongly about. it’s unlikely to affect college applications, and you will be happier in the long run</p>
<p>You can just leave it off. And if you don’t like it, quit. But are you sure you wouldn’t rather give up some of those other things? NHS isn’t really necessary or worthwhile, esp. if you are already a top student in your grade. I don’t know what Key Club and HOSA are… debate and speech are pretty nice ECs, and help you build skills that are useful long after you get out of high school. Also, can you do just one? Stick with speech and drop debate? At my kid’s school they are separate activities, you don’t have to do both.</p>
<p>However, I will tell you this: Applicants who compete in speech and debate are accepted into selective colleges at a much higher rate than those who participate in other activities. I would really urge you to drop another extracurricular instead of debate. As a debater, I can tell you it really does provide you with intellectual stimulation unlike anything else. So please consider continuing to debate!</p>
<p>^ Valedictorians are also accepted into selective colleges at a much higher rate than others. OP said the 15 hr/wk committment will no longer be manageable. It’s not as if he’s going to cacoon himself in front of a video game for his senior year.</p>
<p>@iLoveTheSat2400 : you’re fine. Good luck w/senior year.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for your comments! I think I’m gonna try and see how the first few weeks go with speech and debate and whether or not I can handle it.</p>
<p>I’m gonna pull out my favorite article here, written by a Yale professor. I’m pretty sure debate helps you more than being valedictorian. In fact, all of my friends at Ivy Leagues were not valedictorians, but did participate in debate.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>@430ktk I think it is important to understand whether or not this is causational or correlational evidence. Those who are “captains of the debate team” is a much more, let’s say, prolific role than simply being in band or a newspaper reporter… We don’t know what else these kids were in, their grades, test scores, etc. We can assume people who have the mental patience and capacity to be the captain of a debate team will usually have higher grades and more apt to challenge themselves. This would likely make them a better applicant overall… such a correlation is not as heavily seen with band members, sports team captains, etc.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon, I get what you’re saying, and that’s what the article is talking about. Admissions officers recognize that debate is an academically challenging activity that people who have good grades and tests scores tend to do well at. Participation in debate solidifies the academic ability of the applicant. However, the article does mention that being captain of the debate team gives an applicant more of a boost than being student body president, and I’d say that’s a very prolific role. Also, admissions officers have respect for debate in general, which I think the author is saying when writes: “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.” Higher degrees of membership are not at all leadership positions by any means. They’re achieved through active participation in debate. What the article is saying is that intellectual kids are the ones drawn to debate, and admissions officers have recognized this. If they have to pick between two kids with similar grades and test scores, the debater will have a boost. </p>
<p>I think it’s also important to note that, according to the article, the debaters that do not win state/national awards don’t really get that big of an admissions “boost”…</p>
<p>“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%)”</p>
<p>I’d like to see what the rate would be like for kids winning major science awards, journalism awards, volunteering, or any other major award…</p>
<p>Fair enough. I’m just saying of the OP works hard at debate and can do well, it’ll help him/her. And dropping debate without replacing it with anything means s/he loses that 4% boost.</p>
<p>At some high schools it raises an eyebrow if a kid isn’t in NHS - lack of leadership or disciplinary problems are the main reasons top kids don’t join at my kids’ HS. That said, the time commitment for a non-officer is nearly nothing. </p>
<p>Key Club is Kiwanis’ high school arm - a service organization through which kids can volunteer for a variety of things.</p>
<p>“At some high schools it raises an eyebrow if a kid isn’t in NHS” </p>
<p>Ummmm – this shouldn’t be extrapolated too much. Maybe within that school’s own universe and the gossip circles but not in college admissions offices. NHS’ varied utility for kids is well known by colleges. Some schools’ clubs are fantastic. Others are nothing but resume ink.</p>
<p>HOSA is “Health Occupations Students of America”, the medical equivalent of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). FBLA is inherently larger and more well known than it; FBLA also seems more fun, but that’s because all that HOSA seems to offer are very similar topics to be tested upon. Our school only recently started an FBLA chapter but do not have a HOSA chapter, while other schools around us have both. I haven’t really heard of anyone else on this forum in HOSA, however.</p>
<p>I would prioritize your time like you said. By the time my senior year rolled around, I had to cut the ties to a couple of clubs just for time commitment reasons. However, I would ask yourself whether the other clubs you mentioned such as the “Key Club, Physics Club, Computer Science Club, HOSA” are more worthwhile than your involvement in the debate team. Almost qualifying for nationals in extemporaneous speaking is quite an accomplishment, and more practicing can only help you in the long run.</p>
<p>In general, colleges like to see a focused commitment to a few ECs that you are passionate about, but I wouldn’t do anything for the sake of getting into college itself. As others have mentioned NHS won’t not take up a significant amount of time. It’s very wise of you to recognize that you have only so many hours in a day and to prioritize, as many students tend to overload themselves, but I would prioritize based off your passion, how much you can contribute and grow in these clubs, and how much you enjoy them. Good luck OP!</p>
<p>I didn’t join a club in high school because it wasn’t my niche and there wasn’t one that suited my interests. I was more involved in sports and stuff outside of school. When I entered high school, I was a swimmer and football player. Better at swimming than football. But the commitment during the off season training for both sports was too big for me to handle, so I left swimming for football because I wasn’t a fan of those individual races and wanted to be in a collective environment to achieve something. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE. There was a question in my college admissions essay which said what activity in your EC’s is important to you and why. I wrote about the staying on the football team and help bring home a winning season for the first time in a decade. MY DREAM SCHOOL ADMITTED ME BECAUSE OF THAT because it was something that I was passionate about and also a little de facto community service. </p>
<p>Bottom line - EC’s show how passionate you are in something. When you apply to private school, especially on the common app, they might want to know more in depth on your EC’s to show how much you care about your activities outside the classroom. This might make or break their admission decision. My suggestion is do something your heart desires. They understand you have a lot under your belt because of SATs, APs, tough classes, etc. What matters is how passionate you are in your activities inside and outside the classroom. If you don’t show that, it might determine if you are admitted or not. </p>
<p>Thank you so much for your guy’s comments. It has helped me a lot in the decision of what I am going to do. I realized at a recent speech and debate tournament just how passionate I am for it and have decided to continue with that. If time permits, I will see what else I can do. Once again, that you all so much for your input!</p>