<p>Does having 3 years of a sport look bad to a college? Does it say that I lack commitment or anything? I'm a senior and I was on the swim team for the first 3 years of high school, but I just can't take it anymore.</p>
<p>My assumption looking at that would be an injury, rather than a lack of commitment or whatever, but I don’t know how an admissions officer would view it.</p>
<p>yes it does, you cant last one more semester? just go to like 1/5 practices and skip the games if your not a captain or anything. You will most likely get kicked off but that will be 2nd semester</p>
<p>Haha how often is it an injury with a sport like swimming (which is a very soft sport), which is known generally for having lots of grueling practices (like 2 a days 3 days a week, at my HS). </p>
<p>Also most people would probably state the injury as the reason they weren’t continuing the sport in the additional comments section. If you did that you’d be lying, although you could maybe say something about how your coach is a dick and you’re just fed up, although that still doesn’t frame you in a good way.</p>
<p>So yeah just suck it up and half-a** it at practice. If you’re somewhat concerned about college admissions, that is.</p>
<p>“yes it does” C’mon. That’s rubbish.</p>
<p>A person won’t be admitted or rejected b/c of one year’s participation in an EC.</p>
<p>Colleges won’t care. The few colleges that care about ECs are places like Harvard, top colleges for which doing 3 or 4 years of a sport wouldn’t matter to adcoms because what would matter is your achievements in that sport, not the time you did it. For example – being a statewide record holder or Olympic athlete might impress them.</p>
<p>First off, I agree with Northstarmom and T26E4.</p>
<p>But I am troubled by the other respondents. Neither lying about an injury nor making a halfhearted attempt to stay on the team are ethical solutions to the OPs issue.</p>
<p>cltdad: perhaps that’s the difference between parent/alum posters and students?</p>
<p>As long as you use the time you save wisely, it shouldn’t hurt you much. My school’s valedictorian two years ago only did three years of a fall sport. She quit right before school started, and I’m not quite sure why she did this, but she had more time to focus on her other commitments, including her school work, and she now attends Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Yeah my swim team practices 5 days a week, and varsity practice is brutal. I can’t put up with it anymore. I’d feel bad being on the team because I’m not helping them out by being a horrible teammate. I’m not applying to any Ivy leagues, so I should be good. It’s not like swim is my only EC anyways. I’m senior class vice president and I held other offices previously for the student government at my school, so hopefully that helps. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>I guess this answers the question I was going to ask about whether it would look terrible for me to quit debate team in my last year… I suppose I’ll bear it.</p>
<p>Why are you deciding to stay on the team when informed posters like me are saying that only the very top colleges – places like Harvard – factor ECs into admission, and for such colleges, your just being on debate team won’t matter? Why not get off the team and spend your time doing something you enjoy?</p>
<p>As a student (just to dispel that student vs. parent myth I saw a few posts up), I don’t think anyone’s going to care. Do what you want to do.</p>
<p>Northstarmom- Sorry my last post was kind of vague…I decided I am not going to be on the team.</p>
<p>I talked to my counselor about it, and she said that it won’t look bad if I quit. But you guys telling me that it’s okay makes me feel better because sometimes counselors don’t know everything they’re talking about.</p>