Hello everyone, I’m going to be a junior at high school from this September and had a question on extracurriculars. During my sophomore year, I decided to try out for my debate team and made JV. Although I participated the entire year, and only got one medal, I was considering dropping it this year because of my hectic schedule, SAT prep, and volunteering, and the fact that I lost interest after a while. I want to major in finance in college and was wondering how dropping this club would look on my transcript. I do have some other extracurriculars such as being a part of the JV tennis team, and wanted to try FBLA (future business leaders of america), and Model UN as a substitute this year, alongside participating in Science League (2 yrs), as those seem more appealing. Any answers would help, thank you!
If you don’t want to do it, drop it. So long as you are dropping to do other ECs, it’s not a big deal.
thanks for the input! but just to clarify, it wouldn’t look bad in terms of consistency and commitment right? thanks again
Do the ECs you enjoy. Not because it will “look good on your resume”. Yes, in the ideal world, consistency and progress in an EC, hopefully with leadership is better than looking like a “serial joiner”, but if you have reason to discontinue one activity and continue with others, that’s ok.
No need to clarify; I understood the question the first time. 
No. Yes, you want some consistency and commitment, but it does not have to be in every single activity,
alright thanks
thank you!
We don’t even know the level of colleges OP will target. Or what that volunteering is.
The higher the tier, the more you need to make appropriate choices. You want to drop debate and try MUN, but what if you don’t like that so much, either? Then you may be in a pickle, deciding to go back or not.
Can you keep debate until you know better? Finance needs thinking, analytical, and certain sorts of team skills, plus the ability to stick with challenges. Just think about it.
Do what you enjoy.
Yes, it is good to show multiyear commitment to one or more activities, but it is not necessary to do so for EVERY activity. As a high school kid, it is expected that you will be learning and growing and discovering new interests along the way.
My son dropped some minor activities before junior year. He did not include those on his college application. (If he had dropped an activity that had involved a major time commitment, he would have listed it for the years it took place but not for the years it did not.)
He also added one major activity in junior year and another in August before senior year! He did include those in the application.
It does not seem to have been a problem, as he got into his top choice, super-selective college early decision.
More importantly, the activities he started late in his high school career pretty much were responsible for his having the best possible senior year of high school! They gave him hours of pleasure and new social connections, built his confidence, and informed some possible career choices. If he had not been willing to change activities, none of this would have happened.
Live your life and pursue your interests. If you do so, your college application will be stronger because it will reflect who you are and what is important to you.
You don’t HAVE to put every EC on your application. Just another thought. I think it is fine to drop it.
But you will need to present the right picture, when you submit. For top colleges, the qualifier isn’t solely “what I enjoy.”
Part of the idea of HS is to find things you are truly interested in. For many students this can mean switching ECs as one’s interests/aptitudes become clearer and more focused. Do what interests you and own it. All of your ECs are perfectly good, but keep in mind that none of them will make or break an application in and of itself.
The only exception might be for an athlete that will be recruited in his/her sport as it can give a big boost in terms of admissions but that is not your scenario.
You might want to check with your counselor and perhaps ask some adcoms at college fairs, but IMHO it is better to list one or two activities you tried and dropped. Nobody expects a 9th or 10th grader to have their future perfectly figured out. They are often encouraged to try several things and to stick with the ones they enjoy. Sounds like that’s what you did, and an adcom might be impressed that you were willing to try different things.
FBLA will look very appropriate on a future finance major’s application. Debate and Model UN can be presented as different experiences that improved your people and communication skills, and they both focus on the art of persuasion, a valuable skill to have. So rather than worrying about “how quitting looks” think about the similarities among these ECs and how that similar characteristic is part of your personality.
What schools are you looking at?
Ones that have good finance programs such as NYU Stern, University of North Carolina, University of Virginia, etc.
Top schools typically like to see continuity in programs, hopefully with progression and leadership as well as participation in activities consistent with your goals.
I’ll be frank. It makes me uneasy how quick many are to say, if you don’t love it, leave it. Life’s not like that. Adcoms aren’t waiting for you to find the shoe that fits perfectly.
OP is starting jr year and hasn’t yet even tried MUN or FBLA (the latter isnt the same at all hs. It depends on that student body.) It’s not as if he needs to free the time for something more purposeful, at this point. And besides jv tennis, we don’t know what he does have.
It’s time to get cracking.