<p>Hi
I'm a rising junior and USC is my dream school.
I was wondering whether I should continue some of the ECs or not.</p>
<p>My current ECs are:
-(elected) Class Secretary-Treasurer (11)
-Cross Country JV (9, 10) (4 years including 7 and 8)
-HS Choir (9, 10)
-SPARX (lighting/tech crew) (9, 10)
-Boosters (school spirit club) (9, 10)
-Brainbowl (10)
-Speech Contest (9, 10 --both silver award)
(I am planning to create a Fitness Club next academic year)</p>
<p>I'm skeptical of continuing the following ECs since some of them require a lot of time:
-Cross Country (season is actually quite short--5 weeks but 2hr training sessions 3 times a week + 4hr meet on weekends)
-HS Choir
-Boosters
-Speech Contest</p>
<p>Would quitting these activities hurt my chances at USC (or any other selective colleges?)</p>
<p>fyi my stats are
ACT: 31 (this was my first time-- I will take again in september)
GPA: roughly 3.82
and I am taking 5 AP classes next year and am planning to take 1 or 2 more by self-study.</p>
<p>Not really. You only have to list the ECs you want on your application, so just don’t list the ECs you only participated in for two years. Although I will tell you that students active in speech and debate have much higher acceptance rates into selective colleges. So keep that in mind.</p>
<p>@International95 I never said OP couldn’t? I read the post just a thoroughly as you did. The OP was questioning whether or not to continue the activities he/she said he/she was skeptical of. I was telling OP that if s/he does decide to quit s/he doesn’t need to list the activities that were ceased after sophomore year, so the fact that the OP quit a club doesn’t even need to be revealed to colleges, thus not harming chances at admission. And I was encouraging OP to stay active in one of those activities particularly since it does seem to have a beneficial affect on admissions.</p>
<p>I agree with the Speech contests being the most valuable/impressive and it looks like you are doing well. So basically you are going to start something new, have a new position and continue 2 other things. I’d probably want to keep some more continuity through Jr year, but Jr year academics are important, more than anything else, and you gotta live your life and do what you want to the most. But I’d prob keep developing the EC than self study AP.</p>
<p>Here’s an article that I think really highlights and explains the value of debate and speech in college admissions: <a href=“Accidental Hero . College Admission | PBS”>http://www.pbs.org/accidentalhero/parents/college.html</a>
Some highlights:
"Colleges now acknowledge, based on years of experience, that students who demonstrate success in extracurricular activities which give them real-world skills like critical thinking, oral and written communication, and the ability to organize ideas and present them effectively perform better in college and turn out to be successful alumni who give back generously to their alma mater. What does this mean? According to Lee Stetson, Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, “We realized one of the better predicators of success is the ability to dedicate oneself to a task and do it well.” But according to the Wall Street Journal’s recent study of top universities and ten years of applicant, admissions, and scholarship data, “not all extracurricular activities are created equal.”</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>Also, I don’t know if this impacts your decision, but I participated in speech and debate and had an extremely successful year my junior year, during which I took 3 AP classes and one self-study AP test, and scored 4s and 5s on all my tests. So I’m sure that if you try, you can keep at least one of those activities on your list of possible clubs to quit (hopefully debate!). Another piece of advice- don’t self-study for more than one AP test per year. I’ve self-studied for three AP tests in total, one each year of high school so far, and I’ve been able to score one 4 and 2 5s, but I know my scores would be much lower if I had been trying to study for another test on my own. Hope that helps.</p>