Hi. I’m a sophomore at very competitive private school in NJ. I am a part of the STEM program (20 out of 200 students per grade), which is also known to be very competitive. Last year, my weighted GPA was a 4.5. I would want to apply to JHU’s BME program. It is my dream school and I am aware of how competitive admissions are for that program. Right now, I’m involved in quite a few clubs. Applied Engineering, orchestra, an ambassador club, science olympiad, and a service club. I also swim for a club team. My school’s swim team is very good, and I was cut last year. I am deciding whether or not to try out this year. I am a very bad swimmer. While I do enjoying swimming laps for exercise or fun, I hate the competition at meets and I am not fast. I am very embarrassed to try out as I will likely be the worst to do so, and I have not improved much since I was cut last year. Swimming makes me very anxious and I would probably be much happier if I quit. However, I know that a varsity sport is very important on college applications. So here is my question. Is it worth it to swim for the school team, even though it would most likely make me very unhappy and hard for me to partake in other clubs and keep up my grades? Should I just continue to swim for my club team, which i still very bad and makes me unhappy? Would that be as influential on an application as a varsity sport? Or should I quit swim at the end of this season, list it was freshmen and sophomore year and use my new spare time to take on leadership positions in clubs, join more clubs, get a job or internship, and really focus on academics? How much would it hurt me resumé and application to the BME program to stop swimming? My mom suggests I join ski club, as I have been skiing since I was 5 and actually enjoy it. But ski club is not a varsity sport (my school has a ski team, but I don’t ski competitively) and only holds a few trips to resorts during the year. My mom says colleges won’t know the difference and that it would still show an athletic side. What do you suggest I do? Thank you for any advice you can give me.
I’d say it wouldn’t hurt at all and that if you are prioritizing your academics over a sport you’re on the right track, especially at Hopkins lol. For BME grades + test scores + research involvement are probably the most crucial to be considered in addition to some good ECs.
Unless you’re trying to be on a varsity team on Hopkins, sports are just another EC. Don’t worry about it if you have other ECs that are competitive, show dedication, and have leadership potential.