<p>Are they a vital part of EC's, or is it just as good (or better) to engage in a lot of other EC's instead of sports? Does it matter?</p>
<p>Sports definitely help [especially if you're varsity], though I know personally I made it through high school without ever doing a sport [well I did tennis in 10th grade, but I never actually put it on my app], but yeah it's definitely possible to do well in college admissions without a sport [which is I think where you're headed with this thread... maybe?] though with that said it obviously doesn't hurt, though at the same time you shouldn't do a sport for the sake of doing it for college, which is why I quit tennis.</p>
<p>well if you are world champion swimmer or something you might get recruited, so it does actually matter. but for normal applicants, I don't know. (I would say that it's weighted just like any other EC, but I don't know much about this)</p>
<p>i would say do a sport if you want to, if not, do something else meaningful. i think the point is not to waste time doing nothing.
having said that i participated in 4 seasons of varsity sports but that's because i liked it. if i didn't, i'm sure i could have found time to do something else that i enjoyed and was impressive enough.</p>
<p>it's not what you do, it's what you do with it</p>
<p>I think having at least one EC that requires some physical activity will make you appear to be a more well-rounded person.</p>
<p>One of the reason colleges like to see sports, especially at the varsity level, is that it shows that you can work hard towards a goal and it sometimes shows leadership abilities.</p>
<p>I'm as much for sports as anyone, but you can show that with almost any kind of EC. Just have some kind of variety in your ECs, unless you're a god at something.</p>