<p>Our HS had 9 students go to Harvard last year, with 5 of them doing Policy Debate
Not to mention all of the other Senior Policy Debaters went to Ivys/Top 20 schools</p>
<p>However, I heard you work loads in Policy Debate (but I think that is a rumor around in MS)
I do not know! What should I do? The payout is GIANT...</p>
<p>I’m sure there were other reasons why those students were accepted into the top schools(Grades, test scores, essays, etc). I mean does this team win national/international level awards? What do you plan on majoring in?</p>
<p>The most important thing you should ask yourself is do you want to join because you have a passion for debating or for the topics that are discussed in the competition(assuming they have those) or do you want to join the PD team because you think it’s some golden ticket to the Ivies. If it’s the latter than it’s not worth because you won’t enjoy it, probably won’t make any notable essays when you’re asked to talk about your ECs, and it might have negative side-effects on your grades/social life.</p>
<p>I guess you could go to the informative session that teams/clubs tend to have at the start of the school year and getting a better picture of what you will do.</p>
<p>Policy / LD kids are generally the events that the higher ranked kids “lean” towards, as PF generally is a simpler event to grasp. I will say that many of the IVY/TOP school goes where i attend also do PF</p>
<p>Policy is a fun debate style with room for improvisation, humor and quick-thinking. If you are witty and willing to engage in what I’d imagine is the closest thing to a gun-duel in debate, policy is great</p>
<p>Do it because you are passionate about it and like to do it, not because it will get you into some school. If you o it for that reason alone you will be miserable. Do something that you genuinely enjoy and you think will worth your time. At our school, many of the top students choose to do the We the People program at our school. Do all of them? No. It’s because those students enjoy doing it and choose that path. As another student said, they gravitate towards the program, not the other way around.</p>
<p>Policy of course won’t get you into the Top 20s in it of it self. You’d have to win the really competitive Policy tournaments at places like Harvard and Yale for it to really help</p>
<p>Getting into a particular college is a poor justification to do debate. Debate is awesome (either policy or LD) but it is a serious commitment and if you really thrive, it will consume most of your free time. So you’ve gotta love it. Would you join a particular sport just because many of that sport’s athletes went to Harvard? That’s goofy logic.</p>
<p>Give debate a try. If you love it - go for it! It sounds like your school has a very strong program. But trust me, its not the debate that got them into Harvard. </p>
<p>Your school had 4 people get into Harvard that weren’t debaters. What did they do for ECs? Looking to role models is a fine way to chart your HS course, but try to find role models who are doing the things you enjoy.</p>
<p>Wait, OP, have you ever debated before?</p>
<p>Oh darnit, I forgot to say that it was either Policy of LD, and that I loved debating
The HS debate coach is amazing, given they always seem to win big competitions+get a lot of awards</p>
<p>@Apollo11 I am still picking courses for Freshman, and I did a smaller Debate-Club kinda thing in MS that HS debaters hosted once a week</p>
<p>Oh, you’re not in high school yet! In that case, yeah, go for policy! It’s fun and cool, and it’s better than not doing policy. Is it policy or LD? In that case, I’d say LD is more philosophical whereas Policy is more “real-world problems”</p>
<p>I have heard Policy gets really boring, is that true?
How much homework do you get a day?</p>