<p>Hello! This is my first post, so please try and help me out!
(By the way, while responding, please help me know what PRESTIGIOUS schools might think of this)</p>
<p>Okay, so I am a sophomore right now and I'm taking orchestra. My English teacher this year is the Journalism (Newspaper) teacher at my school, and she's really cool - I'm sure she could write a college recommendation for me when I'm applying for colleges. I want to take Journalism, but I don't know if dropping orchestra would affect me in the admissions process negatively or not.</p>
<p>I play the violin and I've played it since I was 5. I've been in my orchestra teacher's orchestra since 7th grade. Would it be a waste to stop playing (forever) after all that time? Do colleges like to see perseverance in certain classes? I really don't want to take orchestra again since I'm not going to major in that area at any time in my future. </p>
<p>I also want to take AP Psychology, but I won't be able to if I take both Journalism and Orchestra (which is one option). </p>
<p>Here is a list of possible paths that I could take:</p>
<p>Choice 1:
11th: 12th:
- AP US History - AP Govt
- AP Language (English 11) - AP Lit
- Physics Honors - AP Physics B OR C
- Precalc Honors - AP Calc BC
- Latin 4 - AP Latin Vergil
- Advanced Orchestra - Advanced Orchestra
- Journalism 1 - Journalism 2</p>
<p>Choice 2:
11th: 12th:
- AP US History - AP Govt
- AP Language (English 11) - AP Lit
- Physics Honors - AP Physics B OR C
- Precalc Honors - AP Calc BC
- Latin 4 - AP Latin Vergil
- AP Psychology - Speech/Debate (or something else)
- Journalism 1 - Journalism 2</p>
<p>Please help me to figure out what would be best. I understand that 5 AP's sound insane, but I think I can handle it. If I take "Choice 1" then I will have 8 AP's, and if I take "Choice 2" then I'll have 9 AP's. Now then, I just want to take the path that would stick out the most in the eyes of admissions officers. So please help me out!</p>
<p>Sorry for reviving a 2 year old thread but I’m actually in a similar situation. There are a couple of differences though…next year I am going to be a senior and I really want to take AP Psychology but this won’t be possible unless I quit orchestra (I’m in the IB program, so my schedule is pretty restricted). I’m not very good at playing the violin so it’s not like I would qualify for any scholarships but I was wondering whether colleges would think I am not committed or irresponsible because I dropped orchestra my senior year (I have taken orchestra throughout high school…and middle school for that matter but I doubt colleges care about middle school). So my question is, should I quit orchestra or not? Thanks for your help :).</p>
<p>tennis101, most colleges admit based on grades and scores so dropping orchestra isn’t going to matter to them. At the most selective colleges that care about ECs, member of this or that doesn’t stand out; again, dropping orchestra won’t matter.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. I’m glad to hear that it won’t have a major effect on the admission process. The main reason why I am interested in taking AP Psychology is because I am considering majoring in psychology and need more exposure to the subject to confirm my decision.</p>
<p>Tennis, you can easily look through CC and learn that most colleges do NOT admit based on grades and scores alone. That’s a persistent myth. You can also look at some of MITChris’s posts about the same.</p>
<p>I work for a “school you’d love to go to” and we sure do count ECs. They show your ability to engage, your maturity and commitment, your willingness to help others, take on responsibility, etc. PM me, if you want to discuss. </p>
<p>NSmom is an interviewer, not a reviewer. Her list mirrors something around that purports to show how the UC’s give points for certain EC’s. To cling to it, is to hope there is a formula.</p>
<p>Sorry, I will create new threads in the future. I realize that most colleges do take extracurricular activities into account and I plan on continuing my other ec’s…I was just trying to understand to what extent dropping orchestra would affect my chances at selective colleges. My plan as of now is to drop orchestra but continue private violin lessons and hopefully participate in other orchestra related events outside of school. I don’t want to stop playing the violin completely as I still enjoy it. Would I still be able to count playing the violin as an extra curricular activity?</p>
<p>If you still play it, besides lessons, yes. Just make sure you do have good depth and breadth in the ECs. Try to replace orchestra with some music events. Many colleges like the idea their musician students will play at college. Maybe one line in Addl Info- that there was a conflict, but you did what you could to continue music. You make it work out, somehow. Good luck.</p>
So you can take your cue from a published book written by authors that were a former admission officer at Stanford and another who was an Associate Chancellor at UC Davis, people who presumably know at least a little about colleges and admissions. Or not. Its up to you.</p>
<p>Former admissions dean for S also totally dissed the idea a 17 y.o. should focus on “passions.” </p>
<p>You wrote *most colleges admit based on grades and scores * and, from my perspective, I disagree. ECs and all the rest do count.</p>
<p>Your quote says with relatively few exceptions, four-year colleges in the United States still accept most of their applicants. That can’t possibly be any college with a less than 51% admit rate. </p>
<p>*many fully accredited four-year colleges have vacancies well into the summer for the freshman class that begins in the fall. * Sure- these lists show up on the web after June 1 or so. They are usually not the low admit rate/high yield schools.</p>
<p>It seems the book quote refers to finding a spot “somewhere,” not losing hope of attending an accredited four-year college. Whereas I dispute that ony grades and scores matter.</p>
<p>Just about all anyone hears about on this forum is talk about the 150 or so selective colleges that each are, as you put it previously, a “school you’d love to go to”. </p>
<p>But there are thousands of 4-year colleges in this country. So outside of those in high demand (and perhaps the next tier) the majority of their applicants get in, as the book excerpt says. And at those schools grades and scores are what they look at.</p>
<p>Its worth keeping this in mind because the discussions on the forum can easily lead kids to believe that **colleges<a href=“and%20not%20just%20the%20selective%20colleges”>/b</a> require stellar grades, scores, ECs, recs, essays, etc. And the very selective schools really do & the next tier down expects a lot, but generalizing this too far leads to kids worried if they can get into college at all.</p>
<p>Let me give a specific example. In LA one highly ranked school is UCLA. Admission is tough. But 20+ miles away is Cal-State Northridge, CSUN. They say “California State University, Northridge will admit all CSU-eligible first-time freshman applicants who graduate from high schools in its local guarantee admissions area.” You are eligible if you have taken the required prep courses and have an admission index of 2900, which is Math + Verbal SAT + (800 * GPA). An average SAT of 1000 and a 2.375 GPA gets you in. No mention of ECs whatsoever. LA kids that could never get into UCLA have several viable options in the CSU system (there are several CSU campuses in the LA area)</p>