<p>I understand that "padding" extracurricular activities is a big no-no when it comes to college admissions and you should stick to a few key activities you put the most effort into and define you the most as a person. Does the same apply when applying to prep schools? From what I understand, admission officers at these schools are looking for students who have thoroughly exhausted the opportunities available at their schools. What about students like myself who are passionate about things they only recently had the opportunity to experience? For example, I did not come from the financial means to afford tennis lessons and only just discovered it in the past two years as it was offered at my school. If it is something I am new at and maybe not great at, but passionate about, should I include it in my application?</p>
<p>What you’re describing doesn’t sound like “padding” to me. If you plan on continuing tennis at prep school, you should absolutely include it in your application, no matter how recently you started it (this goes for any club). If you’re concerned about them knowing why you started so recently, you can easily explain that to an interviewer (the interviews are there for you to tell them things that there aren’t spaces to talk about on the application). And even though you won’t be in the same position in terms of recruitment as someone who has been playing tennis since they could walk, remember that for someone your age, two years of a sport is longer than you think. Many kids start new sports in middle school. You don’t need to have taken lessons your whole life for them to take you seriously as a player.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They are looking for students who are academically astute, and passionate about something. Not students who have exhausted their opportunities. Often those students DO look like they are padding their resume. Just be yourself. The school is trying to build a class of interesting but diverse students (in terms of interests). There is no one homogeneous, ubiquitous student type they are looking for.</p>
<p>Not all students at BS are academically astute. You are allowed to have decent grades (not straight Cs or anything) if you have something to make up for it (being amazing enough at a sport to make you recruitable material).</p>