Would it be better in terms of college admissions (to top schools) to be the captain of a JV sports team or have an additional varsity letter? It’s a long story, but both options are possible and both options have their merits, college admissions aside; I will not base my decision to pursue one or the other purely based off admissions. Even still, I’d like to know if the leadership involved in being a captain or the dedication required for a varsity sport looks better when applying to colleges.
I also have a guaranteed varsity letter next year for this same team (and another two for soccer) and will be applying to college mainly based on my academics, not athletics.
Unless you are a recruited athlete any sport counts as a nice EC – nothing more and nothing less. As you already noted there is value in both options so go whichever route you prefer.
I also agree. Additionally, I believe that you are conflating leadership with a leadership position, but AO’s will not make that mistake.
As an example: In the NHL, each team starts the season with a 23 man roster. Generally, each team will also have a captain and 2 alternate captains. Does that mean that the other 20 guys are not leaders on the ice and/or in the locker room? No. Vets mentor rookies, as an example. Additionally, in the NHL, goalies cannot be captains or alternates (well, they can, but it’s a longer explanation that I’m not getting into). But nobody should suggest that Sergei Bobrovsky or Braden Holtby or Henrik Lundqvist are not leaders.
Well, bottom line, that’s it. Personally, I think being a junior on a varsity team without being captain is better than being a captain on a JV team. But at the end of the day, it’s a personal decision, and one that is not going to move the needle on a college app, IMO.
I think the notion of leadership (or commitment or any other noun one wants to highlight) is one that comes across more effectively in the student’s essays and in his/her recs. Personally, listing leadership in one of the EC boxes of the Common App is bit too checklist and one-off, IMO.
I have been to many college visits and the AO’s at most colleges have made a point to say that they want to hear HOW the student contributed to the team, not what their title was.
And as far as JV Captain or Varsity Letter, I doubt it matters at all. Choose the one that will be the better overall experience, not the one that might look better for Admissions (really bad reason - it’s a sport - it’s for fun!).
I wouldn’t worry about how this affects a college application and focus on where you’ll have the best experience and impact on the team.
My D could have sat on the varsity bench as a junior but instead was the JV captain and became a mentor to the younger girls. The coaches saw how good she was with younger girls and she became a sort-of junior coach.
Now she’s a sophomore in college and this will be her third summer assisting the coaches with their summer programs.
Would you rather be a star on the JV or on the bench of Varsity?
Have more playing time on JV or compete against tougher people on Varsity but not as much?