Hello! In ECs, athletics are always considered a huge asset for students (maybe because of competitive college sports teams?) but would playing in an orchestra outside of school be enough/ as competitive as athletics? I’ve heard mixed responses from parents/ students/ counselors/ etc. but I just wanted to hear how everyone else thought about it.
Thank you!
Recruited athletes have an admissions advantage. Good athletes not recruited really not.
Music performance majors that play a “scholarship” instrument that do well in their audition have an admissions advantage. Good musicians who won’t play in college really not.
Hello @ClarinetDad16 !
But if you are a varsity level sports player, then wouldn’t that be a pretty large plus?
In addition, if you are a musician who intends to only play as an EC in college, then I suppose it wouldn’t be that helpful would it…?
Thank you for responding!
@lavendsrcats correct. If that varsity athlete is recruited to play in college - he / she has a better chance of getting in.
If the musician is extraordinary but doesn’t want to focus on his instrument in college - it won’t impact admissions.
Okay. But would it still be alright if you added that you have done music in ECs, because there’s a lot of time I’ve spent on it and I think there would be a blank space if I don’t write it down…
Colleges want to know what you have done with your life outside of school, so anything that you have invested a lot of time and effort into is relevant.
ECs in which you have developed exceptional proficiency, in which you have demonstrated strong leadership, where you took initiative, or which relate to your proposed narrative or future plans are going to have more impact than those which are sidelights, or where you pretty much followed the herd. ECs which are a bit different from what everyone else does will sometimes get attention. There are thousands of people who play violin in their school orchestra, but if you are a ridiculously talented flamenco guitarist who has travelled to Spain and performed internationally it will stand out as unusual, even though the time invested may not be that dissimilar. Adcoms also are interested in skills that an applicant may bring to their campus which will enrich the overall community. But I don’t particularly agree with @ClarinetDad16 that extraordinary skill in an activity which an applicant doesn’t intend to pursue in college won’t have an impact on adcoms. The time and effort that a person has put in to achieve that - and keep up their academics at the same time - will make a positive impression.
Athletics is a separate category, because most schools participate in NCAA athletics, and there is more money and prestige involved in that than there is in things like music and the arts. Some sports like football and basketball can bring in large amounts of money. Others can bring prestige. Being a recruitable athlete in an NCAA sport is a significant advantage over any other EC. Not being at a recruitable level turns into just another EC, though a good one given the time invested and the discipline required. Being at the equivalent level of a recruitable athlete in a non-NCAA sport doesn’t have the same impact. Taekwondo is not an NCAA sport, for example, whereas fencing is (even though both are Olympic sports). Given 2 athletes at the roughly the same level (that of someone who could compete at a college level) with similar amounts of time invested, the fencer is at an advantage: he/she could be recruited by coaches who could lobby adcoms, and have a huge hook that gives them a 25-30% advantage over other applicants; whereas the martial artist would be “just another EC” done at a high level that would be compared with thousands of other ECs from other applicants. It’s not particularly fair, but it’s the way college athletics works in an NCAA-dominated environment.
Hope that helps.
Why would that be? Why would a college or university rather have you at their school?
@renaissancedad Thank you so much for the information!
I personally don’t play anything extraordinary, although I might sing-up for a couple competitions this year. I’m thinking that’ll just stay as a normal EC then.
For sports, I don’t play any but I was wondering since I’ve heard of a student who was applying to an Ivy and had terrific ECs and even got an interview, but wasn’t accepted and he didn’t play any sports so I was wondering how it all tied in. But thank you for informing me about it.
@JustOneDad Well, I thought it would show more commitment than the level under varsity (I forgot what it was called) and maybe there would be more scouts? But I honestly don’t know, that was a guess.
The level under Varsity is Junior Varsity.
The great majority of Varsity athletes aren’t competitive for athletic scholarships. That’s why we usually say “assuming you aren’t being recruited…”, it’s just another EC.
@renaissancedad I see where you are coming from but you contradict yourself.
If a dedicated proficient musician gains preference from the admissions committee, so does a dedicated proficient athlete.
but you don’t have to be recruited player to really impress, (unless you are wiling to focus on sports in college)
@ClarinetDad, I apologize if I came across as confusing or inconsistent. That was not my intent.
I think that any EC in which a student invests a lot of time and effort and acquires a high level of leadership and proficiency will be a strong plus for adcoms. That could include athletics (whether an NCAA sport or something else; there are lots of kids who are figure skaters, rock climbers, martial artists, etc.), music, art, etc. I think they are all considered roughly “equal” assuming similar effort and proficiency. Studying the flute for 12 years and being at a conservatory level is just as good as being a competitive figure skater. There is no “hook” that significantly improves the odds of admission, but there is some added plus that may help sway an adcom, all other things being equal.
If the applicant has acquired “world class” proficiency then I think there may be a true major advantage. I’m thinking of someone like Yo-yo Ma going to Harvard. He was a concert-caliber cellist coming out of high school. Those kind of cases are pretty rare, though.
Being a recruitable NCAA athlete is a different category, since most schools compete in one of the NCAA divisions and have a strong interest in filling their teams. So for better or worse, a recruitable NCAA caliber pole vaulter has an admissions advantage of a conservatory-caliber violinist.
I think that’s reasonably consistent, but if not, please let me know.