<p>Would not being an athelte in any sport - no team, no cross country, no pirvate lessons, nothing - be a minus for you in schools liks Stanford?</p>
<p>Would arching band and setting up an archery club count?</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’d say it that way. I mean, there is never a circumstance where also having a sport under your belt wouldn’t help your chances, but there is also never a circumstance where having a slightly higher GPA wouldn’t help. To extend the analogy, that doesn’t mean a 4.3 GPA is bad just because you could have gotten a 4.4.</p>
<p>I think marching band would “count” as an EC. Did you do it all 4 years? </p>
<p>Would you be willing to be in Stanford’s band (are you good enough?)? If so, maybe you could include that somewhere in your essay.</p>
<p>What else have you done? any volunteering? </p>
<p>If you’re really concerned, make sure that you have some good matches and safeties that don’t put much weight into ECs.</p>
<p>I think a sport just counts as another EC (except in special cases like the service academies where you must have a sport). Marching Band is probably as good. I also think setting up an archery club would be a good substitute (I may be biased in that since DD2 was on an archery club).</p>
<p>Well only the school I currently attend (came in junior year) offers marching band, so I have 2 yrs of it. But i defitinitely would’ve done it for all 4 yrs and even become a section leader had I had the chance to. I would definitely join Stanford’s marching band as well 
Anyways, thanks for all your encouraging replies!</p>
<p>Sports are fuuuun though</p>
<p>Lyl, make sure you focus on the things you DID do & don’t worry about the things you didn’t do. Stanford wants a well-rounded class. Not everyone has to be an athlete. Everyone DOES have to be pretty darn smart, though … and schools like Stanford try to build a balanced student body. Make sure you let “you” shine through & relax.</p>
<p>@kelsmom)
hm… for my essay i’m kinda giving an indirect explanation to why my grades were low for freshman 2nd semester (lots of Cs and 2 Fs) and this one English class in sophomore (C).(the rest of my grades are all As and one B)…but the essay focuses more on my personal growth through special circumstances(which i think differentiates me the most). Would that be ok?</p>