Hello! I’m relatively unfamiliar with the college admissions process but one thing I’ve been thinking about recently has been the extracurriculars section on the common app. I’ve done sports but is it worth it to put on my application next year? It was something I just played for my school during sophomore and junior year for pe credits lol. I’m not like a varsity player or anything so I was wondering if non-impactful extracurriculars should be worth my time to put on the application because I do know that there are only a few slots for your extracurriculars. Thanks!
Yes, you should likely list them. It shows what you were doing with your time. It depends what else you have to list.
If the OP is talking about sports she played during gym/PE class in high school - would that truly be construed as “extracurricular?” I think of ECs as being the school activities that require time beyond the standard school day and activities having nothing to do with school at all.
(of an activity at a school or college) pursued in addition to the normal course of study.
“extracurricular activities include sports, drama, music, chess”
I think OP is saying she played on a team, which replaced having to take PE (D’s high school allows this if you have a certain number of hours of activity each week). If that’s the case, then yes, include them. If you are actually talking about activity in a PE class, then no, don’t include that.
“EC” means “extra-curricular” (i.e. “not school”). PE class sports are not "EC"s. Anything else you do outside of regular classes can be considered an “EC”, although the ECs that involve team sports, research, competitions or otherwise provide some social or community benefit are the ones that typically go on the common app.
If the sports were done outside of school hours (ex. not during gym class) then you can include them. However, there are limited spots on the application for ECs so you may have to pick and choose what to include. If you have other more meaningful/impactful ECs then it is fine to not drop the sports from your list. If you have room to include the sports then it could show something you were doing outside of the classroom.
Also realize it shows a college that you could do JV baskeball and JV Soccer and do well in all of your classes.