<p>I'm an upcoming senior in high school. I have played soccer for 3 years now but every year it is becoming less and less fun. It has come to the point where I don't want to play anymore. The only reason I would play is that I have a varsity sport for college admissions. I am hoping to get into a high level school so admissions will be very competitive. How would quitting senior year look to colleges and if I do quit, what would be a good way to make up for the lack of commitment?</p>
<p>Have you made friends with your teammates? Are you playing varsity soccer for your parents, your ego, etc, and not for your enjoyment? I still competitively swim to my high school even though I’m in junior varsity, but my teammates are basically my second family. I would never think about quitting my swim team my senior year. If you feel like you don’t have friends on your team or if you feel like you’re just slogging through practices just because you think it’ll substantially improve your chances, then I think your time can be better focused on other pursuits.</p>
<p>Most of my friends aren’t on the team so I’m not too worried about that part. I play soccer for fun and I plan to still play on recreational teams, but the high school team is not looking fun. The only reason I am still considering playing is for colleges. I don’t plan to give up soccer by any means but I’m not sure if I should go through with something I don’t want to because of college. I would plan on tutoring kids and volunteering if I quit to make up for lost extracurriculars. I have been involved in math league and my youth group throughout high school and have leadership positions in my Science National Honor Society and Latin National Honor Society. Do these other commitments make up for the fact that I will be dropping a sport?</p>
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<p>That is not a good reason, and that kind of thinking, if applied at all future levels of your life, could leave you pretty unhappy and unfulfilled. I quit basketball in high school because I didn’t enjoy it, and it took up too much of my time and energy. It was one of the best choices I made in high school, since I now could spend time in activities and projects that were important to me, as well as studies. This was a while ago, more innocent times, so it never crossed my mind that it might negatively impact a college application (it did not).</p>
<p>^ I agree.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t continue playing a sport just so that it looks good on a college app. Life is too short to torture yourself like that.</p>
<p>Here’s what happened to me…
I chose not to play varsity golf my senior year even though I would have been the #1 golfer on the team. I got interested in the game of tennis, so I spent countless hours on the courts over the summer. I worked hard on all aspects of my game in a fairly short period of time. After basketball season was over, I surprised many people by playing my way onto the varsity tennis team. I had a blast!</p>
<p>Who knows how much athletic involvement factored into my college app? I can say this, though,…I did quite well in the college app process. I had several good college choices to consider in April of my senior year.</p>
<p>Follow your interests/passions. Things will work out. They always do.</p>