I am a Junior considering quitting band my Senior year. I’ve done it for 3 years and made a few friends along the way but I’ve really lost interest at this point. I’m not a great player, I don’t really get on with other band kids, I have no leadership positions, and it doesn’t fit my academic profile, as I intend to study medicine in college. I’m strong academically, and I have several other science- and volunteering-based extracurriculars that I’m involved in (one of which I have a leadership position in). Also, I plan to continue taking a full course load of AP/DE classes Senior year. However, I’ve been told that quitting may reflect badly on my college resume. How badly would my college applications be affected in reality? Any advice? Thanks!
It’s not awful, but it does look bad. It kind of could look like you quit when it got hard or were just doing it for the bullet point on an application. Being involved in activities aside from your intended major is beneficial. I did everything from drama club to the engineering team and it all helped me get good scholarship packages. If you really hate it and want to quit, come up with a good filler class. Don’t take a study hall or fluff class (nutrition, home ec. pe) in that space. If asked why you quit, then you can say that you really wanted to take class X but couldn’t do band and take that class because they were in the same time slot or you didn’t have enough credits free. Given the choice, you decided that another year of band was not your priority.
I disagree with the above opinion. I do not think it looks bad.
My son quit Cross Country his senior year - after running varsity for three years. His physical goals had changed and he knew he didn’t want to run in college (other than for pleasure) so he decided to quit the sport and spent that time working on other extra-curricular activities.
We also talked it through with his college counselor and his educational consultant - both of whom said it was fine for him to drop the sport. It does not seem to have affected his applications as he got into all schools he applied to, including his top (selective) school choice.
Enjoy your senior year!
I am a current college freshman who played in a highly competitive marching band/ winter percussion program in highschool so I understand how time consuming band can be. Personally if you are not enjoying it I think you should quit, in addition to saving time it could also save you some money as well. Although I carried out band through my senior year it was because I genuinely loved performing and the people. However my friend (who is currently a senior this year) decided that band wasn’t something he wanted to do anymore so he quit. I don’t think it will reflect poorly on your college application (see post #2 and my aforementioned friend has also gotten admittance into one of his top choices and is currently waiting to hear back on the others).
In reality if you have the right GPA, SAT, LoR, other EC etc etc quitting band your senior year won’t look bad.
For more assurance I took ASL (American Sign Language) three years in highschool and I had initially planned to tale ASL 4 my senior year as well. However my original teacher for ASL had to take medical leave my senior year, and the teacher who they had hired told me that she wasn’t prepared to teach ASL 4 because we were already so far ahead (my original ASL teacher was very passionate and taught us things considered “advanced”). For that reason I decided to not take ASL 4. In the end it had not effect on my acceptances as I got into my state schools as well as my #1 choice which I am currently attending.
You deserve to have a fun senior year and spend it doing what you want!
@alexju01 Am I correct in assuming that band is a graded class and that if you are doing marching band or jazz band those are extra curricular? Band here is a graded class and the credit goes toward meeting your arts requirement. Sports are an ungraded extra curricular. Some schools will offer scholarship money for playing in their band, even if it is their bottom band.
It is perfectly fine to quit band senior year if you are not enjoying it. Part of high school should be figuring out which avenues you want to pursue and which you don’t. Just be sure you have other activities (ex. ECs you prefer, a part-time job etc.) to take its place.