<p>I am wondering if I should quit band senior year.
I have done band for 3 years and I have gotten first chair in all region and gotten outstanding soloist, etc.
BUT
I do not want to major in music.
I want to major in engineering and minor in film production/music production
That's why I believe I should quit band, and join and engineering class my senior year and join a filming class/video editing/video making class to experience more of what I want to do my senior year.
I would also do internships/Job shadowing and get a job to be more experienced.</p>
<p>Quit band-do those other things, it’s your senior year.
Three years of Band shows commitment to an EC, your regional awards will look good on your transcript.
Aren’t you relieved already?</p>
<p>Do not quit band. Stick it out for one more year. Quiting senior year shows a lack of commitment. Colleges like to see a four year commitment to an EC and leadership in the club senior year. you have plentyof time to study engineering in college. Just study really, really hard in math and physics.</p>
<p>I think it looks strange to quit. You’ve been quite successful, and intro-level electives aren’t likely to teach you much. Besides which, you don’t need to take an engineering class, just a heavy load of math and science.</p>
<p>I would only quit band if… for example, you wanted to double science or take an extra CORE class or something along those lines. However, since it seems like you’re quitting to do intro-level electives, that does seem like a lack of commitment since electives are most likely an easy A if they are anything like they are in my school.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not entering an intro-level class.
The engineering class is an after school activity and takes up about 5-10 hours a week and the class enters robotics competitions, etc.
Also, again, I’m going to be doing internships.</p>
<p>Apparently, I heard that colleges understand the time consumption of Band, and during an interview, if I explained why I quit band, wouldn’t I be fine?</p>
<p>If you like band, continue with it. If you’d prefer using that time to pursue something else, do so. It may be that your new activity opens lots of doors for you including with colleges and your career. Don’t grit your teeth and continue band just to try to impress colleges when more than likely, colleges won’t care whether you continue band or quit it. To stand out at top colleges for musical ECs, you have to be truly extraordinary --prodigy level. At Harvard, for instance, music is the most popular EC among their students.</p>
<p>Conservatory level is a more accurate descriptive, and the effect of a supplement is very instrument specific, and will vary by year and may well be tied to both program need, and instrument balance.</p>
<p>I would not recommend quitting an EC that you’ve performed at a high level unless you have a very compelling opportunity you are replacing it with - one that the value will be immediately evident to anyone reviewing your application.</p>
<p>“I want to major in engineering and minor in film production/music production
That’s why I believe I should quit band, and join and engineering class my senior year and join a filming class/video editing/video making class to experience more of what I want to do my senior year.”</p>
<p>If you want to minor in film, it is virtually essential that you get experience now in that field or else you’ll be far behind the students who started film making well before college. </p>
<p>I heartily disagree with those suggesting that you continue band even though you’ve lost interest in it. By devoting time to an activity that you’re not interested in, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to delve into what you are interested in. </p>
<p>As I said before, most colleges do not factor ECs into admission. The ones that do are places like HPYS, and for such schools, music is probably the most popular EC that their applicants and students are involved in. You’d have to stand out a great deal for music in order for it to factor in your admission to such schools. Your musical accomplishments, while nice for your region, aren’t at that the level that would stand out in the most competitive college’s admissions.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the most competitive colleges get far fewer applications from students with demonstrated interests in film making. If you dive into your film making interest now and senior year, it could help solidify your background in that field and boost your chances for admission to top schools – if those are the kind of schools you plan to apply to.</p>
<p>If you are Asian, being in film also will help you stand out because most Asian applicants have a music background, and the colleges that care about ECs don’t want to fill their classes with instrument-playing Asians. </p>
<p>It would be a waste of your senior year to grit your teeth and continue with band if you’d prefer spending your time in another EC.</p>
<p>I agree with Northstar mom. You will gain no admissions advantage by staying in band so you should only do so if you really want to (which you clearly don’t). With other worthwhile activities crying out to you more loudly, it’s time to for a change. You can still make music for your own enjoyment … or for others … but there’s no need to do it formally in the band.</p>
<p>If you’re worried that colleges will wonder why you suddenly dropped an activity that you’ve been very involved with previously, you can always ask your guidance counselor to drop a note about it in her recommendation. She can explain how you want to take advantage of other, more attractive opportunities and that you can no longer take band due to scheduling conflicts. For your information, I dropped French my senior year due to this kind of scheduling conflict even though I did very well in that class and am involved in a few French related extracurricular activities, and I got into college just fine. I don’t think it’s that much of a problem.</p>
<p>I don’t know how well you know your music teacher and what is the school policy, but sometimes you can arrange a music independent study with the teacher in place of band class. That way, you meet with the teacher during a time that is convenient for both of you, and you can still participate in the concerts and everything and keep your commitment in music. (I mean, since you’re really good at music, your band teacher probably will hate to let you leave.) Talk to your music teacher early if you want to give that a try because you may have to go through some paperwork with the school.</p>