Should I Drop Orchestra or Tennis?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello! This is my first post, so please try and help me out!
Okay, so I’m a rising sophomore that took both orchestra and tennis a freshman. I’m currently in a pickle-I can only take either tennis or orchestra next year because I don’t have any more room in my schedule.
Here is a bit of backgroud:
My highschool is crazy competitive and toxic. My friend in the grade above me has a 98.7 weighted GPA and she’s number 10 (I have a 98.1, and my mom thinks my grades will get even worse if I take tennis). She’s scared that I won’t be able to get into a good college if I do tennis. I have a lot of pressure to do well because my brother was valedictorian and goes to Harvard…

Tennis
I started off freshman year on my school’s JV team because I was at camp when varsity tryouts were happening. But when the spring season started, I kept 6-0 6-0 everyone at the JV tournaments so my coach decided to move me up to varsity. The varsity kids kinda excluded me for a while, but I really enjoyed getting to hit with them because they were all so good (my school’s varsity tennis team won state last year, and we have several kids with UTR 10+ on our team). They eventually included me after I proved that I wasn’t bad (I beat out one of the junior girls for her spot at districts). The only issue is, my mom doesn’t want me to do tennis at school next year because it takes up too much time and I’m only a little bit above average on the team. We have to miss about 20 full days of school out of the entire school year, and practice ends at 6pm on most days (our school starts at 9:05am and goes until 4:20pm), which might mean no time for clubs, or time to grind math* and/or prepare for other things.

Orchestra
I dont really like orchestra+the directors, but I love my friends in the class (my favorite days are the days that we don’t play uwu). I screwed up my audition this year so I only got placed into the 2nd orchestra, which means that the music is going to suck. Our school’s top orchestra is also pretty good; we sent 17 kids to All-State this year. My brother did orchestra all 4 years, and you only have to miss 2 half-days of school, so my mom is leaning toward this side, though she, like me, also hates the directors. I also lowkey don’t want to quit playing cello.

Here are the other classes I’m planning to take next year (all Pre-AP/AP and Honors):
-Calc BC
-Chinese III
-Chemistry
-Physics
-Computer Science
-World History
-English II

I’m scared that if I choose to do tennis, I’ll regret it later on in life.
If I do orchestra, I’ll just be really bored

*i do a lot of competition math and want to get better. if anyone has any tips hmu lol.

2

Drop what you don’t like, which sounds like orchestra.

FWIW, don’t start worrying about college or trying to live up to your brother. It will sap your happiness.

I also think taking two science classes (chem and physics) is a lot for a sophomore.

3

Taking physics, chemistry, and cs is too much. What exact classes are these? Drop one and take both orchestra (for friendship and a relaxed hour) and tennis (you’re good at it).

4

I’d also recommend dropping one of the sciences.

5

Do the activity that you like better and have a better chance to excel in, which looks like tennis. It sounds like you are Asian with perhaps a mom that doesn’t understand how holistic admissions works, notwithstanding your brother’s admission to Harvard. AO’s pretty much understand how much time and discipline it takes to play sports, especially at schools with top programs. I agree that 3 sciences plus Calculus BC is too much. Education is a marathon, not a sprint. Balance (academics, EC’s, social life) is important to maintain a sustainable level of accomplishment, health and happiness.

6

Unfortunately, your academic schedule is too demanding to miss 20 days of school.

7

It sounds like you want to do tennis, so do that. Doing something physical is a great break. I agree that your schedule is too science heavy.

8

Do you have a youth orchestra outside school that you could audition into (and don’t require you to do school Orchestra)? It is not very stimulating to do lower level orchestra.

9

Don’t bother trying to please everyone. It’s impossible. It’s your life, so go ahead with your own choices. Even if you regret them one day, it’s always better to accept that it’s your responsibility than to be mad on your mom or somebody else.

10

Tennis will keep you physically healthy and provide an outlet for stress. That’s important. Find a way to keep up the cello on the side. Maybe you can start a quartet or trio with some of your orchestra friends, keep it very low key in terms of hours, but be able to say that you actually started your own musical ensemble?