I have been in marching band for three years and persevered through lots of work, just like thousands of other high school students. I feel like I should complete the whole “journey” and continue my senior year but I honestly never loved being in band. I never found the “family” and friends that I wanted. What do you think I should do?
Pros of quitting:
more free time to explore what I like
be able to do more scientific research at nearby university
time to focus on college applications
don’t have to take a zero period
can take a college class I’m interested in
don’t have to spend August 2016 at band camp
Cons of quitting:
shows lack of commitment
will not be able to become a section leader
lose some of the relationships I have formed
will condense my (already) mediocre list of extracurriculars
I might miss being in band
There are some additional things I could have added to the above lists, but I didn’t want to make this post too long. Thank you for your input! (any tiny bit of advice would be great)
Fall semester of senior year is busy with applications…but you might find that you will really miss going to football games and the comraderie…Maybe this is a time you try to make a different set of friends in band.
Are most of your friends from band? or do you have some that are not in band?
When are section leaders announced? You could find out if you are going to be one and then decide afterward
What classes are you taking senior year?
No matter what you do, do a draft of your Common App essay over the summer. Also make a list of all your ECs and when you did them and how much time you spent on them. You will thank me!
If you do decide to quit, make sure you have something else lined up, not just: explore what I like
Make sure you have actual research set up
I would say that I have the same amount of friends in band and not in band.
Section leaders are announced near the end of May/beginning of June, which would be too late to change my class schedule.
For senior year, I am thinking about taking AP Biology, AP Computer Science, AP English Literature, AP Chinese, Intro/Advanced Automotive, and either regular Polisci/Econ during the summer or AP during the year. I was thinking of taking an astronomy class at a community college or multivariable calculus at a university for fun.
I will definitely start my college apps and essays during the summer.
I do have actual research lined up with my friend’s mom who is letting me shadow her experiments soon, so that should be interesting. I would probably try using my time to also study for math competitions or to conduct a science fair project that I would start after AP testing this year.
Thank you for such a thorough and helpful response!