Could anyone give me some advice? I sort of have a dilemma.
I'm an upcoming sophomore in the IB program. I'm currently the valedictorian of my class (though I don't intend to be for long) and I have a few minor achievements and titles: first place in regional science fair, honorable mention in state science fair, and president and founder of science olympiad club. I also play soccer.
Regarding soccer, I'm on a really competitive team (1st division, state cup members), but I really dislike playing. I find myself constantly checking the weather and hoping for a game or practice to be rained out. Our team practices at least 3 days a week with games on weekends. Sometimes we have tournaments that take 4 hours of driving. My coach is really intense, and he wants our team to go really far. The thing is that I'm not talented in soccer. I'm only on such a competitive team because I practice so hard. I practice on my own time every day and do a lot of fitness and interval training to be able to keep up with the rest of my team. I'm almost sure that if I stop practicing so hard, I'll become a benched player (which is just so miserable and shameful). As a result, soccer has become an extremely time-consuming activity that I don't enjoy.
My friends tell me to quit because I shouldn't be doing something I don't love, but my parents tell me to stay because I soccer is the only impressive extracurricular that I have. I know that I'm only a sophomore and I have that minor stuff I listed above, but that's definitely not enough to get into Princeton or a top-20 college with a scholarship (my parents say they will only pay for my tuition if I get into Princeton). If I continue down this path, most of my time and willpower will be invested in soccer, and I won't achieve much with my academic extracurriculars.
Should I play it safe and stick with soccer even though it's exhausting, or should I take a risk and quit. If I stay and also try to succeed in my academic ECs, I'm sure that one of them will suffer because I don't have enough time and energy to be a starting player and win state science fair, do research, win math competition, etc. If I quit, I will either have great luck and actually achieve something meaningful in my field of interest, or I'll achieve nothing special, having thrown away the only extracurricular that I did have.
What should I do? Please help!
You should not continue in a sport you don’t enjoy if you are only doing so based on a (likely incorrect) belief that it will help you in the admissions process. Perhaps you’d enjoy soccer if you just played for the school team rather than intensive club? Or xc might be a fun alternative given your fitness. But, in the end, the opportunity costs of participation in a sport are very real, and not worth it if you don’t get satisfaction from the sport.
Don’t ever do anything just for the app - adcoms don’t want that. Keep excelling in your science competitions and try to get to a state level. No offense, but I don’t think being on a team means much to colleges if you aren’t a captain or something of the sort (especially if you aren’t going to be going into soccer in college). To get into Princeton you obviously have to have good stats (GPA, SAT/ACT, etc.) and if soccer take that away from you then you really don’t have a great chance. I’d recommend you quit soccer and focus on maintaining your role as valedictorian, keeping your GPA up, and advancing in competitions.
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I'm not talented in soccer. I'm only on such a competitive team because I practice so hard. I practice on my own time every day and do a lot of fitness and interval training to be able to keep up with the rest of my team. I'm almost sure that if I stop practicing so hard, I'll become a benched player (which is just so miserable and shameful).
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You may find in life, and in college, that there are some people who are “naturally smart” or “talented at soccer” or whatever…but there are those who study and work and practice and still do well. You may have to study and study to get that A, and your roommate just shows up…but in either case it is an A.
Also knowing that you need to train (or study) outside the practice (or class) to achieve your results is also an awesome thing to know already.
This is a concern…you could be a valedictorian with 2400 SAT and still not get into Princeton…you need to have a talk with your parents to see if they are serious about that. Say to them "Mom, Dad, as I get closer to graduation I am planning what to do about college. You said you will only pay for college if I get into Princeton…is that the case or are you just trying to urge me to do my best and get the best grades? Did you know that Princeton only accepts 6.5% of applicants and many of those have stats better than I do? Because if it is, my choices may be Community College and then State U or there are colleges like University of Alabama that has full tuition scholarships based on my scores. It is your money but I need to know where i should start looking… Also we can run Net Price Calculators at some other colleges to see if we are eligible for need based aid.
Soccer -
What else can you do with soccer? Can you play on a less competitive team? Your HS team? Community team?
Referee youth soccer? That way you continue the EC but in a less stressful way.
If you are not going to play in college (except maybe club or intramural) then being on a super competitive team is not a huge benefit for college…if you were Captain then that woudl show leadership.
If you did not play soccer…what else would you do as EC? Have you started any of those?
Also check out the book "How to be a High School Superstar "by Cal Newport…will help you take your ECs to the next level.