I am one of the officers of my (very large) school’s theater club. I hate theater. I started it because my friends were in it, but since an injury and subsequent surgery I have not particpated in any shows other than doing the necessities of my officer position (which is mostly through emails, spreadsheets, etc). I’ve lost my friends as a consequence of not being constantly involved as I used to be. How bad would it hurt me with scholarships and acceptances to stop all participation in the club? I had the position all of junior year and got it again senior year.
I will power through if it’s necessary but theater has been a huge source of negativity for me and I’m strongly considering telling the club sponser I can’t do it anymore because of my injury.
I am only applying to University of Michigan, Wisconsin Madison, and Indiana University (where my first choice would be with Hutton honors college).
I think you’d be wise to add at least one or two more colleges. Those are all pretty competitive, and Michigan is a high reach, unless you are instate. What is your safety school?
What are the rest of your EC’s like? What is your intended major? Can your guidance counselor mention your injury and surgery in the letter of rec, especially if it interfered with other things? As far as scholarships, I think a lot of that would depend on what type you are applying for. If they are something to do with theater, it might be a problem. Otherwise, I don’t know if it matters.
Indiana is my first choice and my safety. I get in automatically with the Hutton honors college. I did an interview with Hutton and they even said I’d get in for sure. This is more for scholarships and my parents might want me to get into Michigan because I’m a big legacy (I actually dislike Michigan).
I have no other major ec’s other than a couple small clubs and paid work. I’m afraid for my counselor to mention my surgery because it sounds awful and excusey to me. It didn’t interfere with grades until senior year, I have a 4.0 hw and 4.88 w for grades 9-11.
I plan to be a human biology major and go on to grad school for genetic counseling.
If your injury and surgery have affected your ability to perform at your previous level, and have made it difficult for you to participate in ECs, then yes it is perfectly fine for your counselor to mention it in the counselor’s letter. It isn’t “awful and excusey”. It is the plain and simple truth.
Drop the club and the office. Focus on your continuing recovery and any necessary attendant therapy.
Oh, and look around for some new friends. If the old ones dropped you just because you couldn’t do all the theater stuff you used to, they never were particularly good friends to begin with.
So, you are a strong student. You have a very good safety which you would love to attend. You hate theater, and you don’t need to do it to get into Indiana. You need rest because you are recovering from surgery for a nervous system disorder.
I think that you should drop theater. You should rest and keep up with your class work. Make sure that your school and your teachers know if you need any accommodations due to your health issues.
I agree with those who said your guidance counselor should mention your "surgery for a very rare peripheral nervous system disorder" (per another post) and its impact on your academics. If your guidance counselor mentions it it will come off as factual information presented by an independent third party, not as excuse making. (Something like MostlyWell missed X number of days this fall semester due to surgery and a recuperation from the surgery-- this impacted his/her academic performance during the semester. MostlyWell is expected to be fully recovered in whatever the timeframe is.
-In terms of quitting the club, I normally believe that people shouldn’t do anything that doesn’t hold their interest. But my question to you is why did you agree to accept the position for this year if you had it last year if you did not like doing it? If it is just this semester as you are recovering that you find you don’t like the position, I might say to give it a bit of time see if you start to enjoy it again as your health improves – maybe ask someone to help you manage the responsibilities as you recover.
–But if you really don’t want to continue then arrange for an orderly transition and don’t include the club and leadership position for senior year on your college applications. I don’t expect it will be a make-or-break change.
Don’t do things that yuu don’t like and cause you stress. You might not like it since your “friends” are no longer supporting you. Theater kids can be tough. My experience from an outside view is the performers are the tough ones but the “crews” are the more fun laid back one’s…
What your doing in your position does show leadership and organization. Nothing wrong saying you started it then had to leave your position due to medical reasons.
As stated have more safties and don’t believe anything your told about college that is not written down(acceptance letter) . Many have been told they would be a good candidate for a school then not getting accepted to that school /program.
If you were my kid I would have encouraged you to not accept the job for a second year knowing you didn’t enjoy it. That would have been the right time to step away. You made a commitment to the theater group – and you did it with the full knowledge that you no longer enjoyed the club/position. It does not appear that circumstances changed from last year.
I am not big on reneging on commitments – that has everything to do with personal integrity and nothing at all to do with how something might look on college applications. If you feel you cannot go on with the position without being miserable then IMO the least you should do is arrange for an orderly transition of your responsibilities to someone else – and if you do that I would not put participation in the club or the leadership position on your college application for senior year.
@MostlyWell Talk to the adviser of the club about a transition plan. Tell them you want to finish your projects so it would be good if someone else came on board and you could help them learn as you finish up your projects.
You can even use that as leadeship: “Senior year: Elected President. Raised $500 through candy sales for the fall play. Trained new President.”
@bopper To be completely honest, I’m pretty sure sure they won’t replace me. A few years ago they just had to school handle everything I do now and then created the position to let students do it. I suspect I was a trial run. Though I’m technically an officer I’m definitely the least important one.
I still agree with @bopper. You took on the responsibility willingly and it is your obligation to tell the advisor and club president that you will be leaving your post and help them to develop an orderly transition – even if the school takes things over arrangements would have to be made to transfer the responsibility.
@happy1 I’ve resigned as of today (end of quarter). The sponser was very understanding and asked me for a recommendation for my replacement, which I gave. The new person knows how to do everything thanks to helping me out a few times when I had surprise ER visits and the like. If they accept, it’s just a matter of adding to them to an email list. I think it turned out pretty well all things considered.