<p>How are sports viewed in comparison to other EC's? I feel like I have not participated in that many after school extra curriculars because 2 hours or so of my day is typically taken up by sports. Are sports viewed as highly as other EC's that are more related to what a person is doing in college? I can certainly show commitment to my athletic EC's (I run about 500 miles over each summer to train for cross country) but I feel like they will be seen as less important, especially since I plan to drop varsity sports to focus on academics in college.</p>
<p>Do what you love, regardless of how it looks
That’s what colleges want</p>
<p>Are you competitive in your sport? Dedication alone is not what schools are looking for–are you talented? If not, those two hours a day could probably be more impactfully spent.</p>
<p>I am “good” in the sense that I am in the top out of ten for varsity or so. I finished 40th in the league championships behind mostly seniors this year and next year I hope to finish in the top 15. There around 25 schools in the league. However, this is not nearly fast enough to be useful for a varsity cross country team at a large school. If all my interests were small LAC’s than I would be very competitive simply because there are not that many people, but some schools, such as Cornell, have as many undergrads as the entire High School league.</p>
<p>This is probably obvious now, but my main sport is cross country. There are only seven people on a varsity cross country team including two backups that do not count toward the team score.</p>
<p>In any case, I am not particularly interested in running competitively in college because I don’t want to rigor of a team schedule to interfere with my academics.</p>
<p>I diagree with glassesarechic. Two hours a day doing something you love (sports) is a great EC. At a minimum, it shows tremendous self-discipline, team spirit, sportmanship, and high energy. It may also show leadership, maturity, a sense of community, compassion, ethics, and a host of other qualities that schools value, depending on the role that sports plays in your life. Too many students think athletics only counts if they are a recruited athlete and bring home prizes. </p>
<p>The only reason to give up sports is if you aren’t enjoying it.</p>
<p>This is interesting. It was my impression that sports are considered ECs? And in fact are favorably viewed since participation requires a high level of commitment by the student and is difficult to balance with their academics.</p>