<p>I love (and enjoy) to play team sports (but not at the level of being recruited) and also enjoy (and talented) in performing an instrument (if putting more time in practice, possibly able to master some impressive awards.) As both activities have high demand for time commitment, any suggestions on which one to pick in HS in terms of college admission? Which one is more favored by top college admission like Yale?</p>
<p>Most definitely Music.</p>
<p>Why do you have to give one up?</p>
<p>Choose one yourself. Or don’t choose at all. I did both, so do many others.</p>
<p>Be careful about music and Yale. If you’re truly talented enough to stand out at Yale for music, you’d probably be “master[ing] some impressive awards” already and not be speculating about them … Yale’s musical talent rivals that of most top conservatories, and includes many transfers/acceptees to Juilliard, Eastman, etc.</p>
<p>Pick your passion and go for it. You shouldn’t be asking us to choose for you because 1) nobody can tell you Yale’s preference and 2) you’ll probably naturally do much better at the one you’re more passionate about. Also, if you can handle both, you can do both.</p>
<p>Are there opportunities (or, ahem, admissions advantages) for NON-Juilliard-level musicians? I’ve played in All-State Orchestra and will be concertmaster at school, but I have no impressive achievements and no awards to speak of. Could I still take lessons or play in the orchestra if I got in to Yale?</p>
<p>Sorry for the slight hijack.</p>
<p>You need to stand out to have an “admissions advantage,” and for Yale (and even for similarly prestigious but less artsy schools) that pretty much requires that you have a high level of achievement (i.e. impressive honors, performances, etc.) in addition to demonstrated passion. Music is a great extracurricular even if you don’t have that, so it’ll certainly help in that sense, but it’s not going to <em>stand out</em>.</p>
<p>The great thing about Yale is that it has more music groups than other colleges. For instance, there are 4 popular orchestras. Obviously you don’t have to be from Juilliard to play in these groups, and they still have great musicians and play great music. You can look them up: Berkeley College Orchestra, Jonathan Edwards College Philharmonic, and Saybrook College Orchestra. For Yale Symphony Orchestra, though, you should pretty much be a conservatory-level musician, not necessarily Juilliard, but many of the not-as-highly-seated YSO musicians have still been accepted to great music schools such as Peabody, Northwestern, etc.</p>
<p>If you really have to give one up, then choose whichever one you think you’ll have the most fun with, and which you think you’d rather do in your life. I personally wouldn’t make this decision with the “How would this look to a college” aspect in mind. If you’re just thinking about how to make the “perfect college application” then I really think you’re missing out on the point of extracurricular activities. Personally, I would try to do both.</p>