Thank you. You know your kids best. I read that colleges look for depth rather than being jack of all trades so thought doing one activity well might be better. But she has 2 more years so guess could split time between the two. If academics suffers then has to give up one.
You can “spin” Indian dance better than tennis. She is either very good in tennis or she is not, and it is usually judged by whether she is ranked. Whereas how is she going to be ranked when it comes to Indian dance? There are a lot of semi good tennis players.
My kid had a choice of becoming editor in chief for her school’s paper (was not hard because she was the only person who was interested in it) or be in the debate team (very time consuming). She was advised to do the newspaper because it would look just as good. My kid liked both.
Do tennis during your school’s tennis season. Do dance the rest of the year. Search for a different dance studio or tennis club if yours won’t accommodate your schedule.
Competitive tennis is a big commitment year round with USTA tournaments every few weeks. Was a big part of my life as a kid through high school. Made the UC Riverside tennis team but no scholarship (like my freshman roommate on full scholarship who made All American), so I didn’t continue as academics were my first priority. Tennis is very “dog eat dog” and is the more competitive choice with rankings and seedings in the non-stop tournaments with no real off season. However, she should really pursue her passion as both would look good as an extracurricular activity.
My advice if you want to pursue tennis seriously is do a combo of an academy and private lessons. To play college tennis you need to have a USTA National Ranking and achieve a Tennis Recruiting Network Star Rating. High school tennis has no effect on college recruiting and many highly ranked players skipped high school tennis altogether.
My daughter is a junior and has been pursuing Bollywood dance since she was 6-7 years old. She tried a lot of activities over the years but this is the only thing that stuck. She has pursued it passionately and now regularly wins regional awards and has also become a TA at her dance academy. I don’t know if any of this will help her with college admissions but she has made this choice and we support it. Just sharing so you know that Bollywood dancing can be pursued as an EC.
At this age, I would try to keep both going. She may discover that she doesn’t have the enthusiasm for one as it becomes more intense or that, in fact, she doesn’t want to pursue either at a level that’s far beyond casual.
And while you are wise to be considering the college consequences, I would suggest instead that she make a point of noting/journaling her choices and rationale. Unless she is seeking recruitment, the point of these ECS is to show engagement with things outside the classroom – showing who you are.
If she likes dance because her friends do it and she likes the excitement of working toward a performance with them, that’s fine. As is liking tennis because she likes the break of being outdoors and focusing completely on the game to get out of her head. Or even that she can play with the boys.
This part of life, and even beyond, is about figuring out who you really are and being authentic to it. The important thing now is that she is doing something outside school and enjoying it.
By the way…lots of people learn tennis and enjoy it without being ranked or pursuing scholarships or anythiing else. I bet you can dance and enjoy that too without having to compete and worry about ranking. I think the best EC is something you learn and can carry that experience with you into adulthood.
Agree with above…but understand, she may change her mind about interests as she gets older. She may decide that swimming or yoga, or something is more fun than tennis. She may decide to pursue another kind of dance as she gets older as well.
And all of that is fine.
For the purpose of college admission tennis is better if she can get a few tennisrecruiting stars, There is a shortage of girls in college tennis. Many prestigious D3 colleges have weak tennis teams so she does not have to be exceptional to get recruited or participate in National tournaments. If she is playing since 8 she should be able to get to a decent level in another 4 years. Many tournament playing girls who started early quit by 14 and new talents emerge (sometimes crossovers from another sport or dance).
I really don’t see why she can’t do both for now unless you are interested in her playing college tennis or some equivalent with regard to dance. Most 12-year-olds don’t have those ambitions yet. My son is a good tennis player and really enjoys it. However, he knew during middle school that he did not want to be an academy player and play for 6 hours/day in the summers and do many tournaments per year. He enjoyed playing in rec leagues and in occasional tournaments and did well. Some of his best friendships were formed through playing tennis and I’m sure he will continue to play for many years to come.
By the time he started high school, he knew he wanted to add another sport and focus on academics, and he was able to do that while still sticking with tennis. He was able to start on the varsity tennis team as a sophomore and gain a leadership role on a successful tennis team. However, he did not have to give up other activities that have been very important and valuable to him. While others who are gunning to play college tennis have chosen a different path, my son hasn’t had to choose and has had the success with tennis that he wanted plus lots of other great experiences.
Tournament and college bound tennis players don’t do high school (or middle school) tennis, so there is lots of room on the those teams for average and even below-average players. You don’t have to be 100% committed to play on school teams. Agree with @elena, there is no reason she can’t do both until one seems to be the winner in her heart. For colleges, either are just an EC, longevity and progress within any EC is a good thing.
@blueskies2day @elena13 agree 100% with that. Because high school tennis can be relatively weak unless there is a bunch of college recruits who decide to play (there are) there is a lot of chance to shine at least for the college app. But it should be for the love of the sport not just a checkmark for the app. Ultimately I wished I invested more time in high school tennis which would have been fun instead of focusing on my college prospects as I didn’t even go to the schools I was recruited for.
for college admissions, tennis would be the way to go, most if not all the selective colleges have tennis teams, not so for Bollywood dance. They’re looking to see if someone can contribute to the campus by playing a sport, even if it’s intramural or club and it doesn’t have to be the sport you played in hs either.
Actually, Indian dance is a VERY popular extracurricular at many of the most selective colleges. I believe that all of the Ivies, for example, have competitive South Asian dance teams. Other schools I’m familiar with, such as Northwestern and Rochester also have several Indian dance groups (both competitive and performance). My daughter’s good friend, who had extensive training in traditional Indian dance, both danced and choreographed for four years at UCLA.
If she is interested in continuing her EC in college, she may actually have greater opportunities with dance than with tennis. And, yes, admissions committees at selective schools will be familiar with the demands required by participation at an advanced level.
If she has to make a choice, she should follow her heart. Both are activities that will speak to things like commitment and perseverance, as well as the potential for contribution once she is on campus.
I would have thought Bollywood dance would be better than tennis for the diversity angle, as well as for the EC/competitive dance aspect mentioned above. Tennis is basically an individual sport, and unless you are USTA very highly ranked, I wouldn’t think it’s worth much in college admissions. (I hope I am wrong because my kid plays varsity tennis, but nowhere near the recruitable level, so sadly I think I am right.)
I said tennis because you could still play AFTER college! (and join a pick up game at the local court while in college).
D20 had to decide between ballet and … a lot of things beginning in fourth grade. She chose ballet, and she was very, very good at it to the point where we really thought she would be a professional. She was Clara in our local ballet’s Nutcracker. She did summer intensives with some of the best programs in the world (not just the USA). She made the NY cut in the Youth America Grand Prix. It consumed three to four hours of her life every weekday - and more on the weekends - for seven years. Until it didn’t. This year, she decided to scale back on dance and do some other things (cheer, art, guitar). Will it affect her college chances? I doubt it. It seems like colleges just want you to do SOMETHING, not just study. But, even if it does, she has always been happy pursuing her activities and we have some great memories with dance. Why? Because I always made her choose. I don’t care if she dances or not, that’s not my job as a parent. My job as a parent is to raise a productive member of society. Her extracurricular pursuits are her decisions to make. Tell your daughter that the choice is hers to make, tennis or dance, but that (1) she must either choose to do one well or both not as well and (2) she is free to change her mind later. There is no right or wrong in the decision.
(Side note rant: Why does our society pressure kids to devote their lives to one activity beginning at age 12? It just increases injuries and burnout.)
I have friends my age (60s) who are still doing Indian dance. Not competitively, but they enjoy it. A few years ago another friend had a party where she asked everyone who was game for it to do some kind of artistic performance. (I read a poem, not by me.) Anyway, one of the women who still dances, danced for us and it was great. I know a lot of people who had to give up on tennis because it was too hard on their knees.
As far as which one is better for an Asian Indian student to stand out? Neither. Both are pretty much run of the mill activities in that population.