<p>D is a rising senior with good grades and stats. She will be applying to some pretty selective colleges.</p>
<p>She rowed crew as a freshman and sophomore, but she injured her knee and had (failed) surgery in the spring of junior year. </p>
<p>After she recuperated in spring of junior year, she tried to row for the competitive season. She would go to practice, but the knee would act up after a few days. Eventually, she stopped going to practices this spring and focused instead on SAT prep and other ECs.</p>
<p>Now she is wondering if she should drop crew in the fall of her senior year. Like all seniors, she is now a captain. She still likes crew and if she were healthy, she would row. If the knee doesn't allow her to row, she could still be on injured reserve and retain the title "Varsity Captain", but she says she feels a little silly being there if there is no chance she can row. These feelings are especially acute when the coaches ask her repeatedly when she will be able to row again.</p>
<p>She doesn't know whether to just hang in there for the fall or whether to drop crew. She is worried that it will look bad if she drops one of her main ECs in her senior year, and she wonders whether she should just keep doing whatever she can so that her applications will be stronger. No matter what happens, she will not row in college.</p>
<p>I have tracked down yet another orthopedic surgeon for a consultation, and there is at least one thing they could do to try to fix her knee, but there are no promises. Whether she drops crew or not, we still need to try to fix her knee because she can't do weightbearing exercise in her current condition. Not to mention how we need to deal with this while she is still on our insurance plan!</p>
<p>What should she do?</p>