Sorry, your parents are wrong. Please show them this thread. All of these posters have a valid point. I think your attitude is a little bizarre. Not everyone can be a leader. Colleges don’t just look for leaders. There wouldn’t be a band without dozens of people in it who aren’t leaders. You are part of a team, the band wouldn’t function without team members. It doesn’t mean “nothing” if your band gets to the Nationals and you aren’t a band leader.
I actually think you should consider studying abroad, because they care nothing about ECs. Then you can do your undergrad in three years and apply to med school. I just find your conviction unsettling that unless you achieve some huge award or become the leader, you are meaningless to colleges. I hope you actually make an effort to have a good time occasionally and do something apart from studying, because to me, it seems that you are going to burn out before you get to college.
You are what, 16 maybe? As you have already determined that colleges will deem you worthless without leadership or prizes, then also probably know that beyond 7 or 8 APs, taking more will not enhance your application? If your plan is to apply to college with 12 APs under your belt, it won’t make you more attractive as an applicant than if you have 8. Again, this goes back to being an automaton who does nothing but study. If your goal is top American colleges, they want to admit people they like, not automatons. This is why I suggest attending college overseas, or Canada. Just food for thought as you move towards college.
Grand Nationals is not nothing. It is not winning the olympics in pole vault, but not nothing. It does not increase you EC (band) from EC to WOW EC if that is what you are looking for.
Here is what it does do: it is something to see on an app and think, hey, cool, I remember marching band, or I (or my kid) did that and…it is connection that may hit an ad com reading your app. Academics are all generally generic and interchangeable. You need somethings on your app to connect you to a reader, to strike the reader as cool or interesting.
As far as being a leader…honestly? Who cares. Most ppl aren’t leaders. They also look for “plays well with others”, or “gives back to others”.
We knew nothing of all this. We just tried to keep my kids busy and out of trouble. And my senior is doing great with the process without even having given this type of thing a thought…
More APs will not help. Your GPA will be unweighted by schools anyway so they can judge against kids whose schools don’t weight.
Lastly, you are a sophomore. Just enjoy your life for heaven’s sake!
I know you don’t want “follow your passion” advice. But it should play into your decision – colleges (at least those with a holistic view) want to see passion and commitment. If you love band, then you should continue–it will show passion and commitment. If you are looking to leave band because you are no longer interested, then you should. But you can still show your passion and commitment for music by some of the suggestions previously mentioned such a smaller band, volunteering at a senior center or church, or teaching underprivileged kids music. Any of these will still show a passion and may be a smaller commitment of time if you are feeling overwhelmed.
Of course, if you have decided that music just isn’t your thing, then find something that is.
Colleges want interesting and engaged students that have something to offer beyond a ton of AP classes.
US medical schools require that your courses be completed/recognized at an american or canadian college/university. Not even degrees from prestigious foreign schools like Oxford or Cambridge are acceptable.
The amount of ap courses that makes you look good for a college follows a logarithmic function. The first 3 aps make a significant impact on your college transcript. After that, each ap is less impactful. In all honesty, 8 aps is not that much more impressive than 6 aps. There are a ton of kids who take a ton of aps. By quitting band, and taking 7-8 aps, you are not setting yourself apart from others: instead, you are conforming which is something you don’t want to do. You want to show the colleges what is unique about yourself. You say you want to go to premed. Research or compete in biology competitions to show your interest in the medical field. And, keep band. If you really enjoy band, there is no real reason to quit. Although it might seem that band is useless, it is not. Why?
Band improves your time management skills. When you are a junior, life is hectic. Every minute is precious. Band forces you to learn the best way to conserve time, an essential skill you need in college.
Band also relieves stress. It takes your mind off of school, reducing your stress levels.
Band teaches you about perfection. Marching band is all about perfection. Perfect rhythm, perfect choreography, perfect coordination. Striving for perfection is an essential skill. When you are a doctor, you simply don’t have the luxury to mess up. You literally hold’s someone’s life in your hands. One mistake, and they are dead. Its hard, but I know you are dedicated enough to overcome this challenge.
Also, have fun. Having fun may seem trivial but is essential. If you keep forcing yourself to do things you do want to do, pretty soon you will run out of passion. Yeah, you might go to a prestigious college, but whats the point if you are burned out. Remember, focus on your passion. Don’t give in to peer pressure and or parental pressure. Do what YOU want to do. Your friends, your parents are not going to give directions to you throughout your life. You are the captain of your soul, the master of your fate. Stay strong and may your sword stay eternally sharp.
You’ve worked very hard over years to get good and just when you can really reap the benefits of being good your parents want you to quit? What? Play on please!
IMO band is a very weak EC. The thing is, it doesn’t say much about you as an individual. Other than you can show up enough and aren’t bad enough to get kicked out.
Even if your band goes to a national, etc., that only very indirectly reflect on you personally.
For top schools, I’d be very nervous relying on band as my primary EC. If band is going to hurt your GPA or ACT, I’d seriously consider quitting it. The cost/benefit just isn’t there, IMO.
So band basically has no impact on my college apps? What if I was a section leader when we win the grand nats finalist title? Or if my band wins the All-state Honor Band title?
As for the “band is my only EC thing” I apologize: I’m also the founder of my school’s psychology club, the future founder of a chapter of a national honor society in my school, I’m volunteering at hospitals over the summer, and I’m also going to attend a research camp that hopefully will pave the path for me to do some research with a professor. My best friend also suffers from a chronic disease, so I’m going to use that in college apps as my essay for what inspired me to get into medical school. I also want to start up something that will help people like her…she suffers from chronic kidney disease but I couldn’t donate my kidney because we’re different blood types. I would ask for ideas, but that’s not relevant to this thread…Anyways, I’m also hoping to win places in this math and science competition I’m planning on entering. Sorry for not mentioning these before, I honestly thought they weren’t ECs until I looked up what ECs were…haha we all have our moments.
If band really has no impact on college apps, then the question is whether I’ll have time for this and all my other ECs, and my GPA. WHat’s an weighted GPA that will garner the attention of top schools? 5.6? 5.7? My unweighted is 4.00.
Also, is my list of ECs above enough or do I need to do even more?
Again, thanks for replying to this thread–I really value this site and all the posts posted here. You guys have all halped me so much more than anyone physically near me could. It also really reassures me that med schools don’t look at anything at high school records.
It’s all well and good to argue that students may want to do band anyway, for personal edification, a relaxing way to blow off steam from AP classes, bonding with fellow classmates, etc. But band is not a productive use of EC time for college admissions purposes. Spend that time instead on test prep, keeping your GPA up, joining or expanding on other ECs, college essays, anything really.
I vote “yes” to band. From an admissions standpoint, I would want to see a student who would be a team player as well as a leader. College is like one big team; you don’t want a bunch of nerds with perfect grades but are not likely to join any clubs or have an impact on the campus. High band awards may not be individual, but like others said, it is NOTHING to sniff at and you are more involved than let’s say, someone on your swim team winning a gold and you winning nothing.
7 APs in a year…that’s great, but course load depends on your school environment. If everybody takes a lot of APs, then the “power” of the quantity is null and void.
I’ve thought about quitting my two instruments a few times, but in the end I really enjoy them and even though I don’t practice as much, I still compete and make myself a more wellrounded individual who would likely be involved on campus versus someone with good grades and research, but nothing else.
Band parent here - Lots of good advice given already. Stick with band it shows commitment/team player and an ability to juggle a rigorous course load with an huge time sucking EC. D16 used not making drum major as her Common App essay topic and used how she handled her oboe breaking in the middle of an on-stage solo performance and the lessons learned for a supplemental essay. She didn’t become a sectional leader until senior year. UIL solo and ensemble contests count as accomplishments. Lots of good application fodder in band experiences.
Not going to lie it is a challenge to maintain grades junior and senior years with marching band, but thousands of kids manage and do just fine.
I disagree 100% with the posters who say band is a useless EC. Are they in admissions? Absolute nonsense. It requires a significant time commitment. Anything you are doing which requires a significant time commitment and which you enjoy is a legitimate EC. So are there no bands at Harvard, Stanford and Columbia? Is there a person out there who has been in admissions at a top 20 college who cares to shed some light on this? @T26E4 , or @skieurope what do you think?
Effectively, 8 bagels and goldenbear are saying give up band, which you have already been doing for two years of high school, and hurry up and find some better EC, like entering the Intel Science competition, because that’s the kind of EC top colleges like. Top colleges only want to see really prestigious ECs and people who have cured cancer at age 17. Maybe I am totally wrong though. But I think it is ridiculous to scramble to get involved in some “better” EC to impress colleges. What is “better” than band?" Maybe OP should take up a varsity sport, that involves a significant time commitment. OP better hope he/she can make the varsity team, or top colleges will think it’s useless.
Nothing is clear cut. Quitting or not quitting, I believe, won’t affect you much. For me, I had played my instrument for 8 years but gave it up after 11th grade b/c 1) simply I had tired of it and 2) there were more interesting classes I wanted to take – but I really wanted those classes – and it wasn’t simply to show off a better transcript.
Your worrying about being tagged a “quitter” is unnecessary. If you truly want to take an extra AP or two, go for it. If not, be settled and enjoy going to Marching Band Nationals. You somehow equate these choices with your being a physician somewhere down the road. That’s crazy thinking.
This decision simply isn’t that critical in the long term view of things.
Do you REALLY want to be a doctor? Then have a great work ethic and hone your ability to memorize lots of facts. Playing the college admissions rat race isn’t necessary.
Focus on one thing at a time; you need to get accepted to an undergraduate school before you worry about med school admissions. Med schools won’t care what you did or did not do in HS, but many colleges will.
That’s just folly. There is no college in the country that has an admissions standard of “Whoever has the most AP’s, wins.”
If you enjoy band, stick with it. If you don’t find another EC. But you’re right - unless you are targeting a directional state college, most colleges want to see something other than just academics in your life. Few are looking to admit a class of academic drones.
Don’t do any EC (or choose a class, for that matter) to impress colleges; they won’t be impressed.
I think being part of a band going to Nationals would be a lot more valuable than adding another EC at this stage of the game. What students often don’t understand is that being section leader, or president of a club is not the only way to show leadership. Leadership is about solving problems and getting others on board. You could help with younger kids. You could lobby for the band to do something for charity. Our senior center loves getting kids to play for them.
If your goal is med school - it doesn’t matter what your high school grades are. You want to get into a good enough school - believe me your state university will be fine - and get the best grades and MCAT scores you can as an undergrad. If you love band stick with it, it will help you. If it’s preventing you from doing things you’d rather do, it’s okay to drop it. The most selective colleges are looking for students with good grades who can also do something interesting on the side. And believe me having the most APs is not a good strategy. If you are interested in highly selective universities you need a rigorous enough schedule in the context of your school that your GC will check the “most rigorous” box. You don’t need one AP more than that. Med School is hugely expensive so many students choose a less expensive undergrad college so they can afford it.
It says you can multitask. It says you can follow directions. It says you can work well with other people who want the same goal but will likely have very different opinions on how to get there. It means you’ll do reps over and over again to get something right. It means you practice. It means you understand the value of performing. It means you can keep up with your schoolwork while having to spend more time at band practice than you do studying.
I was a section leader for one year, brass captain another, and a soloist once also. The trumpet section had an average of 12 to 15 people in it, and they ALL wanted to run things, and nobody wanted to admit they weren’t the best. You tell someone they’re in the wrong spot, they’re probably not going to just accept their mistake with a smile. Navigating all that crap and still managing to play well and put on a technically skilled, good sounding, ENTERTAINING show was harder than any standardized test I’ve ever taken, or any one class I took in high school.