<p>Does not playing any sports in high school really hurt my chances at Top/Ivy schools? I have very strong other EC's and Volunteer work, but I only played sports during freshman year so far, should I reconsider? These are my current EC's are Mu Alpha Theta, Computer Programming Club, Chess Club, Media Crew and I volunteer at a hospital every Saturday for 4 hours.</p>
<p><em>bump</em> Sorry, this is kind of important.</p>
<p>No offense, but those ECs seem relatively… stale (from an adcoms perspective). Unless you have some accomplishments in them (awards and/or officer positions?)
A sport won’t make (or lack of, break) your application. Sports are just another EC. </p>
<p>@DigitalKing:
I do have many awards in them,
Mu Alpha Theta: Place at many of the local / state competitions, I placed 6th in the state of Florida at the State Convention.
Computer Programming: I do USACO and I hope to make Gold Division by the end of sophmore year
Chess Club: I’ve been doing this since 3rd grade when I moved to Florida, I have won numerous top 10 trophies and I compete in divisions that are higher than my grade level (i.e. 5th grade I was in the high school division)
Also, in terms of volunteering, I get ~60 hours per year.</p>
<p>Although I do see what you mean by stale; Chess, Math, and Computers are all very associated. Do you have any suggestions on what else I should do?</p>
<p>Sports are essentially like just another club. If you have a captain position, then it’s going to bolster the leadership aspect of your app some. Colleges will also take into account how much time is dedicated to the sport as they do with any activity, and sports typically entail a pretty large amount of commitment (so there’s some upside there). But not playing any sports definitely doesn’t hinder your chances at top schools.</p>
<p>I don’t know if DigitalKing meant stale in that the activities are all of a similar interest field (correct me if I’m wrong); I interpret stale as run-of-the-mill/unoriginal. There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about something and it would be odd if your ECs didn’t reflect that in at least some part. However, you should try getting some leadership or another unique achievement in your activities.
For example, Mu Alpha Theta (and most of the other honor societies) itself doesn’t necessarily mean spectacular achievement and commitment to an activity. The activity varies with each chapter/school. At my school, Mu Alpha Theta members have to serve a minimum of 2 hours/week in the math tutoring center for a year in order to be a member. We also hold regular meetings to plan math-related volunteer projects (like going to an inner-city school to tutor) and activities for the school. But at my brother’s school, all you need is the math GPA requirement and you get your certificate; MAT isn’t even an official club there. Another notorious example of one of these unreliable ECs is NHS. So basically for adcoms, when they just see “Mu Alpha Theta” it doesn’t read as unique or passion-driven.</p>
<p>I definitely wouldn’t try taking on a lot of random ECs though. There’s a difference between actually being a well-rounded student and just taking every club available to appear well-rounded…the adcoms will know the difference. My advice: don’t do anything just to put it on your app. You’ll be miserable, and because top school admissions are unpredictable, you could end up having wasted your high school years on 15 clubs you don’t care about, and still end up getting rejected.</p>
<p>As for sports, I wouldn’t worry about it. Sports can act as a stand-out factor on someone else’s application, but if you don’t have them, it’s fine.</p>
<p>@schwann Your analysis is exactly what I was getting at when I said “stale”.
@dfafd2dfafd Yep, those are high-level accomplishments by most standards. </p>
<p>@schwann Ahhhh, okay. What type of thing would you recommend doing in addition? Our school doesn’t really off many quality clubs, and I’m not really interested in much else to start one of my own. I do plan on joining Science National Honor society and another chess club (seperate from the one that I’m already in) next year, but I’m pretty certain that those EC’s aren’t all that uncommon either.</p>
<p>I don’t have any specific recommendations, because I wouldn’t advise doing activities that you don’t enjoy just to put them on your app. You have a solid set of achievements already in your clubs; my advice is to look at the club list and if you see a club you like (I’m not sure what you meant by quality?), and you have time, then join it. If nothing else interests you, then that’s great too. If you’re worried about how your ECs look, there’s always opportunity on your essays to highlight your passion for a certain EC in depth. Quality, not quantity. </p>
<p>Haha, trust me, I won’t go out of my way for something to help my app, I will, however, go out of my way to avoid something that will hurt my app, i.e. why I asked if dropping sports during freshman year will hurt me.</p>
<p>Even though I ask for recommendations, I don’t necessarily take them 100% of the time; I do what I enjoy :). I only ask here because I figure you guys are professionals at this kind of stuff.</p>
<p>What schwann and others basically said, sports honestly doesn’t boost your chances for college (excluding Varsity, years of commitment, and Captain), it is extremely overrated and there are many other individuals who make those top schools without a sport. Same with music, music and sports are overrated ECs. </p>
<p>Take ECs on what YOU like to do and what YOU will enjoy to do, because that is what colleges want, to be yourself. 
I’m in a situation where I either have to quit a sport or continue with it for junior year, because we don’t need it anymore. (Physical Education) I am not entirely sure if I WANT or will LOVE to do my sport for the next 2 years. But, some people made their decisions and some people quit because they don’t like it, while others decided to continue because they love it. </p>
<p>Just do what you love to do and everything will fall into your hands, including your desired university where you WILL belong and CONTINUE on what you will LOVE to do.</p>