<p>Hi, my son is one 2 varsity teams, Cross Country and Baseball; however, he is not a captain on either team. Will being on these teams help his chances as school even if he does not want to play sports in college? Are these just good ecs?</p>
<p>I am a varsity wrestler, and of course they are good EC’s! Personally, wrestling takes up so much of my time, so I would hope my 12+ hours a week ( 6 days a week) turns out to be a good investment.</p>
<p>Varsity sports are a good EC showing perseverance (training) and how well the student balances competing requirements for time (sports and studying).</p>
<p>Yes, any extra curricular can look good. But it really depends on if your son wants to continue the sport in college or play varsity in college. If you show the same commitment to a club instead, that will be pretty much viewed the same. What colleges really care about is that you are doing something that you are passionate about. If you are doing a sport and it is just considred an activity to fill up your time, then maybe you’re better off finding an activity you enjoy doing that is geared toward your passion.</p>
<p>Varisty sports look good of course, but so do clubs. So if you feel too much pressure in the varsity sport, don’t think it’s necessary to get accepted to college.</p>
<p>what about JV sports? do colleges have a lot less regard for JV sports than varsity?</p>
<p>I’m on varsity lacrosse but jv basketball</p>
<p>It can possibly be a hook if he’s recruited in his desired schools…for example, he can probably squeek by with grades/SATs that are a bit lower if he’s recruited. That could be quite useful if there’s a weak spot in his application.</p>
<p>If you’re just planning on showcasing it as an EC, that’s also certainly helpful, but will not increase his chances nearly as much.</p>
<p>Sports can help balance out academic interests IF your son is the sort of 4.0/2350+ kid who is at risk of being perceived the wrong way(a study grind, bad with people, that kind of thing). Otherwise, sports are just activities.</p>
<p>I think it depends. My cousin plays on a varsity baseball team for a small school. They have so few boys, everyone makes varsity. They haven’t won a game in three years. They really stink. They practice during PE, so he doesn’t have to put any extra hours into the team. Contrast my cousin with a varsity basketball player at my school. Our team has won three state titles in six years. We have 3400 kids and making the team of 15 is very difficult. To make the team, you have to play year-round. During the season, they practice constantly. I believe colleges would give a varsity member of our basketball team a lot of credit for being on varsity, but would give my cousin almost no credit. Ad coms aren’t stupid. They know which teams require a lot of work and which do not.</p>
<p>Just ECs…</p>
<p>I have a question along these lines.</p>
<p>I’ve been playing on JV tennis for 3 years and usually they let you in varsity your senior year because of your commitment. But the problem is that I haven’t practiced a lot and therefore not really good anymore, and I’m just not interested in playing tennis.</p>
<p>Will this look bad on my college app? I mean I am afraid that they will think that I just quit and that I don’t have commitment.</p>
<p>Jstar, believe it or not, I was in the same boat as you with tennis. I was on the JV team for 2 years, but could not make it to Varsity b/c all the girls were better players. I love playing tennis, but playing a school team just wasn’t for me. I decided not to try out senior year in order to concentrate on my studies instead of feeling unaccomplished in tennis.</p>
<p>It does NOT look bad if you decide not to play tennis your final year. A school is not going to care if you didn’t do it your last year as long as you show a commitment for another passion that you’ve had, like an instrument or anything else. You can still put down that you played JV tennis for 3 years, but you don’t have to explain why you decided not to play senior year.</p>
<p>thanks i didnt no that</p>
<p>I do other EC’s like Japanese and computer club so hopefully ill be fine</p>
<p>I think it would be like any other non-academic EC.</p>
<p>I do hope colleges realize that varsity sports really do take up more time than most other EC’s!</p>
<p>As a two-sport varsity athlete (and club soccer player), I sure hope so. It annoys me because in certain high schools it is designed so that if you’re an athlete you really can’t be in many clubs - or at least it is in my school. We can’t miss practice for a club, and we can’t miss club meetings for practice. Ergo, one or the other.</p>
<p>That being said, I think sports take up more time, but unfortunately colleges don’t seem to see it that way unless you’re looking into recruiting, which changes the stakes.</p>
<p>I think it’s safe to conclude that admins know what they are doing when it comes to judging ECs. I haved played on a varsity team since 9th grade. I am also a member of four clubs and an officer in three of those. My sport takes at least ten times more effort and at least four times more time than all of my clubs combined. Let’s be honest. Most clubs take a few hours during the week and an occassional Saturday. And that is if you are an officer. Regular club members can get by on even less. A competitive varsity team takes much more effort and time. To stay on varsity, we must play on a club team, which practices year round (except for the varsity season). The team itself has morning and afternoon practices and then games 2 or 3 times a week during the season. Many of us also work out on our own when we’re not at practice. When you get injured (and I’ve been injured every year), you have PT. Colleges would have to be completely ignorant of high school life if they were to give equal weight to varsity athletics and high school clubs. As someone on this board once pointed out, anyone can join a club and claim significant hours (which aren’t verified). Only a few can participate on a varsity team. Colleges have to know this is true.</p>
<p>I play three sports and have been on varsity for all four years. My GPA is about a 3.6. I am also in one club. Does the sports and club help. Will i get into good school even though my GPA isnt amazin?</p>
<p>Varsity sports as Erin’s dad stated show perserverance and explain time spent during high school. On several of my college applications and even scholarships it asked for a breakdown of time spent on each activity. Plus, during the off season I competed in tournaments etc. it shows that I wasn’t just sitting around studying to get my gpa, I juggled sports, clubs and volunteering. Believe me it makes a difference. I have gotten wonderful offers, and people ahead of me in class rank with Better act scores and gpa and far less activities have not. Some were even deferred. Believe me I have said nothing as they would be furious if they knew I got in and with scholarships. Anyway, I KNOW it was the ec’s and community service. I am in the top 5% but these people are above me… I read in us news that the head of admissions at vanderbilt said they would rather accept a student well rounded than a book worm my sophomore year and I put my faith in his words. Dual sports would be impressive also. Even if you don’t want to play in college there are clubs or intramurals. They want students who will be active so I truly think it will help.</p>
<p>MODERATOR’S NOTE:</p>
<p>Please do not resurrect old threads to post a question. Use the “New Thread” button at the top of the forum page.</p>