I know that the answer is generally no but hear me out. I didn’t think I was good enough to play tennis until now. I did however take lessons from a club since freshmen year. So I did technically play tennis all throughout high school even though I only played HS tennis one year?
Just say you were in the tennis club for four years if you were part of it
I took tennis lessons in the club only 9th and 10th grade. I didn’t play any tennis 11th grade but now I made the high school team 12th grade.
This will result in 2 lines on your common app that will look like this:
Tennis Club: 9-11
Tennis JV: 12
It won’t get anyone’s attention whatsoever. So now, here’s the question: do you really want to do it if no one else cares? Are you sacrificing other more-beneficial things? Or do you really enjoy it?
Don’t be an EC-whore or resume padder.
I didn’t take tennis lessons in 11th grade because I wanted to focus on track 11th grade. So I only took lessons 9th and 10th grade.
I’m playing tennis for my HS this year (12th grade) regardless if it helps since I enjoy it. I just don’t know if I should put it down on my resume since it might look like padding. So you are saying I should put down both tennis lessons and high school tennis on my resume?
Yeah
Lessons 9-10
Jv 12
It shows progression
All I’m saying is correctly and clearly put down what you’ve been involved in, regardless of how you think it may or may not appear to readers. The only rule of thumb that’s absolute is that you put down your ECs/Activities in the order of importance they are to you.
My kiddo’s 2nd degree Karate black belt was FOURTH on her list of activities (despite 8 years of non-stop training). Because it wasn’t among the top 3 ECs she was devoted to during her HS career.