<p>I'm hoping to get into top schools like the Ivy League ones, and I have just lost all interest in band. I plan to quit band after this year(freshman year), so since it was a class I took this year and won't show up the next on my application, will that count against me? I am okay with it not helping me, but I am just wondering if it would not only not count but even look bad for me.</p>
<p>You are way overthinking this. If you don’t like band any more, drop it, and do something that you do like. It’s OK to drop an activity. Just don’t replace it with, say, a meth habit. Replace it with something that makes productive use of your time.</p>
<p>And, really, suppose you’d gotten a different answer. Suppose people come along after my post and say, “Oh, no, if you drop band, you’ll never be able to get into Princeton (or Northwestern, or Amherst).” Would you stay in band just to make that happen? Would you really prostitute yourself that way? If a college would cut you over a silly, petty issue like this, maybe it isn’t where you want to be anyway.</p>
<p>Remember, you don’t have to put an activity on your application if you don’t want to. If you don’t, colleges will have no way of knowing what you did or what you dropped. High school is about exploring your passions, so do that and have fun!</p>
<p>“prostitute yourself” seems a bit extreme…
but anyways, no it won’t hurt you</p>
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<p>And “meth habit” didn’t?</p>
<p>But, really, if you stay in an activity you don’t like, just because you think it will increase your chances of admission to fancy colleges, “prostitute yourself” doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch to me.</p>
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<p>Goingivy, I think part of the OP’s issue is that Band was also one of his or her ninth-grade classes, so it will show up on his or her transcript. Not that this changes the answer, of course, but I think that was part of the OP’s concern.</p>
<p>No, it won’t hurt you. It is very natural for freshmen to try a variety of activities, and only stick with the ones they like. </p>
<p>It will help however to have some activity that you have consistently done throughout high school, and show a strong level of commitment to. If your heart isn’t in band, it won’t be the one.</p>