<p>I'm entering my junior year at a very good football school in Texas. I lettered as a sophomore, and started 3 games in front of a top 10 D1 recruit at his position. However, I simply have no love left for football. The revelations about brain injuries suffered by football players at all levels are also startling to me. I enjoy lifting weights and running to prepare for football, but not the actual sport. If I quit football, I'd also be able to take four more classes tptal in these next two years, and I believe my time could be better spent elsewhere studying, getting a job, volunteering, etc. My concern is that adcoms will look at me in a negative light if I stopped playing football after a pretty successful season, and they would view me as a "quitter". Is my concern justified? Would volunteer hours and work experience make up for not playing the next two years?</p>
<p>In most cases, you will not be looked at negatively, especially if you fill your time with activities that better march your passions and/or career goals. If you succeed in raising your GPA that is an even better bonus, especially if you are competing for a spot at UT.</p>
<p>I’d say it’s worth your mental health. I read a thread on TBI recently (mostly to do with football and the recent suicide of Junior Seau), and the findings were horrifying, with some individuals showing significant brain damage even at the high school level. You add too that you have no love for the sport anymore, so you would only be participating to (potentially) satisfy adcoms. As a random person on the internet, I think you should quit, and let the adcoms think what they will. Better to engage your brain than damage it, and I’m sure taking an extra 4 courses plus outside ECs will more than make up for it; you can always explain your decision in your application as well.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>If you don’t like it, don’t play it. Just don’t quit and sit and play video games instead. Don’t think too far into the process of extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Colleges want students who want to learn. How you show this is all up to you. Your desire to grab more classwork and expand into new areas is commendable IMHO. Otherwise, you know you’ll just be doing an impression of a mindless drone. You’re better than that.</p>
<p>If you love FB, then by all means, stick it out. My kid is a multi sport athlete. She loves it. Couldn’t pry it away from her. But she also devotes a lot of time to outside pursuits.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>In addition to what everyone else has said, only the top 50 most selective schools are going to care much about your EC’s anyways. If you have other EC’s, you don’t even have to list that you played football through 10th grade.</p>
<p>The worst reason to stay with any activity is because of an imaginary admissions officer’s opinion two years from now.
Make a list of everything you could do if that football time was freed up…in your case, it sounds like a more rigorous course load, which is a great option. Since you like running, you may want to try cross country, which is a fall sport in our area that takes way less time and results in fewer injuries than football.</p>
<p>To address the specific question that OP asked:</p>
<p>Yes, adcoms will likely view your decision to quit negatively. Adcoms are looking for impact and based on your success at football (“I lettered as a sophomore, and started 3 games in front of a top 10 D1 recruit at his position.”) you are unlikely to find another activity that will impress the adcom as much.</p>
<p>To phrase this another way, your application as an elite football player will be handled far better than your application as [academic standout/philanthropic genius/fill in the blank]. A football recruit with a 3.2 GPA/1800 SAT will be more likely to be admitted to HYPS than someone with a 4.0/2400.</p>
<p>However, this answer is far different from the question that the other posters seem to be addressing. The best path for YOU to take in life may well not include football, even if it means that you will not be admitted to HYPS. If your passions lie elsewhere, I would also encourage you to follow your dreams and conscience. Our society places too much emphasis on sports and this emphasis unfortunately means that good kids will sometimes be denied opportunities.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could spin it in an essay… “I really enjoyed football for a while, and found success at it, but when the statistics regarding concussions and long-term brain damage became too clear to ignore, I decided that I could love football from the sidelines and instead, focus on other things I had not been able to find time to pursue, such as X, Y, and Z. These new experiences taught me ___ and offered me the opportunity to ___.” Etc.
Football’s a great sport. You don’t have to play to love it. In a similar story, my D always loved “house” basketball, but never played the big travel leagues. She made the team as a freshman, and then as a sophomore, but clearly was not going to play as a junior so she quit (though stuck to her other “main” sport). The time it opened up let her be involved in winter training for young kids in her sport, pursue some other EC things at school, and study for the SATs she needed to take in the spring without impacting her grades. I don’t see an AdCom looking at yuor football entry on your common app and saying, “Oh- he quit football. What a loser. He’s outta here” and I also don’t see them seeing it on there and saying “Well, we weren’t sure we were going to admit him, but since he played football, he’s in” (unless you were a recruit for the school team, which does not sound like a consideration!). Enjoy the game, protect your brain, and enjoy other areas of interest.</p>
<p>@rmldad “The best path for YOU to take in life may well not include football, even if it means that you will not be admitted to HYPS.”</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t believe the OP mentioned anything about HYPS or any top school. He hadn’t even mentioned what type of academic student he is and unless he was already on the radar for football at these top schools they’re not going to care why he lists 2 years of football on his transcript/ECs instead of 3 1/2, it’s irrelevant!</p>
<p>@op the answer you seek depends on what schools you are interested in and whether you think football is you ticket into them. If the latter is true then stick it out because you seem to like the preparation. Yes it’s a gamble with your health as one bad Friday night could change your life forever so only you can answer whether an eaiser “in,” to college is worth the risk.</p>
<p>@DEDad - you are correct that OP did not specify his college plans. However, as csdad points out in this thread, there are only a limited number of highly selective schools that even consider ECs in the admissions process. I used HYPS as a shorthand means of referring to this small group. If the OP does not intend to apply to “one of these small number of highly selective schools that consider ECs in the application process” (typing HYPS is much easier, no?) then it doesn’t matter if he plays football or not - just keep the grades and test scores up whether or not he plays.</p>
<p>I really appreciate all of the quick responses! </p>
<p>To answer a few questions brought up above:</p>
<ol>
<li>I’m not interested in playing in college whatsoever, I’m a good high school player, but I simply don’t have the frame to continue in college. </li>
<li>Academically, I’m pretty successful. 207 PSAT, 2030 SAT sophomore year, 3.68 UW GPA.</li>
<li>The colleges I’m looking at are not necessarily HYPS, but schools on a slightly “lower” tier such as NYU, UT, USC, SMU, Baylor, Boston U, UCLA, etc. I’m interested in majoring in either psychology or finance, quite possibly both. How are ECs viewed in the admissions process at these schools?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks again for the help in my decision-making process.</p>