[skadoosh!]

do sports really matter to get in, say, an ivy league?
most of the time i hear stuff about playing a sport/doing well in a sport to get a full scholarship.

& i'm not exactly the most athletic person in the world. loll. i do a bit of after school football, but my school doesn't have an offical football team. its just teams formed in the school against each other.

so are sports really really necessary?
or would it just count towrads another 'extracurricular'?

[and by extracurricular, is that everything you do that is not academic?]


thanks for your help. (:

[ChunJin]

It's a possible factor; but, not a primary factor. Sports does give you a slight advantage since it adds an extra dimension =). It's always a slight factor when you do extra things; as it separates you from your peers and the other tens of thousands of applicants applying.

What makes you unique?

[xm1chelle]

i agree with AngeloDS...it gives you that slight advantage beause colleges are looking for whatever makes you stand out from the rest of the applicants...& extracurriculars can basically be anything that you do outside academically - sports, newspaper staff, yearbook staff, speech & debate, martial arts, instruments, etc.

to get into an ivy league you need to be well-rounded, meaning that you need more than just academics...though good grades and an excellent SAT score definitely helps, ivy league schools look for that extra touch - extracurr, leadership positions in clubs, councils, etc., volunteer work & basically how you're involved in your community

[BoAFreakVer.300]

do sports really matter to get in, say, an ivy league?
most of the time i hear stuff about playing a sport/doing well in a sport to get a full scholarship.

& i'm not exactly the most athletic person in the world. loll.
so are sports really really necessary?
or would it just count towrads another 'extracurricular'?

[and by extracurricular, is that everything you do that is not academic?]


thanks for your help. (:

are you serious??? yes, yes, yes. if youre very athletic and talented in sports you can easily get scouted into any college of your choosing even with mediocre grades.

sports cant hurt, but its not necessary. colleges are already vague in the way they choose applicants so depending on the school they may or may not value sports more than others.

[akenon]

It's possibly a helpful factor, but if you aren't good at sports then don't let that worry you. You can be involved in other types of extracurriculars and still look good to colleges ^^

[maydai3333]

haha im wondering the same thing. im the most uncoordinated person anyones ever came across..but my guidance coinselor said that as long as you have other extracurriculars, you should be fine. However, if we're talking Ivy Leagues, Im guessing you need a ton of leadership positions like presidents of so and so andlike stellar grade.

[freetshirtsorg]

My friend Lynn Yi (class of 2008) never did any sports in fact she told me it was dumb how everyone was doing sports and was collapsing from exhaustion. I felt her resume was very focused. She participated in many science fairs and other science-related contests, one of them was the Siemen's sci fair. She got 2nd though she deserved to be first because of politics (this is what she says). She got accepted into MIT and Caltech (both early).

hmm... I personally don't think so from above example. It helps you seem more balanced and helps (girls) with judgement, concentration, and organization (says TIME mag). I think its true. I find sports to be so rewarding, to the extent not doing any makes me feel sluggish. Sports is difficult for me personally to do because i'm not good at managing my time and DOING my work.

and my fencing coach Nadia the Russian says like all ivy league schools have fencing team, she said "All China people study study study. And they don't do anything else. This is not good. My nephew he was captain of the Brooklyn Tech team and he got into good school. I saw him two week ago and he look all like "this" (she was being droopy and pathetic). I ask him what happen? He looked like a man. Now he did not fence. blah blah blah." yeah she basically said colleges have fencing teams who look for players every year. It only adds to your resume.
The above quote she said thinking I was chinese. lol. I'm not.

[chinese tears <3]

I think sports definitely plays a small. A lot of my friends who got into good schools were on sports teams. But you should definitely be good at sports though... if you're not really then don't bother. The time when it really makes a difference is if you're one of the best on your team since a lot of these students are the ones who go on to play college sports. You don't need sports, you can make it up with plenty of other extracurriculars.

[angelfightrJ]

like people said, sports can only help you...only if you stick with them. colleges won't care if you did track for a year. that's not going to impress them at all.

also, be aware that if you play a gajillion sports and you were on the team for all four years of high school, BUT YOUR GRADES SUFFERED FROM THAT, they won't really be impressed with your being on sport teams.

and of course, there are those super extreme athletes that are amazing in their sports....that'll definitely help them for college.

for me? i'm not doing any sports. i don't have the time for it. my friend agreed with me, but this year, she decided to join golf and now she regrets it because it cuts into her time SOOOO much so she's really tired when she comes home and she barely has the energy to do homework and study...and then she sleeps late and wakes up early. her grades are starting to be affected :/

[x SaRaNg HaE x]

If you're an amazing athlete who is ranked in state, you'll probably get scouted for a good college.
Other than that, joining a sport keeps you in shape and helps your mentality.
I've been in 2 sports in high school, track for 4 years and volleyball for 3. It's REALLY time-consuming, but if you love the sport, it doesn't matter. Even though you come home exhausted everyday, you learn to manage your time better. I had to give up a lot of sleep to keep my grades up, but the feeling of winning is amazinggg.
Sports are just like regular clubs like Key Club and Red Cross, but they take more dedication and time, so I assume they're a bit more weighted than the usual extracurricular activities.

[TEMPO-NESS]

Like everyone said above, it helps a little. Extracurricular activities and all that adds up little by little. Just be sure to keep up your grades and be active in a lot different types of things like clubs, community service, work, etc.

[abc123__]

Nope. :-) Sports don't matter at all. As long as you do something and you're involved in it and passionate about it. They just want to make sure that you don't go home and then sit around on the couch and watch TV all day.

There's a lot of myths surrounding this board on what makes you appealing to ivy-leagues. One thing I can tell you is to NOT join 10 clubs and stretch yourself thin and become president of all of them. It's actually really bad to do 10 things at once (they call this the "laundry list" of activities in the college admissions world) and it probably makes you look less appealing, actually. Besides, you'd wear yourself out quickly.

Do two or three things that you absolutely are passionate about. That way, if you don't get into the school of your choice, you won't feel like you wasted four years of your high school career for nothing because you would have spent them joyously, doing something you love. And you don't actually need any official "leadership titles" to get into ivy-league colleges by any means. If you were the president of your theater club, but do nothing, then you are holding an empty title. If you are just another member without a "leadership position" and you put in 20 hours a week into the club, get people together for extra rehearsals, write scripts, and help underclassmen with acting, then THAT is true leadership and something that makes you stand out and appealing to colleges.

So, bottom line ----- don't do sports for the sake of college applications, especially since it doesn't really matter and if you're bad at it like you say. Invest your time in something you love and will get something out of. Passion is what colleges are looking for---and for good reason--after all, it is passion that fuels some of the greatest minds in the world.

[DaAzNkIgGa627]

Sports are very good in my opinion. While from a college's point of view it may not look impressive unless you dumped your soul into them or are good enough to get recruited (which is a very very high level even for academically rigorous schools)

Sports are an easy way to stay in shape, you grow close to those you constantly work out with, and you get the joys of competition.

Do them if you like them. I really enjoy track and field, and I really devote myself to it. Track in track season, weightlifting and strength workouts off season, and the like. For me it's something that I'm willing to put in a lot of effort into, so it's good for me. Maybe you'll find a sport good for you, maybe sports aren't the EC's for you.

Good luck ^^

[skadoosh!]

AngeloDS
unique, as in something i am talented in?
for example, i am in art and i really really like it; im also your typical asian with the whole piano/math/art thing going on.
but thank you for your reply. (:

xm1chelle
so volunteer work is extrememly important?
what if the volunteer work is a variety of jobs? would that matter?
thank you very much for your infomation though. (:

BoAFreakVer.300
i am serious; many of these replies went against yours.
but thanks anyways...


akenon
ok, thats relieving. thanks! (:


maydai3333
hahaha. yeah thanks for the info. (:


freetshirtsorg
lol. well, i am chinese.
but yeah, i dont do sports; the only sport that i DO do is intramural [football, but not offical football].
anyways, thanks for your help. (:

chinese tears <3
other extracurriculars being anything from art to math to science to writing correct?
thanks though! (:


angelfightrJ
yeah, i kind of figured that lol. but are grades really that important? or are SAT/ACT scores more important? or volunteer hours?
thanks though(:


x SaRaNg HaE x
hahahah i am a bit "unfit" and i guess sports would help; but im already losing sleep as it is so i guess that wouldnt be a good thing for me.
a lot of kids in my class of are swimming. i personally am not that deticated as they go after school almost everyday. :\
but if i show same detication to other things, it would be the same right?
thanks for your help! (:


TEMPO-NESS
grades are the most important factor? or the other things?
thanks for your reply. (:


abc123__
thank you so so so much for all this information; lol i know about laundry lists.
but what if you are a little iffy about what exactly you are passionate about?
if you try out new corners and it looks like a laundry list; will that still be consisdered one?
for instance, i am planning to take greek next year [sophmore year] and i am taking talented art this year [and will in future years im sure]
im still doing intramural and a few other clubs, and i plan to join more clubs next year, simple to get a feel of things. one year i plan to take psycology and another business apps.
would that still be counted as a laundry list? because i dont have a strong idea what i really want to do in the future.


DaAzNkIgGa627
ive been doing piano for about 6 years; that also has competitions and i plan to stick with it.
although its not as physically healthy, it's about the same as sports, isnt it?
but thanks for your reply! it really helped. (:



thanks again everyone. (:

[.hidden melody.]

Sports aren't necessary. XD If you're like a star athlete it'll get you into schools just because of your playing ability but... yeah I didn't do any sports at ALL during high school but I still got into my top schools. :D

Oh, yeah but you still need to keep up your GPA, have extracurriculars etc etc xD

[angelfightrJ]

yeah, i kind of figured that lol. but are grades really that important? or are SAT/ACT scores more important? or volunteer hours?
thanks though(:

it depends on what colleges you're going to apply to, but for the most part, grades are the most important and then comes a variety of things (the order differs with every college). volunteer hours count less than grades & SAT/ACT. some colleges don't even really care about the SAT too much.

oh wait, you mentioned the ivies.

well, grades are DEFINITELY the number one priority...and i think (not sure) SAT/ACT is next. volunteering is nearer to the bottom of the list. i'm pretty sure there are lists floating around...or you can check the ivy league sites because they have that on there.

[abc123__]

"thank you so so so much for all this information; lol i know about laundry lists.
but what if you are a little iffy about what exactly you are passionate about?
if you try out new corners and it looks like a laundry list; will that still be consisdered one?
for instance, i am planning to take greek next year [sophmore year] and i am taking talented art this year [and will in future years im sure]
im still doing intramural and a few other clubs, and i plan to join more clubs next year, simple to get a feel of things. one year i plan to take psycology and another business apps.
would that still be counted as a laundry list? because i dont have a strong idea what i really want to do in the future."

^ In response to that, you will definitely end up dropping things that don't mean anything to you.
It's fine if you have varied interests ---- just make sure that they know, when you go to fill out your application, that you are doing your clubs for the sake of being interested in them. You can easily convey that through your depth of participation in these clubs, even if it means your depth of involvement won't come until junior year. Don't let them think for a minute that you joined those clubs in order to pad your resume.

I think in terms of my application, the bulk of my "involvement" with my activities didn't start kicking up until junior year, when I spent hours, and hours, and hours in them and took on a vast amount of extra work. By sophomore year, however, I started doing some notable things in my activities. My freshman year, I joined quite a number of clubs to find my niche.

If you want, here is what I did for clubs starting freshman year:

Freshman year:
Soccer
Tennis
Art club (for a few days)
Environment club
Student council
Speech
Drama
Jazz / pep/ concert band
Amnesty International


Sophomore year:
Tennis
Student Council
Speech
Drama
Band
Amnesty International
Newspaper Club

Junior year:
Speech
Drama
Band
Amnesty International
Jazz choir
National Honors Society
Tutoring

Senior year:
Speech
Drama
Band
Amnesty International
National Honors Society

What I actually put on my application:
Speech
Drama
Band
^These three were my biggest involvements that I really emphasized and put time into

Amnesty International
Nationals Honors Society
Tutoring
^These things were like secondary commitments --- didn't really emphasize it nearly as much. Listed a few major accomplishments in these.

So you can see that in my application, I left out all the junk and put in what really mattered to me. Throughout the years, I joined many clubs and left many clubs, but in the end, speech, drama, and music had always been my major commitments. Sophomore year, I was still trying stuff out, like newspaper club. Even my junior year, I tried jazz choir, but I decided to drop it because it consumed too much of my time.

So, in conclusion, don't worry if you are still trying stuff out and having this array of interests. If you have three (give or take) strong passions, and none of them have anything to do with one another, don't worry about it. Just make sure you are involved in each passion that you have listed.

[ordinarydaysx]

sports-- only if you're good/really passionate about them/have a strong leadership position.

also, for ivies, i believe you cant get scholarship money for playing sports. the money you hear ppl getting is prob from financial aid.-