I'm having a hard time deciding between quitting or staying in band for the rest of high school

I would say drop it. Spending your time on something that makes you feel anxious that you don’t even feel passionate about truly drains energy and it just gets worse over time in my experience. That energy could be going to doing really above and beyond in all your other academic pursuits and extracurriculars. Find some thing(s) you really love and that make you feel happy and fulfilled and work really hard at that, and I can pretty much promise that’ll count just as much as the band stuff on your applications and scholarship opportunities. Obviously there are some things that cause anxiety that sometimes you just have to sort of stick out because it’s required for your future (or for at least someone like you interested in ivys) such as doing well in your classes, etc, but band is not a requirement. I don’t think band will be the breaking point or acceptance point of your application. Stay true to yourself and you’ll end up where you’re supposed to. I had so much more trouble applying to college when I was saying what I felt I was supposed to say and display on applications. I had the most success when I was true to what I loved and it really showed through my applications. You can get scholarships and acceptances for all sorts of things these days. After COVID things are much more holistic. I hope this helps!

/r/ApplyingIvyLeague Thread