Of the high school students in a national U.S. survey who played a school sport, 88 percent went on to college. Among those who did not play, the figure was 71 percent.
Researchers at The Ohio State University drew that comparison from the Educational Longitudinal Survey, which followed 10,320 students at 682 schools. The first wave of data was collected in 2002, when the students were in 10th grade, with follow-ups two and four years later. The team reported its results in PLOS ONE.
Non-sport activities showed the same pattern. In 12th grade, 87 percent of students in those activities attended college, against 71 percent of those who joined nothing. Both groups were also likelier to attend four-year schools and more selective colleges.
One of each is enough
The surprise came with the count. Students who did one sport and one other activity had an edge in college attendance and in the selectivity of the school they got into. Piling on more gave no further advantage.
“Some people might think that if participating in one extracurricular activity is good, then participating in many must be better. But that is not what we found,” said James Tompsett, the lead author and a sociology PhD student at Ohio State.
The data cannot say why. Co-author Chris Knoester, a sociology professor, offered a guess: more than one activity takes too much time. “It’s hard to do multiple activities well, and too many may pull you away from academics, which are also obviously very important for getting into college,” he said.
He pointed to other research suggesting activities help students build character and learn to persist through challenges. They can also tell admissions officers that an applicant has the traits to thrive in college.
Family background still counts
The study found activities do not act alone. Family socioeconomic status, measured by parents’ education and occupation and by income, tracked closely with college attendance. Among students from the highest-status families, 96 percent went to college. For average-status families it was 80 percent, and for low-status families only 57 percent.
“Parents who are higher in socioeconomic status are more likely to enroll their children in extracurricular activities, and they are more likely to live in areas where these extracurricular activities are available,” Tompsett said. Knoester added that unequal outcomes “begin from advantages and disadvantages in the families that children come from.”
