<p>It’s the same of almost all colleges. They look at the stats (GPA and SAT/ACT) before the EC or essays. They do care about the person, after they look at your stats. After all, Each UC school get tens of thousands of applications each year and they probably don’t have the time to get to know every person in detail.</p>
<p>Why don’t you try CSUs? They have a couple of nice schools.</p>