<p>First of all, 2120 isn’t really average for most of those schools. Only at Emory is that average in which case an average person (no matter the ethnicity) has a reasonable chance in ED (in fact being average, may benefit you as you may be at the higher end of applicants in ED). I would not waste time explaining your GPA if your course schedule was rigorous. Your SAT subject scores indicate your competence (I suppose you could have used more APs, but you’ll be judged favorably if it is discovered that your school doesn’t have that many). If you want to get into Emory, you better simply write an essay indicating that you actually know something about the institution and that you actually want to come (of course, ED kind of tells that). Also, Emory does not care about your athleticism (it is obviously one of the only schools on your list that can really care less about sports in general), it’s more about your character and academic achievement. As a school that doesn’t recruit, it doesn’t really value certain talents over others. I’m sure that, regardless of whether the others have a huge sports scene or not, they could care less as well. They only care that you have a talent or character on top of academic prep.</p>