<p>I think they’ll get in provided that their app. shows they want to come. You need not be an EC whore to get into Emory. This student probably did things that they really liked and that was it. Nothing wrong with it (they display athleticism and enjoyment of a language). As long as their personality shines through their essays and the like, they have a really strong shot at getting in RD. I actually like this person because they actually didn’t have 1 million ECs plus a perfect GPA. Academics came first and may have been somewhat challenging. Many of the people I see with super duper high GPAs and the time to do 1 million ECs for the sake of putting them on resume went to schools that were no match for them (For all we knowthis may explain why they may not have been admitted to more intellectually oriented schools among prospects. Their resume was huge and highly formulaic and indicated a lack of true passion almost as if they jumped on every train just to get into a good college. Furthermore, the essay they wrote may have affirmed that suspicion). They didn’t need to put a lot of time into academics. I’ve talked to fellow Emory students who went to so called rigorous schools that didn’t grade hard at all. Schools where teachers hardly ever gave below a B+ in an AP/IB/honors and even curved classes. Good high schools have same incentives for doing this as good colleges (except high schools may be worse than the most grade inflated colleges). </p>
<p>It’s shocking the amount of students at Emory who are shocked and overly disappointed when they see their first mediocre/low gen. chem or orgo. chem. score and treat it as if it is the biggest ordeal in their lives (shows how privileged they’ve been) because they believed that they worked really, really, really hard for that 5.0 GPA in high school and thus it must be the profs. fault if they don’t have one here. It was funny when I walked out of pchem lab one time and heard freshmen get their gen. chem exams and say: “I’ve never done so poorly in my life” and they had like a 70 something (they should have been disappointed but damn, they acted as if they couldn’t work harder to recover and that science at a top school isn’t supposed to be harder than their high school). At least this person will have a more realistic take on the academics at the school they end up attending and will know not to overextend themselves and expect to yield the same results as in high school (They won’t be like the weird students who take Soria for frosh orgo. 1 and then switch out to Weinschenk or someone else for part 2 simply because they fear getting a B grade second semester because they’ve never had one before). For all we know, this student will have more intellectual passions that can only be revealed in the essays and not on a resume.</p>
<p>You have strong standardized testing (with the exception of the two 4’s on your AP exams). Furthermore, you have some EC’s but nothing special. You chances are not set in stone…make sure your portray how you are a unique candidate and why Emory should accept you. Essays are key in the presentation of your application, and I suggest you make sure that they essays make up for any flaws or weaknesses that are presented in your application. Good luck.</p>