<p>I think something that’s being missed here is that your friend has the whole application to show passion. He doesn’t just have to do it through listing his EC’s. </p>
<p>Essays in particular, but short answers too, play a big role in this. I know it’s beating a dead horse, but this exact situation is why they play such a critical role in making or breaking your application. </p>
<p>Where better to show passion than in 500 words where you not only get to tell your own story, but you get to do it in your own voice, with your own style, and to a certain extent through whatever medium you want.</p>
<p>Someone who appears to show a lot of passion through their list of EC’s (which I don’t really buy into in the first place anyway, but for the sake of argument I’ll play along) and writes an mediocre, cookie-cutter essay is gonna get dropped quicker than a wink. But somone who seems like just another run of the mill applicant and truly comes alive in their essay has a great chance of getting in.</p>
<p>In my eyes, grades and test scores are just bars you have to meet. They can’t do you any good other than getting you on to the next step in the process. I think EC’s, albeit to a lesser extent, are the same way. I mean, how much can you actually convey in such a short space about what was in real life hundreds of hours of your time you spent actually doing the activity?</p>