<p>When I was a senior, I looked at my high school life and how terribly uneventful it was. Freshman soccer was the only thing I could put up there. I worked a few jobs on the weekends, but they took up only 20 hours a month. I also thought about how bad my GPA / Class rank is. (3.4 UW, 3.6 W, top 39%)
My ACT was 33, but I did not take SAT or SAT IIs. I only had 1 AP score to show, and it was a 3. I applied to U of I first, and I had no idea what to write in my essay, so i spent 20 minutes writing them. I was rejected. I was disheartened, thinking I was doomed for rest of my applications.</p>
<p>However, I realized there was a saving grace. Essays. I could not possibly compete in this numbers game. All I had were essays to present myself as an intellectual, instead of an undesirable low GPA candidate. In my case, I talked about how I thought of everything in terms of numbers, how numerics of the world drove our civilazation past our mortal limits. I also talked about a heart condition I had and how that was detrimental to my life, though I overcame it and it made me a better person. I poured myself out on those essays. With no EC, bad GPA and above average ACT, I waited.</p>
<p>I was accepted into Boston University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue, UIC. </p>
<p>I guess what I'm trying to say is... don't give up hope even if you slacked a lot in EC. You have essays to show that you are more than just a generic high school kid that joined a lot of clubs for college.</p>
<p>my essay is going to be about be the first to graduate from USC after having 5 family members dropout without a diploma</p>
<p>thanks for the hope =)</p>
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<p>If your family has a history of dropping out of their college, maybe you shouldn’t brag about it lol.</p>
<p>unless of course you meant high school diploma.</p>
<p>This post should be stickied – goes to show the true importance of the essay in the college admissions decision. I’ve heard plenty other stories like this, but this post sort of substantiated all of them. :)</p>
<p>I’d like to hear other similar stories if anyone has any to share.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for this! Gives me hope!</p>
<p>To add on to my previous post in this thread (and I’m surprised I didn’t mention it earlier), CONGRATULATIONS on your acceptances! Those are all wonderful schools to get to choose between. :D</p>
<p>Most colleges do not care about ECs. This particularly is true of public schools, which tend to make decisions overwhelmingly on state of residence and stats.</p>
<p>For virtually all colleges in the country except perhaps a quirky college like Deep Springs, stats are the #1 factor. Essays are relatively minor factors – can revive the living, but can’t wake the dead.</p>
<p>^ Lol, Deep Springs is “quirky” that is fairly massive understatement…</p>
<p>^ I just looked up Deep Springs on Wikipedia… and all I have to say to that is “wow”.</p>
<p>Northstarmom: You make it sound like my stats were good. Only thing promising was a 33 ACT. But a 3.6 weighted GPA? Come on… </p>
<p>fledgling: Thanks! 
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<p>Ruby_x3: Good luck … I can try to help you in any way I can. Perhaps I can correct your essays, or show you my essays.</p>
<p>haha im not going to brag about.</p>
<p>Some of them were stupid reasons like my mom and dad who had a kid and so they dropped. One was serious how my older brother got killed in a car accident.</p>