<p>As my college admission process is coming to an end, I want to think and find out "The Truths" and "The Manipulated Truths" behind this whole process. </p>
<p>US Universities are world renowned for their holistic admission process and indeed it's a great concept. But, I still feel numbers always and always win here too. An above average scorer who even if is a 'holistically developed, passionate and a caring citizen of this world', will always be more vulnerable than a great scorer with almost no 'holistic qualities'. That's what I have concluded. (The so called 'book worms' get into best with no ECs, but people with exceptional ECs get rejected because of not having an exceptional score).</p>
<p>I would request you to share your opinion about what I have mentioned above and then answer this : </p>
<p>Poor ECs and poor essays can get you rejected from your best fit colleges, but Great ECs and Great Essays can't get you admitted in a college better than what your SAT score can expect most of the time. Am I right ?</p>
<p>It depends on the schools. The UCs for sure care more about stats than personal qualities, but for privates, I’ve known students with 1500s SAT scores beat out 2200s because of the level of interest they demonstrated for their school and their shining personality.</p>
<p>However, I do agree that MOST schools care more about GPAs ans SAT/ACT scores than the ECs/essay portion of a student’s application.</p>
<p>The single most important factor in college admissions is the high school transcript - your grades, and the courses that you have taken. </p>
<p>Exam scores are also used as quick and easy filters in the admissions process. In some cases they can make up for not-so-good grades or they can determine whether or not you are offered merit-based aid.</p>
<p>Most colleges and universities in the US do not give a rip about ECs or essays. Most admit based on GPA and exam scores. That is the hard cold fact.</p>
<p>For those institutions that do care about ECs and essays, those can make the difference between a No and a Yes provided you are in the GPA+Score range. In rare instances a specific EC (usually a sport) can make up for a lot of ugliness in the GPA+Score. However, for most students, it is true that no EC or essay is going to make up for a GPA+Score that doesn’t meet the institutional cut-off.</p>
<p>One of the valedictorians in our school from a few years ago was an absolute genius. He had the highest GPA in our school’s record, and his SAT score was 2390. He did a few clubs: Mathletes, Marching Band, nothing too noteworthy. He was rejected from every top tier institution and ended up attending SUNY Stony Brook. He graduated with 3 majors and 5 minors, and was selected as one of fourteen Churchill Scholars. He is now attending (or is about to) Cambridge University Graduate School.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there was a new genius in our school last year, who beat the record GPA and had a perfect SAT score. Her extracurriculars were much stellar: manager of the tennis team, president of a volunteer club that raised tens of thousands of dollars each year, and the like. She was accepted to her top school choice, MIT. She currently has all A’s at MIT.</p>
<p>I don’t really have a definitive point here - just food for thought. Even the greatest of geniuses get rejected from top tier colleges without decent ECs. Obviously, scores matter, but I don’t think you can have one without the other.</p>
<p>This thread amuses me because there are so many other threads with people whining about how students with super grades and scores were passed over for others who had weaker stats but other “soft” characteristics.</p>
<p>Everything counts. How much it counts varies from school to school, and possibly even from day to day as admissions committees look at applications.</p>
<p>I think you’re addressing the wrong issue. There’s not a hidden “truth” about the relative worthlessness of ECs and Essays. What you’re addressing is the “myths” and “grasped straws” by unrealistic legions of applicants who think their special club/research/talent will get them a pass on otherwise medicocre GPA/Transcript/test. </p>
<p>Often you see a post entitled “will this EC make up for my grades” – the answer is almost always NO when it comes to very selective schools (barring the exceptions that Hunt describes).</p>
<p>There’s no “hidden truth”, just unrealistic applicants. The truth is plainly listed on every college’s website about admissions criteria. People just choose to not believe them.</p>
<p>Also, there is some truth. I had a 2400SAT but a 3.7-8ish gpa that placed me in the 15% of my school. Realistically, there was no chance that I would get into any prestigious college with that low of a rank, but my essays/extracurriculars made up for it. I got accepted into every college that I applied to so far, most of them in the 10-20 and 20-30 rank range. I also got accepted to Uchicago (#4), got a likely letter from Cornell, and have the rest coming this Thursday. If you convince the admissions office that the grades/scores don’t define you, they will accept you.</p>
<p>@Castielyse… That’s what I said… Poor ECs can get you rejected from your best fit college… but great ECs cant get you selected in the one which has average score above yours…</p>
<p>It’s rare, but in some cases ECs and essays can indeed get one into a better college than expected. I know some people here at Vandy who got in with surprisingly low stats (I’m talking sub-3.5 GPA), so they must have had some factors that were able to compensate. I also got in with a 3.15 UW GPA and top 40% class rank, and I’m pretty sure my ECs and essays were what did it for me. It really is a case-by-case basis and anything’s possible. But one shouldn’t get his/her hopes up and think ECs and essays will make up for mediocre stats, because chances are, they won’t be able to.</p>