<p>At least, her article led to an interesting discussion. Disregarding her mediocre scores and GPA for those schools, she brought up some interesting points about the impact of EC on school applications. Many students (or their parents) spend far more effort in shaping their profile than really getting them ready for college (in terms of knowledge and mentality). I’ve seen students got private tutors in order to have more AP on the list. I have also seen a student that found a charity foundation solely for making it looks good on school application. I have also encountered a bunch of high school kids that signed up for volunteering community services simply for the hour counts without a heart for the work at all. I always wonder if a high school student is a president or VP of several clubs simultaneously, what would be his/her contribution in any of them. Nevertheless, I do admire those who got awards here and there. When you see people competing in the length of the list on EC, there is obviously a mentality problem both in the applicants and the admission boards.</p>