hi yall, do you have any stories of how you or someone you know has been admitted with a low gpa but great extracurriculars at a selective uni?
No EC is great. They are just part of a resume. They only help if they are things like a sport for which you will be recruited and in that case it is not a EC-it is part of your academic profile OR if you have real leadership in an EC like Student Body President or Editor in chief of X
ECs don’t mean much. Your scores and GPA get you in the door and keep you there. The ECs are a small boost.
Depends on how “low” the GPA is and what exactly the ECs are. The strongest EC boost appears to be being a recruited athlete. Recruited athletes are accepted with GPAs substantially below the nonathlete students.
@milee30 an athletic talent worthy of recruitment is not an extracurricular. A recruited athlete is a special talent/hook that is filling a need for the school just like URMs, legacies, musicians or even the new hot hook–females in STEM. To repeat being a recruited athlete is not an extracurricular. Playing soccer for 3 years, student council, model UN are ECs. Additonally, athletes going to NESCAC schools are generally pretty close to the typical applicant other than maybe a couple top recuits per team; Ivies have an academic index minimum that is only applied to athletes and its quite a solid set of stats. This minimum is not applied to URMS or legacies. D1 abides by NCAA guidleines which are not too onerous so yes a basketball player or hockey or lax player at Georgetown or UVA or Michigan can get away with a 2.3 and 1000 on their SATS.
Assuming you are not a recruited athlete, zero. And even then, the answer depends upon the college and how “low” the GPA is.
ECs will enhance a strong application, but will not make up for a weak one.
While admissions to top colleges are holistic, academics are always first and foremost. Admissions officers need to be certain that any applicant has the background and ability to succeed academically and graduate from the college. Strong ECs do add strength to a solid application but not make up for below standard academics – the only exception might be if the academics are acceptable and the ECs provides a real hook (ex. recruited athlete, movie star, Malala etc.).
obviously they all put importance on them but which colleges emphasize them the most from your experience or what you know?
You asked the same basic question twice. The threads have been merged.
All top colleges require every single part of the application to be excellent including academics, ECs, essays, LORs. Academics are always the top priority.
Also FWIW the activities that you noted in your February post are good (president of a club, vp of a club, internship,elementary school volunteer,blog writer,and possibly starting a new club) but are not anything extraordinary (ex. no national/international achievements or anything along those lines).
It is always fine to put in a couple of reach applications but you need to focus on colleges that will be match and safety schools based on your academic stats.
I don’t mean to be a “Debbie Downer” but please be realistic in your expectations and application list.
This is where you look at the stats of the current freshman class and compare yours… If you aren’t at roughly the top 25%, your chances diminish. The holistic colleges look at the whole, but academics matters, as happy1 says. The competition isn’t just to get in, it’s also what happens during the four years.
Other colleges may select kids based on gpa. But you need to do some of this looking, not ask what colleges. Start with your own state flagship and directionals. Get a Fiske Guide to Colleges.
I don’t see your gpa. Many kids tell us theirs is low and it turns out to be 3.9. What’s yours? Any scores? If the major is poli sci, hs clubs aren’t enough. Starting a club may not be. In another thread you notes Berkeley, Brown, Gtown, etc. They want to see this true and challenging activation. This is an election year and you can get involved in the local politicl scene and local advocacy, with established adult orgs. What colleges are you now thinking?
it really depends what you call an EC - if you are a president of HOSA or any other club at your school it won’t matter since there are tens of thousands of presidents, co-presidents and vice presidents with great scores and grades applying…but if your EC is winning international math olympiad, writing research paper or running a real business (not the ones start HS clubs like FBLA) then your grades will be second to your actual achievements. There are plenty of other things one can do to make an impression on admissions officers but you would probably need to pass the cut off to get in front of them first. Writing a great essay may be enough to get you into a top school without having top grades/SAT. And no you dont have to be a recruited athlete, just need to show your personality and have something interesting about you to make an admission officer fight for you.