<p>I see so many cases of people with bad grades but good EC's go to top colleges</p>
<p>but almost none of people with good grades but bad EC's</p>
<p>as I see it, EC's play a much more significant role than grades at top colleges (HYPSM caliber)</p>
<p>I really regret having only generic EC's and no leadership</p>
<p>I wish I could trade some of my grades for EC's</p>
<p>I'm feeling less certain about my chances everyday :(</p>
<p>HYPSM caliber colleges take a bigger look at EC’s because most applicants have very similar (near-perfect) grades. Unless you have extremely outstanding ECs (highly ranked athlete, champion of some unique event, founder of a major organization etc.) you will not get in with mediocre grades. In my opinion top grades and scores get you to the doorstep of elite institutions like HYPSM, but it’s unique qualities and good ECs that can help push you through that door.
Since you claim to have generic EC’s, focus on writing great/unique personal essays, and try to increase your activity/commitment in at least one EC in the little time you have so you can write a decent EC essay on commonapp. Don’t worry about your chances now, just make the best of the time you have left before applying!</p>
<p>I don’t think at top colleges ECs > grades.</p>
<p>Think about it: All the top students are going to apply to the top schools. MANY, have excellent GPA - nearly perfect. It’s almost a given that you have good grades at those top colleges, and so to differentiate between those good grades, colleges use the ECs to determine who gets in. Grades come first, no doubt about it. ECs play a secondary role to that.</p>
<p>^The standard statistical applicant is not applying to the top schools. Case in point, HYPSM would be more likely to have a fire-breather apply and get in than State University X, and sometimes, a unique extracurricular will make up for not-so-stellar grades. This applies to extraordinarily unique/talented applicants, though.</p>
<p>Applying to a top college for the non-hooked applicants requires good grades to get their foot in the door, so to say. Once a large amount of people with 4.0s and 2300+ SAT scores apply, extracurriculars help determine the ‘uniqueness’ factor. This is where being a fire-breather could be the tie-breaker ;)</p>
<p>I agree with @HeWhoPwnz. Colleges need to recruit students whom can survive and do well in their college so GPA and test scores definitely come first.</p>
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<p>No, it won’t. Besides, your example of firebreathing is the perfect example of something that is unique and that someone could be passionate about that wouldn’t really matter in admissions to top schools. </p>
<p>OP, ECs will not make up for paltry grades. As runi said, it is only the most competitive schools that even consider ECs; the vast majority of schools, especially public institutions, will make decisions entirely or largely based on raw stats. At those that do consider ECs, it’s not because grades don’t matter but because their applicant pool is so large and qualified that they can’t take all the 4.0’s or [pick high SAT score]'s. It’s unlikely to find a student at an HYPSM-caliber school who wasn’t in the top 10% of their graduating class, or an unhooked student who wasn’t right up around val/sal. </p>
<p>This isn’t to say that only those with the highest stats get into top schools (then ECs would serve no purpose in distinguishing applicants). But it is to say that they will not compensate for low grades. </p>
<p>Now, there may be cases where kids on the lower end of statistically qualified (closer to a 2100 than a 2400, and barely within top 5/10% rather than val/sal) are accepted because they are extremely accomplished and/or serve an institutional need (one year, Princeton needed some brass in their band, or perhaps the astronomy department doesn’t have too many students). But unqualified, unhooked students don’t find their way into these schools with ECs.</p>
<p>I’m aware that EC’s cannot compensate for grades
However, after a certain level, any more increase in scores/grades don’t carry that much importance (2300+) and from that point EC’s, as smorgasbord said, become the "tie-breakers.</p>
<p>The thing is, there are limits to where one’s test scores and grades go
but almost endless possibilities and room for creativity for extracurriculars…</p>
<p>top colleges know this, and I wish I’d realized it sooner
but again, college admissions process is random to at least some degree
and I’m not giving up hope! :)</p>
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<p>There’s no reason to believe this threshold argument. mifune has an analysis he posted on SAT scores, and his discovery was not that not only do chances increase with SAT increases, but that this increase is exponential.</p>
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<p>The thing is, there is rarely if ever a situation where adcoms are looking at two applicants side-by-side and searching for some “tie breaker” between the two. Every applicant is considered individually. An applicant with standard or unremarkable ECs is unlikely to be admitted to a top school, but an applicant with subpar scores and grades is almost guaranteed to be rejected. My point: ECs absolutely matter, but ignoring grades and scores to participate in ECs would be foolish if one’s goal was an acceptance to a top college.</p>