<p>obviously it's a given that good grades are a requirement for acceptance at the ivy league / top 15 schools. but which of these schools focus LESS on academic achievement, and MORE on extracurriculars, essays, etc?</p>
<p>UChicago's Uncommon application means that a lot of your admissions decision is based around your essays.</p>
<p>But no one is admitted to any top school on the virtue of their essay and ECs alone. They may make up for small inconsistencies but mostly they just push you over the top when your numbers qualify you.</p>
<p>^i second UChicago's Uncommon application means they do place a lot of emphasison them. (they are switching to common app this year though, but i"m prtty sure their supplement will be in line with the usual eccentric questions)</p>
<p>have a hunch maybe Penn might also focus on essays; they do give a lot of questions, and even an optional "creativie" piece that may be worth a lookie look.</p>
<p>^ Chicago's switching to Commonapp?</p>
<p>That's disappointing. I guess they weren't that uncommon after all.</p>
<p>dude is that true? Chicago is using Common App now?</p>
<p>No, they will starting class of 2009.</p>
<p>tiger woods. haha.</p>
<p>go to <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D">www.collegeboard.com</a> and look at considered admissions factors. From a cursory examination, i can tell you that brown cares most about character/personal qualities and talent/ability and less about class rank, standardized test scores. UPenn it would also seem de-emphasizes GPA and test scores, just look through all of them.</p>
<p>If you are hoping for your essays to pull you in you better do well on the writing component of the SAT and in your writing based courses or they will discount your essays, and they should.</p>
<p>qrstuvwxyzzz - I don't think anyone here as any more of answer than what is available on Princeton Review's site or maybe even CollegeBoard's site (though I don't remember seeing that information there). All top colleges want kids with strong diverse interests to make a––well, diverse class. So I don't think that there's one college that's going to be more interested in making a diverse class than another. However, a place like Berkeley, and maybe even Cornell, may take less interest in honing in on individuals with specific talents because of their size. Berkeley, for instance, is bound to get a bass clarinet player because of their vast numbers. However, these schools are no less likely to bump an applicant in for such extracurricular achievement. I think we can all point to schools that may have less emphasis on test scores (Columbia for instance), but I think it's very difficult / impossible to pin down a few schools that prize extracurricular interests more than others simply because I don't think there is such a school.</p>