Seriously though, how important are ECs?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>I'm freaking out as I skim through the "chance me!!!" threads in this place - everyone has won thousands of awards and are presidents of this and that club. My ECs are rather pathetic in comparison, as I haven't done anything for more than 2 years and although I had the chance to be on a 4-year varsity sports team, I gave it up because I didn't enjoy the sport as much as another. How much are lousy ECs going to hurt my chances at top schools like Columbia, UPenn, and UCLA?</p>

<p>Apart from that, I think my scores and abilities are pretty solid - 4.1 unweighted GPA, 2260 SAT I (yes, on the low side, will probably retake in Oct), 780 SAT Math II, 760 SAT Lit, 760 SAT Chem, IB diploma at a (sorta) prestigious international school in China, strong writing skills. Could this make up for the shoddy ECs?</p>

<p>Also, I'm Chinese. Why do I feel like that's a disadvantage?</p>

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<p>ECs are important because they help distinguish students great academically from each other. There are a ton of students with just great grades, but alot less who manages to do that as well as alot of ECs.</p>