According to my guidance counselor, and many of the posts of people who want to know their chances of admission at ivy league schools, one would think that the competition for ivy league admission is mainly about extracurricular activities. It seems as though a straight A, valedictorian, 1500+ SAT is all of a sudden on par with a top 20%, quite a few B’s, 1350 SAT. However, in A for Admission, Hernandez describes how people with an academic index of 8-9 were accepted 90% at Dartmouth, based mostly on academic merits, and lower scores were judged more on EC’s. My take is that if your academics are excellent, and you have at least some EC’s, there are spots for you, whereas if you are only good at academics, but have good EC’s, there are also spots for you. What do you guys think?
<p>You have to be outstanding at both. If you are outstanding at academics and have no hook, then your chances are not that good. If your academics are only good, you have no almost no chance. What people mean when they put emphasis on EC's over academics is that after a certain point, the academics don't matter any more. A SAT of 1600/1600 is no better than a 1550/1600. For every person accepted at HYPSM, there are four or five who are practically identical who are denied because there is no room. That is why the EC's matter so much. However, no amount of EC's will make up for a SAT of 1350. I know that there are stories about people with low SAT's getting accepted, but they were from ghetto high schools, or their parents bought a new building for the college, or they won something at the national level.</p>