Well-rounded applications

and that is just one or two out the 10 ECs on the Common App.

Guess what the other 8 are?

@austinmshauri
I had no ECs in HS. Right now I have 2 really long term ECs (like 7+ yr) and then the typical laundry list as said above ^.

Something else I think worth mentioning is colleges care greatly about your involvement at you current school. (from what I saw of the people who got accepted [transferred] to 5-10% schools)

A few unique ECs are great and basically a must for selective universities HOWEVER they are no replacement for school related ECs such as sports, student govt, etc.

Both unique and common ECs are important for a well-rounded application.