<p>In relative terms, that is. Obviously, extracurriculars are important no matter where you apply. Also, what schools place more emphasis on GPA/test scores?</p>
<p>The schools that tend to care the most about ECs are highly selective private schools with “holistic” admission practices (the Ivies etc.) But that doesn’t mean they don’t care about GPA and scores. It means high stats are necessary, but not sufficient.</p>
<p>State universities tend to be more numbers-driven. Class rank of at least top N% can guarantee admission even at a highly regarded flagship like UT Austin.</p>
<p>It’s all relative, though. Average scores at the top N state schools tend to be much lower than average scores at the top N private schools. Average GPAs, however, do not. And average stats vary across a wide range among selective private schools with holistic admissions.</p>
<p>There are test-optional and test-flexible schools that might be a good bet for someone with relatively weak scores, but good grades and ECs (or a significant “hook”.) [SAT/ACT</a> Optional 4-Year Universities | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional]SAT/ACT”>ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars are probably not very important at most schools, in comparison to academic qualifications.</p>
<p>But they tend to be magnified in importance when applying to schools where so many applicants are close to the maximum possible in academic qualifications (of course, you need to be in that range to have a chance at such schools).</p>
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Uh, no. The majority of colleges don’t care about ECs. For instance among flagship Us, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and Nevada don’t consider ECs. This is even more true of directional Us. As UCBAlumnus states, ECs are not as important as academics. For flagship Us for which ECs are important, academic qualities like GPA and scores are rated Very Important.</p>
<p>About the only time an EC will outweigh academic factors in college admissions is if the EC is a varsity sport and the applicant is a recruited athlete. And even then, it’s really more the talent than the EC per se that the coach, and if the coach has any influence, the school, will be interested in. This happens not just in big-time Division I programs, but also at some Division II schools that have a strong athletic tradition and culture.</p>
<p>I just did a quick survey of the 12 Big Ten schools’ common data sets. All twelve said they weighed HS academic GPA more heavily than ECs as a factor in admissions, and 11 of the 12 said they weighed academic rigor more heavily than ECs (while the twelfth, Michigan State, weighed ECs and academical rigor equally, as “important”). Ten of the 12 weighed standardized test scores more heavily than ECs (while the other two weighed test scores and ECs equally as “important”). The weight placed on ECs ranged from “not considered” (2 schools), to “considered” (6 schools), to “important” (4 schools), but no school rated ECs “very important.”</p>
<p>But I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that at every one of these schools, if the EC was football and the applicant was a standout, enough so that the football coach wanted to award him an athletic scholarship, the importance of the EC would suddenly be off the charts.</p>
<p>I know that academics are more important than extracurriculars. I wanted to know which schools care about extracurriculars more than other schools do.</p>
<p>There really isn’t a good answer to your question. Not only is it very difficult to judge whether a school weighs extracurriculars more than another, it is hard to tell you since your question is so vague. Generally, more prestigious schools care more about ECs than less prestigious schools. Schools that are generally “comparable” will likely weigh ECs approximately the same. </p>
<p>I’m not sure the purpose of your question. You shouldn’t be applying to schools because you think your admission probability is higher due to them weighing ECs more. It just isn’t logical. And if that isn’t the reason… why are you asking?</p>
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<p>Well, identify some schools you’re interested in and for which you might qualify based on your academic stats (unweighted GPA, test scores, class rank, academic rigor relative to what’s available to you, etc). Then find their common data sets, easily done by going to your favorite internet search engine and entering the name of the school and the term “common data set.” Look at section C which will give you basic admission stats and, a few lines down, information on how heavily they weigh ECs relative to other admissions criteria.</p>
<p>Show some initiative and do this for yourself. Don’t ask others to do your research for you.</p>