<p>One of my friends is the Val, but he has no ECs what so ever.
Where does this put him...?
I imagine it will get him into all his match, yet reaches like Ivies are super reaches.</p>
<p>Some average EC (like NHS, Beta, Key, etc) + Good scores = easy top 20 school, some difficulty at HYPSM, etc.
No EC (0, zippo) = trouble</p>
<p>Remember that Rank/GPA/Courseload is the most important part of any application/</p>
<p>Assuming that his scores are at least competitive, it puts him in line for significant merit aid at colleges which are not super-reaches, but nevertheless provide a quality education.</p>
<p>He'll end up at a community college.</p>
<p>Seriously, it's only the most elite schools which will require EC's in addition to scores. It's our peculiar American system. If he doesn't get into Brown, then boo-hoo. He'll get into most top-50 schools assuming good SATs.</p>
<p>I'm sure he has something...</p>
<p>if he has a little bit of EC"s such as volunteering, and a few clubs, he'll get into the border-line ivys and perhaps the less competitive ivies.</p>
<p>What grade is he going into? Maybe he still has time...</p>
<p>What happens? He goes to a school that doesn't care about ECs. He can forget about Ivies and similar schools.</p>
<p>Just look at the numbers. There are over 26,000 public HS in the USA. Each has a valedictorian. Even if you had to be a Val to get into an Ivy league school, there still aren't enough places for all of them. And this ignores the number of private HS's. And since the Ivies are known to reach a little deeper into the applicant pool than just the Vals, there are that many more applicants competing for slots.</p>
<p>I know plenty of kids who went Ivy without good ECS. Don't hype it up so much</p>
<p>Not having "good ECs" is not the same thing as completely lacking ECs. Those to whom the latter applies will not be accepted to the Ivies without having significant connections. However, many state schools would be good matches for such students.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Some average EC (like NHS, Beta, Key, etc) + Good scores = easy top 20 school, some difficulty at HYPSM, etc.
No EC (0, zippo) = trouble</p>
<p>Remember that Rank/GPA/Courseload is the most important part of any application
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't believe that's true. I know someone like that and he got in to a top 30 school...</p>
<p>^A top 30 school isn't really the same as HYPSM, schools which rely very heavily on extracurriculars. You can get into top schools without good ECs, it's just very unlikely that you will get in to the top 5 or so, unless of course you have some super-duper national award. It's because HYPSM get so many apps that they have no choice but to rely on subjective factors.</p>
<p>Both valedictorians from my school got rejected by MIT, and they did have /some/ ECs.</p>
<p>If he completely lacks ECs, he'd need one hell of a good essay and amazing luck to get into the Ivies. But as many people have mentioned, most schools don't weigh ECs quite that heavily so it's not like he's doomed, there are plenty of great colleges he could still get into. I'm sure there's at least 1 school he can get into that would be a good match for him.</p>
<p>He had to do SOMETHING in his (spare?) time. No job? No group? No poetry, music or anything? He would have to really shine somehow. But past the top handful of universities, ECs don't matter AS much. And $$ can get a person a lot of things. (I know because I don't have any. lol. <--even though it's not funny)</p>