@lessonwitch2 im not implying you don’t need ECs or need them. The admissions to top schools, UCs excluded because they’re a lot more stat-based, is holistic. It also depends on what you want to study and why the academic mission and environment of that given school meets you as a student. To make up for my lack of ECs, I really made my essays meaningful and clearly articulated what I thought made me unique in my pursuits.