Can the kid really get in just on ECs?
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Anonymous
| It seems like thats what colleges want. Do they even care about academics? |
Anonymous
| The top level schools have a high academic threshold to pass before moving on to other items like EC’s for admit. Lower level schools are stats driven and less likely to care about EC’s and many don’t even read essays. So, no? |
Anonymous
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This is why testing needs to come back fully. A 4.0 can be totally impressive. Or totally not. No way to know.
They do care about academics. Which is why they need an objective tool to use. Then take a look at the ECs. |
Anonymous
| Curious about this too. College vine seems to rank ECs. I didn’t know that was a thing. |
Anonymous
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I'm wondering what you've seen that makes you think that academics don't matter in admissions?
My child's ECs are much stronger than her grades and she's not applying to any elite/highly rejective schools because there's no way she'd get in (or be successful if she did). |
Anonymous
| Yes. Grades mean nothing... every kid has top grades now. It's 100% about ECs |
Anonymous
| Even if you’re a recruited athlete, there are academic minimums. |
Anonymous
| Well, didn’t David Hogg get into Harvard with a low SAT score and mediocre grades? (I actually think it’s great they accepted him and just saw an interview with him in which he is still super impressive) |
Anonymous
lol. Sure. |
Anonymous
Becoming a national spokesperson as a teenager and a minor celebrity in the fight for legislation to prevent school shootings is the kind of EC/hook that might bump someone up even with mediocre stats. Your average DCUM student doesn’t fit that description. |
Anonymous
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EC activity is oversold by private college admissions counselors because it is the one thing a kid can have more control over than their academics. While some schools say they have a formula and 'all things are considered' at many of the top schools is academics, academics, academics, then all the other stuff.
And while "every kid has a 4.0" academics means much more than just that. Did they take the hardest classes offered at their school (the universities know what those are). Did they talk all the AP classes they could? Did they do independent academic work? Publish or research? How do they rank amongst their peers. Basically, not all 4.0 are the same academically. |
Anonymous
Every kid does not have top grades. |
Anonymous
| Yes, if your kid is a 6'10" power forward Mr. Basketball interested in UNC or a 5 star running back interested in Bama there's a chance they could get in purely off their extracurriculars. |
Anonymous
You do have to meet NCAA minimums which are a 2.0+ GPA and used to be an 800 SAT prior to TO. |
Anonymous
| No. A bad GPA cannot be over come by strong EC's |