ECs and admissions to large schools

[ReadyToRoll]

Okay bottom line...who thinks ECs make a difference for admission to large (and not Ivy) schools?

Or, do you think that a kid with no ECs is viewed by admissions to be exactly the same as a kid with strong ECs by most schools?

[Northstarmom]

Most schools --except for the very top private schools like Harvard and Amherst-- make admissions decisions overwhelmingly based on students' stats. ECs are used by them at most for merit aid consideration.

[Northstarmom]

The very largest schools are public universities, and those make decisions almost 100% based on grades, scores, coursework, and state of residence.

[PackMom]

When S2 did apps. for two of our state u's, the online app. was very generic. There was no essay and the EC section was a drop down menu where he just clicked off the activites he had participated in listed on the menu. It was very general like..varsity sport, camp counselor,part-time job,communtiy sevice. There was no way to expound on any of that so I figured it couldn't really count for too much.

[midmo]

For admissions to public universities? In some states, they don't matter in the least. Even for OOS admissions to selective public schools, I don't think they matter much at all.

For some scholarships, particularly those dispensed by particular subunits of the university, I think they do matter, but my strong impression is that even most of the merit awards are dispensed on the basis of test scores, rank and gpa.

[Marian]

Although ECs may be unimportant for many large public universities, I don't think you should assume that the same is true for large, selective private universities, such as Northwestern, Duke, or Wash U.

[Northstarmom]

Northwestern, Duke, Wash U are like the other top private schools -- places like Harvard and Amherst, which get such large numbers of high stat applicants that the colleges can use ECs to select from that outstanding group the students who'll best contribute to an active, diverse student body in all meanings of the word "diverse".

[ucsd_ucla_dad]

The admissions criteria for the UCs state that they do pay attention to ECs. The academic stats still have the strongest weight of course, but certain other criteria such as leadership, community service, accomplishments, challenges, etc. are part of the equation.

[psych_]

One thing to keep in mind is that while ECs may not count heavily in admissions to state universities, they often count heavily in merit aid decisions. For my merit scholarship at a large and relatively unselective state u, they were already picking from high-stat applicants--those invited to interview usually have average UW (out of 4.0) GPAs of around 3.97 and average SAT/ACT scores of 32/2190--and so essay, LORs, and interview come in to major play.

OTOH, I never really got the sense that those "other" factors had as much weight in merit aid decisions at some of the other state u's to which I applied (Purdue, Rhode Island [very generous], UIUC, etc.), though this was never explicitedly stated.

[2boysima]

UGA states that GPA carries the most weight, combined with academic rigor. Then they mention test scores. Then come the other factors:

"UGA’s Faculty Admissions Committee appreciates the importance of considering other factors beyond academic achievement to discern the overall qualities of an applicant.....
the University will consider information gathered from a number of different sources beyond a first-year applicant’s transcript and test scores. These include, but are not limited to the following: the application essay and short answers; school and community activities, leadership positions and awards; participation in athletics; work experience, summer activities and special circumstances; the counselor or school evaluation; and a teacher recommendation from the junior or senior year."

University of Georgia :: Undergraduate Admissions :: First Year Admission Criteria