<p>Um, I don’t think Berkeley knowing that your dad had cancer will help you get into Emory. Besides that point, I’m very confident that you’ll get in if you do either early decisions. I was amazed that peers of mine got in with a 3.5 gpa, decent SAT’s, and no EC’s. In my opinion, I think Emory really wants to accept any decent applicants in the early decision rounds so that they have students going there for sure. In fact, they chose these average students (in my opinion) in the early decision round over friends of mine who applied regular decision and got into schools such as Duke, UChicago, UPenn, Wellesley. </p>
<p>To summarize, make sure you demonstrate interest and you’re in.</p>