<p>The thing you could have done is simply different activities. The sad thing is, that the activities you ahve done are so common that even with a strong dedication to them, they just don’t stand out. The thing is, you CAN have a hook just because of an EC. They are not impossible, just extremely unlikely - and that’s what the great majority of kids who get into Harvard and the like schools ultimately have. And in terms of comparign yourself line by line to other kids who got into some schools…don’t do it. There is no way to compare your essays, and in my opinion, the best compliment on an essay is not that it “displays strong dedication to…” or whatever he said - but that it “SOUNDS LIKE YOU.” In all reality, when an admission officer is reviewing these, and they see an essay, they see a list of activities, and they see a review by an interviewer, they are looking for a CONFIRMATION that this person is the same all around. That the personality that certain activities that the applicant has done are reflective in not only the tone of the interviewer’s notes, but also in the positivity of the teacher recommendation letter and finally in the voice of the essay. That’s the ultimate applicant - someone who carries through. That’s the best way to show passion, by sounding like you! Nothing else can recreate it. So when people say that they are confident that they will get in because their friend got in with similar stats, it is SO flawed - and furthermore results in people calling admissions a “crapshoot”. I don’t believe they are, and instead think that 90% of admissions go beyond the stats taht kids post on here.</p>