<p>This thread gives examples of “fratricide” in admissions. If you are trying to get in as, for example, the star tuba player, and there is some better tuba player who applied to two of the four schools you are applying to, it is a RATIONAL decision for the admissions office at two of the schools to reject you, while you are accepted by the other two. That’s not exactly a “crapshoot,” or a “game with no rules,” but it is a good reason to apply to more than one school, and not to place too many bets on which school you will get into. </p>
<p>And that’s why the strategy of having “lots” of ECs is probably a losing strategy at the top-tier schools: there is always someone applying to that same school who is better than you at each of your ECs, and plenty of other applicants who have also pursued the jack-of-all-trades EC strategy. It is more expedient, I think (even though I acknowledge it is NOT a sure thing) to choose a small number of ECs at which you can excel because you love those ECs and pay the price in time and effort to do well at them. </p>
<p>We all know that a 1600 (now 2400) on the SAT I alone is not enough, but it’s really hard to deny someone who is both nationally ranked at the very top in academics AND nationally ranked at the very top in some significant EC. It is easy to deny someone who has a peak SAT I score, good grades at an okay but not stellar high school, and a laundry list of ECs–that happened a lot this year, as it does every year. </p>
<p>Best wishes to all of you who are going off to college in the fall. You can go far with the energy and dedication you have already exerted in applying to college, once you apply those to your college studies and activities.</p>