<p>I think people are getting a little too caught up in EC’s and forgetting all about academics. The fact is, the amount of time that you spend on academics is always going to be WAAAAY more than what you spend on EC’s. </p>
<p>The most important point to remember about college admissions is this:</p>
<p>You’re not going to college so you can go to math camp, or a modelling agency or whatever. You’re going to college to study, in other words college=academics. </p>
<p>For my money, I’d say that academics count for about 70%, EC’s 30%. Of course, when you’re dealing with a college like Harvard, just about everybody is gonna have the academics nailed down. So Harvard uses EC’s to differentiate among its applicants.</p>
<p>That’s all an EC is, a tool to differentiate among applicants. Don’t believe the hype, EC’s are not the most important thing in a Harvard applicant. Else, how do you think Harvard manages to have it’s 75th percentile SAT score at 1580? </p>
<p>So the next question is, what about all those people who are getting into Harvard with 1300’s or lower? The answer: Harvard needs to have a diverse student body. What does that mean exactly?</p>
<p>It means that Harvard needs to have enough of each type of student to keep all of its academic departments in business. And of course, it also means keeping a good variety of colors in the student body.</p>