<p>Any admissions office worth its salt will look at the whole package. It’s possible that 90% of the accepted students have SATs above X, 90% are in the top 10% of their class, 90% have great ECs, and 60% were varsity athletes, but less than 50% will have it all. </p>
<p>If you start looking at each of the criteria individually, it’s easy to become discouraged. Sometimes it helps to have atypical strengths – a lot of universities strive for diversity in their student bodies.</p>