@intparent
You really have to stop talking about things as if you know. From your username you are a parent and not a student actually applying to schools.
Last year, including myself, i knew 8 people personally who were applied to Haas. All of us were qualified in that we completed the major pre-reqs. Out of the 8 of us, the only person who was accepted into Haas padded his resume with every single ec offered: Fiscal Affairs, Student Govt, Volunteer work, Tutor, etc. All of us were really surprised he got into because he could barely speak English.
I also knew 2 people who were accepted the year prior. Both of them were also heavily involved in ec such as starting their own business club.
Harvard has a question about a favorite book, Yale asks what you would contribute to your roommates [dynamic] and intellectual vitality, Stanford asks what matters to you and a problem facing society. Berkeley-Haas has one additional essay–not all that dissimilar to the UC essays-- and a resume with16 COLLEGE-ONLY ecs slots. Furthermore the UC application allows listing of over 20 ecs. TWENTY PLUS!
So instead of having a place to talk about personal qualities, likes and passions, pursuits, etc. like the privates, Berkeley-Haas end up giving is an application that is very ec heavily. Hence why everyone who gets accepted has multiple ecs.
You’re right, most people do not end up at their reach schools and it’s precisely because they are not optimizing their applications. On the one hand this is a website about helping people get into college. At the same time your advice goes against that. I don’t understand what your goal is but like I said, you are a parent and so you lack on the ground knowledge.