<p>I don’t think any single thing at the margin–a couple of Bs, 30 points lower on the SAT, one EC that’s not stellar–is likely to make the difference in an admissions decision. What matters is the whole picture. Take a look at the admitted/rejected threads, and you’ll see that people with all kinds of pictures get in, and don’t get in. There’s no one thing that makes the difference, and sometimes it’s hard to understand why the results were what they were–but in general, those who are accepted have a number of very good things in the overall picture…but few are perfect.</p>