Originally Posted by 22B
Thanks, Bostonian. I have nothing against people doing whatever extracurriculars they want for fun and fulfilment. But it seems universities are misusing them to favor some applicants at the expense of others.

I don't think this is necessarily misuse.

If you want to have an orchestra on campus, you need a certain number of string players and a certain (lower) number of bassoonists on campus to sustain that. Likewise all the other things that make up the particular campus community of that school. I think it's fine for the school to look at the balance of people it's bringing in-- X number of engineers, Y number of likely anthropology majors-- for reasons of academic programming and staffing, but also look at the skills and preferences of the incoming students for how they contribute to the whole of the place.

DeeDee