Top Business School with limited EC activities

[mth1212]

Assuming the rest of an application is solid, how much weight would a top school put into limited extracurricular activities? I spent a few years studying for the CFA exams which took up most of my time outside of work, and only just started a volunteer position this year. I am concerned that this could even come across as disingenuous in the sense that I could just be trying to jam it into my application at the last minute (which is not the case). Here is a little more background to help with responses.

GMAT: 740
Undergrad GPA: 3.9 - top 25 program
Work Experience: 4 years in corporate finance (treasury) - 2 promotions and experience managing analysts
Expect high quality recommendations from former supervisors

Also please note that I only intend to go full time if I am accepted into a top 10 program. Thanks in advance for any help/insight you are willing to provide!

[labatmolso]

hate to say it, but at the top you will be competing against a lot of you ilk, the only difference being that they have EC's and CS. If you can mitigate that by mentioning how, for instance, you were involved in mentoring new employees you can make up for it.
Otherwise, the sky would be the limit for you...good luck!!

[Jon@Admissionado]

Well, it also depends on WHICH ECs you have and what you have done with them. If you have one more or one less, it doesn't often make that much of a difference, but I have noticed that top profiles are usually those who are SUPER-involved... so candidates who were president of the student government, and a reporter for the school newspaper, and Treasurer of xxxx.

As for "jamming" things in at the last minute, it's true that if you started something in the year before your application it is not that strong, but it certainly can't hurt.

[versatile]

Hi,

How does one defend himeself, if someone is not into any concrete EC.

I am sure you must have come across a few cases by now

[Jon@Admissionado]

You don't defend it.

We first 1) Dig around in your background to find something that might not seem worthy to you but that is relevant 2) Write about what you do have, if anything 3) If not, we don't address it in an essay (unless you were like a single mom, or doing two jobs), we just focus on your strengths.