Maybe that's how it works in the USA but not over here. I go to one of the best universities here, and it's a "well known fact" that everyone has to do loads of extracurriculars to get in. I did barely any (or at least any that were recognisable enough to put on the application), and still got in ahead of those who were attempting to game the system. I later asked my tutor about it, he just said what I'd suspected, they don't care about all that stuff, they didn't bring you in to chat with you about your hobbies, all they care about is aptitude and passion for the course (notable exceptions things like medicine where you can't just be overly obsessed with biology and have no personal skills). Lots of people here now had lots of extracurriculars yes, but in reality its largely because a) they got them because they thought they needed them or more often b) they're just people who like doing lots of interesting things, and have the time-management to do so.