Okay... take me as an example...
Most of you guys knows I'm good at trumpet playing, right?
I've been played in Orchestra of Dongcheng Youthpalace(Beijing, principal), Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Youth Orchestra(principal), Richmond Orchestra...
I've done planty of volunteering jobs, such as scrutineer of election, Studio Assistant in a Church...
My GPA in Kwantlen is 4.03...
but I am very "honest" on my high-school transcript(I didn't ask the high school to write me a higher mark on the transcript, well, you know, most chinese applicants have done it and successfully get offers)... and I failed three courses(Calculus, Linear Algebra, College Physics) in Huazhong University of Science and Technology...
so, that's outstanding extracurriculum activities and average academic history, right?
You know what? I got denied by both Applied Science of UToronro and Computer Science of UWaterloo...
I think I'm a (pathetic, if you want to say) counter example of the article above...