Are grades, research, reference letters & the GRE everything?

[coffeecake]

I'm sorry, I realize this sounds like an incredibly stupid question. It's just that in high school, I knew about ~4-6 people who went on to the Ivy League for STEM fields—and in addition to science fair stuff—they all (1) founded or had a leadership role in youth-nonprofit thing, (2) recieved a ton of media coverage for a variety of reasons. Do these other factors also weigh into grad school decisions at all (and if so, to what extent)?

Thanks!

[ochemist94]

I don't think those extracurricular activities matter too much for PhD programs. Research, great letters, and GPA matter the most from my experience. 

I wasn't in any major organizations or anything during college, but I got accepted to Harvard, Stanford, MIT,  and Princeton this cycle. I did have a lot of research experience as an undergrad and a high GPA.