<ol>
<li>Very competitive senior high school(Top 100 USNEWS), GPA is 4.5(out of 5.0), top 10% out of 700 students.</li>
<li>Had taken 8 APs(all 4s) as of the end of Junior year(got AP Scholar with Distinction)and take 6 APs senior year.</li>
<li>SAT score 2190 SATII: Biology 780, U.S History 760</li>
<li>200+ community service hours</li>
<li>Got research internship(paid) and published first author review with PI</li>
<li>Vice-prisident of Academic Decathlon for 12th grade</li>
<li>Treasurer of debate team for 12th grade</li>
<li>Secretary and Treasurer of Model UN for 11th and 12th grade</li>
<li>Qualifier for National level debate once
10.Qualifier for state level debate twice
11.TA for AP Calculus AB
Could you please give me some suggestions, like which schools for dream, just right and no problem?</li>
</ol>
<p>Do you have any hooks? What’s your class rank? Depending on your hooks, I would try to raise my SAT to 2,300 for Ivies.</p>
<p>My suggestions and chances:
UMICH, UC Berekly- Shoo-in
NorthWestern and Duke- Very good chance.
UPenn, and Columbia- Pretty solid chance.
HYPSM- Definitely worth applying.</p>
<p>Hit the “colleges” blue link on the left, than look for the school. There is a break down for Ivy, LAC, SA and actual college. From there hit that blue link. Hit new topic and ask in your school to chance you. Cut and paste your post.</p>
<p>As far as hooks go, it can be anything from URM to legacy to NMF. Principal is absolutely correct it is what the school is looking to fill their void with that determines a hook. Read the background of the university. It will highlight things about students, such as the % of NMF students or their national ranking in a particular area. For example, if the school says we are #1 in the nation for debate, than you may have a better chance because of qualifying nationally in debate. Look at UMich, they have a phenom football team, thus, as Principal stated if you are on the state football champions team, and you were captain, that can be a hook. A “true” hook is something that makes you unique compared to the avg applicant. Being poor is not a hook</p>
<p>It can actually be a hook, but again it has to be unique like Liz Murray who was homeless, but made it to Harvard.</p>
<p>However, on a whole, Principal is correct, being poor is not a hook. Actually, if you look through chance me threads, many kids are concerned that asking for FA will hurt their chances.</p>
<p>In the case of Liz Murray is it the state of being poor which helped her, or the immense experience (something few Harvard kids, even the ones coming from low salaried families have) that she brought to the table. </p>
<p>Many times poverty coincides with hooks, and may strengthen the application if he/she can show something that would be brought to the table, however I don’t think the state of being poor is a hook in and of itself.</p>
<p>I agree, I think for her it was probably more about her life experience that grabbed Harvards attention. The fact that her mother died of AIDS could also be seen as the hook when she was 15. Or the fact that she graduated hs in 2 yrs could be a reason. She really had a ton of hooks. She also was a NYT scholarship recipient, which is a hook in itself.</p>
<p>I concur, for example, a typical hook for the military academies are candidates that are Eagle Scout, since it shows their lifelong dedication to an organization and there are very few Eagle Scouts in the world compared to the size of the organization.</p>
<p>Many many thanks to anybody!
My major could be: Government & politics, biology, language and history.
Growing up at Yale campus since my parents got their trainning for 8 years. So, Yale will be my only dream school for apply(Top 10 schools). My GPA and SATs not strong enough.
Maybe ED for Northernwestern?
I moved to Texas since 9th grade, so UC system didn’t work for me, maybe USC?
I will apply Rice, Emory(people said good for debate and my school’s debate team ranked #1 in nation out of 2,700 high schools by the National Foresic league), Georgetown, NYU and UT Austin and maybe some LACs(but not top 10).
Please give me more suggestions!</p>
<p>Winning a competition, or being an Eagle Scout, or being a football captain are NOT hooks. They are Extra-Curriculars. Like I said earlier, a hook is basically something that you did not work to accomplish. (URM, geographic location, first generation, etc.)</p>
<p>That’s not quite how adcoms traditionally use the term. In their lingo a hooked kid is one who has a desirable trait that is of <em>benefit to the school</em> in some way.</p>
<p>What many people on CC call “hooks” are usually really ECs - unusual hobbies or achievements and the like. An unusual EC may make you memorable to the adcom (which is good), but it won’t get you a significant admissions boost beyond any other respectable EC. Hooks, to one degree or another, will get you an admissions boost, often in very measurable ways (i.e. can get you in with stats lower than average for that school). Many, but not all, hooks are unearned - that is they are based on something that you are or circumstances you were born into rather than something you did.</p>
<p>Hooks: recruited athlete, very wealthy, legacy, URM, famous, son or daughter of someone famous, son or daughter of someone politically well-connected, etc.</p>
<p>ECs: Music, non-recruited athlete, clubs, scouts, community service, hobbies, etc.</p>
<p>Now it’s possible for an EC to become a hook it you can take it to a very high level. For example: talented figure skater = EC. Olympic gold medalist figure skater = hook. Or: editor of school newspaper = EC. Winning Pulitzer prize = hook.</p>
<p>Thank you for the clarification, coureur. So, as it has been said here, a “hook” can sometimes be something you have to work on to accomplish (you winning the gold medal), OR something you didn’t have to work on (URM, connections), which is usually the case.</p>
<p>Either way, it’s something special YOU bring to the student body</p>
<p>Speaking of USNA, hey TopGun, have you considered any the of SA’s ? By your CC name, I’m guessing you like planes? Anyway, SA’s Are not for everyone, extremely tough to get in to, <need to=“” pass=“” a=“” physical=“” and=“” fitness=“” test,=“” plus=“” the=“” grades,=“” sat’s,=“” ec’s=“” etc…=“”> and some would say, even harder to stay, YIKES! But well worth the ride when it’s over.
There’s a forum here on CC if you feel like cruising by and learning more: [U.S</a>. Service Academies - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/u-s-service-academies/]U.S”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/u-s-service-academies/)</need></p>
<p>Best of luck to you as you begin your journey.</p>
<p>As a parent of a child who was selected by an SA. It is a very long process and by this time they would be behind the 8 ball, because not only do you need all of that, you need a nomination from the Pres., VP, Sen or Cong.(there are other sources, but those are even more rare…ROTC) Most MOCs by this time have closed their files. Thus, no nom = no appointment.</p>
<p>CC is right, SA’s are very very selective, only about 15% get appointed. The majority of them are high on the gpa/SAT scale. I would say the only reason that he should not is because they are really engineering schools, thus if govt and politics are your thing you will hate it when you are required to take aeronautical engineering all 4 yrs for the USNA or the AFA.</p>