<p>I think my hook is coming from an underrepresented country? Should i play to this hook blatantly? Like writing essays for it and asking my teachers to remind what i can bring in the recoms? Thanks.</p>
<p>Hard to say. It matters if it’s Belgium or Equatorial Guinea.</p>
<p>Sounds more like a tip than a hook to me and geographical diversity is one of the weakest tips. I wouldn’t push it on them too hard. The admissions officers are smart enough to pick up on it without being beaten over the head.</p>
<p>It’s Brunei…</p>
<p>Do you know the king? Isn’t he the richest guy in the world? Maybe you are the king?</p>
<p>Yup, he’s the richest royal… But what has that to do with me? I’m poor and need tons of aid…</p>
<p>But yale is richer than him</p>
<p>“But yale is richer than him”</p>
<p>Actually they are about the same: $22 BILLION.</p>
<p>Actually I would think being rich AND being from an underrepresented region should help. I mean you’d bring diversity to the student body without costing Yale anything.
And I know their admission policy says its need blind…</p>
<p>So money makes a difference after all?.. But i’m not rich… I’ll need aid… Had i been rich i’ll have a higher chance? Then this need blind policy is what then?</p>
<p>Money matters if Yale believes your family will donate huge sums (we’re not talking a measly million or two). Yale is need blind and the fact you need aid won’t be held against you. However, if you were the Sultan of Brunei’s child, that would be a hook because Yale would figure they could squeeze some serious money out of your dad.</p>
<p>Is yale need blind to international students?</p>
<p>Tyler09 - it is, one of only a handful of schools in the country that is need-blind and meets 100% of need for international students, as well as domestic students.</p>
<p>Well the king’s not my dad… There’s no point in getting in just because of having a rich dad anyway… So how far should i emphasize on coming from Brunei… Let’s forget about the cash for a moment</p>
<p>Don’t you have a…quirkier essay topic? I mean I bet that’d impact adcoms more than being from Brunei…</p>
<p>In my essay, i’m not gonna say hey i’m from brunei… I’m going to write about an experience, most likely unique to brunei, and what i learned… Too Simple…?</p>
<p>Keep in mind these people are smart. You don’t have to hit them over the head with it. If you can find a topic that relates to being from Brunei, that’s fine, but if all you are saying is that you are from Brunei and if you were accepted to Yale you would be a student from Brunei, etc., then it would not tell them much more than what they know from your application. </p>
<p>By the way - what is it about being from Brunei that makes you different from the legions of teens applying from the US?</p>
<p>Would low income/recovery from a serious disease be a hook?</p>
<p>G2COM–Low income (depending on how you define low income) and first generation college can both be tips, certainly not hooks. Recovery from a serious disease probably would not be a tip. If you’re going to write an essay about the disease, have lots of people read it and make sure that it doesn’t come off as pity-seeking or like a TV movie of the week. You have got to be careful with how you play such topics.</p>
<p>I’ll try… It’s a crapshoot anyway</p>