<p>Just to be clear, by “hook” I mean an EC that I can showcase, write my essays about, and that will get me noticed by selective colleges, such as the ivys. I am only a sophomore, so I have time, but I am curious.
I live in the florida keys. I participate in shark tagging with the University of Miami and plan to do so again in my junior and senior years. After I get my dive certification this summer I plan to do work with a coral restoration foundation, participate in reef surveys, coral counts, and in reef awareness presentations at local schools. The dive club at my school is also working on partnering with a Harvard graduate program to further promote reef awareness. I really love the ocean and spending time in it. Outside of these organized activities, I frequently snorkel, kayak, and swim.
Is this a significant part of my life to talk about in my future college applications even if I plan on pursuing a career in law or government?
Thanks :)</p>
<p>I feel like it would be so much more compelling if you wanted to be a marine biologist… but as a standalone extracurricular, its alright. Maybe talk about how this extracurricular influenced your views on environmental policies and whatnot. Always try to link back to your major.</p>
<p>If you can somehow tie together your personal passion for diving and earnest dedication to the marine environment with your future career in law and government, you can probably make your extracurricular quite a compelling hook. Of course, my personal suggestion is to always do what you truly love and never allow a college to validate your individualism.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What you’re talking about is an EC, not a hook, please use the Search function to see the correct meaning of hook in college admissions. You’re going to be around here for a couple of years, might as well start using the right terminology ;).</p>
<p>I think it’s pretty cool. The further you can take it, though, the better. The real “hook” will only occur if at some point you do something that makes an adult wonder “how did a high school student end up doing that?!?”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, it will NEVER be a hook because a hook is an institutional NEED. It can become an EC that a school WANTS, but that is still not a hook.</p>
<p>Apart from the quibbling over the meaning of the term *hook<a href=“and%20I%20agree%20with%20entomom:%20%20a%20hook%20is%20an%20attribute%20of%20an%20applicant%20that%20meets%20an%20institutional%20want%20or%20need”>/I</a>, there’s nobody better able than you, itstartsnow, to tell whether this could be the extracurricular activity to show you off to greatest advantage.</p>
<p>I certainly think it’s interesting and unusual. I imagine it would make for a more interesting essay for an admissions officer to read than the 400th essay this season about starting out in the chorus, and working hard and paying your dues, until in your senior year you were given the role of Marian Paroo (or Harold Hill) in The Music Man. And unlike an essay on getting the lead in The Music Man, it seems to have lots of opportunities to tie your activity to much bigger issues, such as conservation and the health of the oceans and so on. So, in that sense, it has a lot of promise.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I strenuously disagree that it’s necessary to tie this activity to a prospective major or a career interest. Extracurricular activities are called extracurricular for a reason: they do not need to be tied to your academic or professional goals. Most captains of high-school basketball teams won’t play Division I basketball, let alone play professionally. Most Marian Paroos and Harold Hills don’t end up on Broadway.</p>
<p>You can do these things in your teens because you like them, and you want to make your contribution to the causes of preserving coral reefs, and understanding and protecting marine wildlife. You don’t have to make it your life’s work (or, worse, pretend that you plan to, when you really don’t).</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. Sorry for my improper use of the term hook. I guess in the way of “real” hooks, I possibly have one. My parents and grandparents never graduated college. I just don’t see how I could work that into an application down the road especially when it hasn’t really affected me. I’m still an upper middle class white girl after all.</p>
<p>Anyways, back to what I now know are ECs and most definitely not hooks 
. I am planning on interning with either a local judge or a county commissioner and former mayor this summer. The internship would relate more to my future major, but would it stand out as much as my previously mentioned EC? </p>
<p>Also these aren’t my only ECs, they are just the ones I consider most significant and impactful. Plus I feel like I could write a better essay about my oceanic awareness projects and how they have shaped me. Since I have two more years left I guess it doesn’t matter that I get anything nailed down right now, but I am curious to hear what you all think.</p>
<p>Colleges do like first-gen college students.</p>
<p>^ SOME colleges do like first gen students. Most colleges don’t care.</p>
<p>first generation is not a hook; it is a tip factor when combined with other factors- low income, doing well at a low performing school, etc.</p>
<p>I think it’s interesting- it’s totally possible to make a good essay out of it, at least.</p>
<p>Just my $0.02, but perhaps tying you’re interest and participation in the marine tagging program with the desirentomprotect the environment, thus the interest in studying environmental law.</p>
<p>If you could do a small project or program either on your own or in a leadership position, that just, just may catch someone’s attention when you write your essays.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>bumpbumpbump</p>
<p>yes, because it seems like you are very passionate about it</p>
<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I am wondering if my situation could be considered as a Hook. </p>
<p>My native country (both parents are from) is Colombia, and I have lived there for 8 years. When I was 10 I moved to London and lived there for 4 years. and When I was 14 I moved to Australia and have lived here since. This means I am a colombian boy applying from an Australian school.</p>
<p>Not a hook.</p>
<p>Tonyy121, do colleges have an institutional need (or even a “want” ) for students who have lived in Colombia and the UK and Australia? If not, it’s not a hook. </p>
<p>It might be the basis for an interesting personal essay–and that would be a good thing–but it’s not a hook.</p>