<p>XD well thank God that I’m Argentinian! </p>
<p>Another thing, I keep hearing about these first generation colleges. Since my parents went to college but not in America, does it count that I’m first generation?</p>
<p>^^^I don’t think that counts machinima…i wish it did. Correct me if i am wrong, but I am pretty sure first generation college students have parents who have never been to college before. Hahaha. If you were referring to first generation American though, i think it would definitely add to the cultural diversity of any University! :)</p>
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<p>We have a term for those too. They are called essay topics.</p>
<p>fauve listed the full list of hooks on post #2. Everything else (where you were born, what difficulties you overcame, 1st generation, state of residency, etc.) is not a hook. They are applicant characteristics.</p>
<p>“hooks” are institutionally desired features. Don’t confuse the two. Very few people have hooks. Attempts to shoe-horn your unique features into one of these is just trying to pacify oneself.</p>
<p>(and for those who wish to argue with me about “1st generation” or “regional diversity”, I’ll say again, these are *extreme *secondary or tertiary evaluative concerns to Harvard)</p>
<p>^^ Why doesn’t 1st generation count? What if you were born in Bhutan or something? What do you believe are hooks?</p>
<p>I know that URM, legacies, etc are what are normally referred to as hooks. But I don’t know if that was what JUDYizm wanted people to posts when he started this thread. I believe he was looking for conditions that made a person unique, like experiences and possibly awards. Like a world record in extreme ironing or something, otherwise this thread would be filled with a list of races and socioeconomic stats…and that’s not toooo interesting. Haha.</p>
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<p>Could these extreme “tertiary evaluative concerns” be used by Harvard to discriminate between two “hooked” URMs? For example, to give a leg up to a poor URM student (1st generational) over the child of a more affluent college educated, hooked URM? Also, couldnt these tertiary evaluative concerns be used to discriminate between two non URM applicants? For example, if there were two white male applicants with identical standardized test scores, then couldnt Harvard use these concerns to prefer the child of a poor single mother who attended a poor inner city school over the white child of a more affluent family? Similarly, couldnt Harvard admit poor URMs attending poor schools over white kids from affluent families and rich schools with similar test scores, using these tertiary evaluative concerns? I think this is what happens and the result is a class with a certain number of URMs that creates diversity rather than the other way around -some quota for URMs at Haravard. Am I wrong?</p>
<p>First Gen is one statistic that all schools seem to provide. I was shocked to see Yale list it at above 13.3%.</p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/node/2040/attachment&sa=U&ei=WA-bTvzZM8SosQL-w52wBw&ved=0CBUQFjAC&sig2=wdi82Nf899X5ISm6XJ1LOw&usg=AFQjCNEK4hjmGM48uxyrCcTCrhj_-8T4bQ[/url]”>http://admissions.yale.edu/node/2040/attachment&sa=U&ei=WA-bTvzZM8SosQL-w52wBw&ved=0CBUQFjAC&sig2=wdi82Nf899X5ISm6XJ1LOw&usg=AFQjCNEK4hjmGM48uxyrCcTCrhj_-8T4bQ</a></p>
<p>I believe that where you are born counts as a hook, if not then their would be 98% Asians in Harvard. (You know I’m right)</p>
<p>Also I hope that first generation colleges mean only in America, if not, I would want to worker harder to get recruited to be in their golf team :P.</p>
<p>Only if Harvard opened up a China or India branch can it be 98% Asian.</p>
<p>“I believe he was looking for conditions that made a person unique, like experiences and possibly awards. Like a world record in extreme ironing or something, otherwise this thread would be filled with a list of races and socioeconomic stats…”
^this…
*she :]</p>
<p>My older brother is attending college, but my parents have never attended college, does the term “first generation college student” still apply to me?</p>
<p>Are you in the same “generation”?</p>
<p>First generation university student.
Dad was drug addict.
Parents had a messy divorce during my exam period (my dad in one case attempted to ram his car into the car me and my mum was on)
Average income family.
Had to move to Ireland as a result of parents divorce.
Brought up in Northern Ireland
Living in the middle of nowhere in Ireland now attending a country school.
Would any of these be considered hooks?</p>
<p>Oh My baddd JUDYizm!!! Lets just pretend I put an S in front of that -he. :)</p>
<p>sganyfx: read post two and you’ll discover your answer. Your list are features of you as an applicant – but not a single one is something that Harvard needs i.e. a real hook.</p>
<p>Would Northern Irish not be a URM as the country rarely sends people to Harvard, and same with Ireland?</p>
<p>Northern Irish would be considered as an International Student, which is an extremely competitive group. And remember, there are millions of Americans of Irish descent so there is no shortage of that cultural influence, especially in the Boston environs.</p>
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<p>Some might be hooks and others boosts (average income, native english speaker, western europe). Net it might be a wash. If your dad were Kenyan and you went to a country school in Indonesia, it would look better. Esp. if your single mom was poor.</p>
<p>What about having mentally ill parents with bipolar or parents with schizophrenia? Also, what if you yourself have something like ADHD or Generalized anxiety? Could you use hooks as basically personal past stories? Such as things that may have happened? Foster care, lawsuits between parents…etc?</p>
<p>xraydog: you should post new questions as separate posts – not appending them to old threads. But to your question: no. HOOKS by def’n are things that the school wants/desires – athletes, diversity (minority), development cases. Your situation is unique to you – and certainly part of your “story” but it’s not as if any college institutionally NEEDS students who have overcome personal adversity.</p>