What qualifies something as a hook

You are getting a lot of good info here. It can be hard to grasp just how many amazing students there are out there. This list of stats from Brown gave me a bit of an “ah-ha” moment regarding the realities of college admissions these days: https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/explore/admission-facts

CS is a very hot field right now and there are many, many, many students interested in majoring in it in college. And a good portion of these students have likely done as much or more than you have done with CS in HS.

Do you still have a shot at top tier schools? If your stats and all of the other parts of your application are excellent, perhaps. But the reality is that most students, even with excellent test scores, grades, and ECs, are not accepted.

Have you looked at any schools in between top tier universities and your instate safety? Maybe some schools with a 25-50% admit rate, or schools ranked by USNRW from 30+ on? (While you are looking at acceptance rates, keep in mind that state schools are harder to get into for OOS students.) There are a ton of great schools out there.

It’s very easy to create a list of dream schools. But it’s smarter to put your efforts into finding safety schools you would be happy to attend. Match schools are also worth investigating. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.