What's YOUR hook?

Applying to College
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<h1>1 tennis all 4 years, anesthestic research, and surfing…i focused surfing mostly…</h1>

<p>anesthesiology- just how im mentored by granddad (wrote textbook) and look up to great granddad (UCSF med dean).</p>

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<p>tennis player: top ranked in the usta eastern section, 1st singles/captain on the high school team, top 15 player in nj, blah blah blah. Also i didnt apply for financial aid b/c i’m not gonna get any lol (does that even count as a hook?) Very good friends with David Tepper’s son (he’s in several of my classes at my school) so i asked him to write my rec to carnegie mellon (tepper school of business of course).
Yea, That’s about it. </p>

<p>So far gotten in rutgers (im in state) and Umich, still waiting on nyu stern (tennis recruit), unc-ch, cmu, washu,</p>

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<p>maybe my national awards and one international award</p>

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<p>Ok, well I think I’ve got a couple of small hooks that really add up. I live in Tennessee and am applying to California schools (Geographical Diversity) I’m an Eagle Scout and also a Master Scuba Diver (Two HIGH Awards) Also, Varsity Lacrosse and hope to play in college. If I apply to Vanderbilt, I’ve got my dad being a professor there to help. I think thats it, everything else is fairly common (Science Olympiad, politically active, volunteer stuff)</p>

<p>My sister’s hook into JHU: Tennessee Female and also an IB Diploma</p>

<p>-Alex</p>

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<p>Blah06
Being First Generation is definitely hook, line and sinker.</p>

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<p>Choosen as 1 of 15 junior high students nationally to appear on Jeopardy’s first ever “Back to School” week. Worked as a computer consultant to the USEPA.</p>

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<p>2 years of high level math at University of Wisconsin, Eagle Scout, and Presdiential Scholar nominee(anyone else get this cuz i didn’t know anything about it)</p>

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<p>1st generation black male with a B average. That’s pretty hard to find.</p>

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<p>Commendable, you you are under a big misconception as a B average is not good enough to get you into any really selective shools because there are a number of black males in your situation who have 4.0’s. As more black kids are now applying to selective schools, they are raising the bar and stepping up the game. Continue to do well, if possible bring up your grades, take the most rigerous courses that your school offers, develop some solid EC’s (do you work? that can be used also)</p>

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<p>i’m sorry what’s this deal about being a rare ocurrence. my mom is from iran and my dad is from vietnam. not often do people like that marry but I honestly don’t think that has anything to do with admissions. </p>

<p>i can juggle while riding a unicycle but I don’t think harvard gives a ****.</p>

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<p>well the idea is that if you have a more diverse background you will be a more interesting student…not always true but whatever</p>

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<p>I personally think being related to alumni is the biggest hook for uhouston/lehigh, but for other places I don’t have a ‘hook’ just a bunch of achievements</p>

<p>I thought a hook was being a minority or something you can’t really help.</p>

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<p>From the Article: How Admission Decisions Are Made</p>

<p><a href=“http://unionplus.educationplanner.com/education_planner/c_and_p_article.asp?articleName=How_Admission_Decisions_are_Made&sponsor=2866&PageType=Applying-Parents[/url]”>http://unionplus.educationplanner.com/education_planner/c_and_p_article.asp?articleName=How_Admission_Decisions_are_Made&sponsor=2866&PageType=Applying-Parents&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A hook, in admission parlance, is any additional advantage that makes a candidate attractive to a particular college. This will vary from school to school and from year to year. Some candidates may try to hide their hooks, preferring to be admitted on only merit (parents tend to discourage this) while others will fight furiously to exploit even the most inconsequential connections. Such hooks may include athletic ability, minority status, veteran status, alumni connections, special talent (e.g., art, music, theater, writing, etc.), underrepresented socioeconomic background (e.g., first-generation college), geography, gender, VIP status, ability to pay full tuition, or miscellaneous institutional needs.</p>

<p>Having a hook can give a candidate a higher rating from the get-go or can pull an application from the deny pile and put it into the admit (or wait list) stack. Hooks come into play most often when judging equally qualified candidates. For example, if a college has to select one of two students who look the same on paper, and one is the daughter of an alumnus and the other is not, the daughter is probably going to get in over the non-connected student.</p>

<p>However, no matter how well connected or how gifted a student is outside of the classroom, if he doesn’t have the grades or the ability, he won’t—or shouldn’t—be admitted. And, if he does get admitted for special reasons, those connections won’t guarantee that he will succeed. One college even had to turn down its own president’s son!</p>

<p>The hooks below are the ones discussed most often—and most passionately —in admission committee meetings:</p>

<p>Alumni Connections
Athletes
Students of Color
Talent in the Arts</p>

<p>The Invisible Hook—Institutional Needs</p>

<p>One reason that an applicant is admitted to a particular college while a similar- seeming (or even less able) applicant is not can be due to a fuzzy factor known as “institutional needs.” These needs, explains Amherst College’s Katharine Fretwell, are likely to vary from college to college, and—even within a single school—from year to year. One season, says Fretwell, an institution may be after more women, Midwesterners, or hockey goalies; the next time around it could be scientists or string musicians. “Applicants do not have control over these needs and are rarely aware of them,” she notes. “And, according to outside observers (candidates, their counselors, parents, or classmates), the influence of these priorities may create some mysterious admission decisions.”</p>

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<p>“i’m sorry what’s this deal about being a rare ocurrence.”</p>

<p>i don’t think that the background in itself is enough to constitute a hook, unless it has had a major impact on the student’s everyday life and/or worldview.</p>

<p>as i mentioned earlier in this thread, i’ve lived in four countries and speak three languages fluently. but more significantly, my experiences have shaped me into the person i am today. when i get caught debating capitalism versus socialism, i can cite both (capitalist) america and (socialist) sweden as examples i’ve experienced firsthand. although i’ve always sworn i’ll never be a diplomat like my parents, i’ve absorbed diplomacy through osmosis. my current (international) school’s mission statement includes a line about “creating responsible and effective world citizens”. that, to me, could constitute a hook; following my parents across the world without learning a thing would not.</p>

<p>does that make any sense? and does anyone agree?</p>

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<p>^^ i dont think it was necessary to cut and paste your short answer responses from your application</p>

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<p>i was trying to explain to you the difference between having an interesting background and taking advantage of one. i wrote my answer from scratch, for the specific purposes of this thread; i am a sophomore and have yet to write a college application. thanks for being so rude and presumptive.</p>

<p>jesus christ.</p>

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<p>Well, you can be just as interesting without such a cool background, look at all the people on CC who are townees yet are amazinlgy interesting.</p>

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<p>you’re misconstruing my argument. i never said that local applicants were any less interesting. what i said was that the most extraordinary life story becomes irrelevant if it hasn’t had a significant impact on the applicant’s identity, one that the applicant him/herself can explain. am i really that unclear?</p>

<p>furthermore, i didn’t seek to glorify myself, or to discredit other applicants. many of them have achievements far superior to mine. i was replying to a line of questioning, which i will quote again for your edification.</p>

<p>

i used my own experience as example because that is what i am most familiar with.</p>

<p>i’ll try this again: AN UNCONVENTIONAL BACKGROUND IS ONLY A “HOOK” IF THE EVENTS IN QUESTION HAVE HAD A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE APPLICANT’S WORLDVIEW OR IDENTITY. otherwise it is a gimmick, and adcoms can see through that sort of thing. it’s counterproductive.</p>

<p>better?</p>

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<p>i think its hard for the colleges to tell whether it had a significant effect or not though so they just assume that it did</p>

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<p>Learn what the word means before using it, please.</p>