Do You Really Need a "Hook" to Get Into a Top School Nowadays?
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Anonymous
| I keep seeing people on here say things like "it's impossible to get into unless you have a hook" for kids applying to the likes of Harvard, Princeton, Duke, etc. Is it really that bad? Surely there are plenty of kids even from DMV being accepted without legacy, athletics, big money, etc. Not sure what advice to give my kid who is hoping for a top school without hooks. |
Anonymous
| Spend some time reading through the college forum and maybe college confidential to educate yourself so you can help your kid manage expectations. Listen to your kid's college counselor. Look through the senior instagram page for your high school for the last couple of years. You can get a sense of where kids are getting into. You sound pretty clueless, it is your job to help your kid form a list of schools they are excited about. You don't want all of those schools to be in the T50. |
Anonymous
| Yes, it’s accurate. You tell your kid acceptance is unlikely but they can apply if they want. Then you make sure they fall in love with some lower ranked schools where they are likely to be admitted. |
Anonymous
| My dd got into HYP in 2020 with no hooks (yes, I know, pre-TO). We are in New England and admissions pretty much as tough here as anywhere. Directly and indirectly I have known a number of kids over the years who got in to the most competitive schools without being URM/first gen or athletes, I don't know about their legacy status. But what these kids all had in common was they really dug in to their own education and actively sought out opportunities to grow and contribute, they were all kids excited about learning and whatever their activities were it showed in the application I imagine. That's not a guarantee for a spot at a reachy-reach school, plenty of equally awesome kids with nearly identical apps probably didn't get in. But it's certainly possible. |
Anonymous
| For colleges that reject 9 out of 10 applicants and admit 30%+ ALDCs, what do you think? |
Anonymous
Totally irrelevant in the TO world. |
Anonymous
The question is more about if it's actually possible more than the pure difficulty. Yes, the difficulty is there and publicly known: last year Harvard admitted 4% of applicants, while Princeton and Duke admitted 6% of applicants. However, in the past I've seen unhooked kids get into all three. So it seems possible but not sure with the current landscape of admissions, with test optional and application volumes increasing. |
Anonymous
| What you are hearing is correct. |
Anonymous
| No one really knows unless there's an Ivy+ AO posting in here. |
Anonymous
| People keep saying that TO made admission much harder. If that's the case for some students, it must be much easier for other students. Colleges still need to fill the same amount of spots. It's always hard to get in the top ones, but it's questionable now is much harder than before. |
Anonymous
| You always needed a hook |
Anonymous
|
I'm seeing that the definition of "hook" might vary.
-Top grades -Top scores -Awards -Leadership -Volunteer -Strong eval teachers / alum -URM / UR rural area |
Anonymous
It ‘s easier for low income, first Gen and urm. Those are hooks. It’s become harder for your middle/upper middle Asian and white students because they are not an institutional priority and are likely to have higher test scores, so don’t benefit from test optional |
Anonymous
Only the last is a hook. |
Anonymous
Some awards could be hooks. Like winning a major science fair, being a Coca-Cola Scholar, etc. |