Reply to Can being the no. 1 student from TJ graduating class serve as a hook to top 10 universities?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Some say the applicant has to be "well-rounded" (show leadership, volunteerism, not just be book smart etc.) and some say the applicant has to show "passion" (just be extremely talented in 1 area never mind being well rounded) because the selective colleges are building a "well rounded class" along with URMs, legacies and athletes and not seeking well rounded students. Aren't these contradictory?[/quote]

These aren't really contradictory. For the individual applicant, passion is in and well-rounded is out. But the school is looking to build a well-rounded class. This well-rounded class will include 1000 (or however many) kids with passions: the state-champion oboist, the kid who started a NFP to save the Anacostia River, the kid who won a literary contest, the kid who interned with their Senator.  All of these kids probably put their 10,000 hours into their passions, rather than being well-rounded. [/quote]

True, but in fairness, the kids whose primary hooks are passion and demonstrated achievement  (national recognition) in a unique area will make up less than 5% of any entering class.  So, if 1,000 are admitted fewer than 50 will have a HOOK (other than the big 3 Hooks).[/quote]

I think this depends on what school you are talking about. At the most competitive private universities, the ones that take less than 10% of applicants, there are usually 1000s of applicants, even 10,000 applicants, with super-high GPAs and SATs.  This is when hooks (defined for now as passions, ECs) become important, because it's the only way one valedectorian is going to stand out from the 1000 valedectorians. I don't have the stats, but I'm not sure you do either; however,  it seems pretty clear than at these highly selective colleges, passions/ECs explain far more than 5% of admits.

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