Reply to Do You Really Need a "Hook" to Get Into a Top School Nowadays?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]

Totally irrelevant in the TO world.  [/quote]

yeah it's not though.  this school's acceptance in rate in last 4 years has gone from 5.91 to 4.46%, a very small change certainly reflective of increased number of applications (TO).  It's still nearly impossible to get in, as it always has been.  But that doesn't mean that it was previously about "the stats" and now suddenly it's about other things.  My kid's stats, for example, were definitely not perfect.  They were great, but that's not what got her in.  And the other kids I can think of over the years have also not been the perfect stats kids, often not the valedictorians, who have gotten in to the schools with the toughest admissions numbers.  you need to understand how holistic admissions works, it has its critics and I get the arguments.  but it has always and will continue to give schools the ability to build a class based on a lot of intangibles.  so you can think of the stats as the "first round", but a perfect stats kid who doesn't get in to a top school didn't miss out because they didn't have a hook, they just may not have had whatever combination of all the other stuff that spoke to the adcom committee that day.[/quote]
+1000000000

The kids I know attending elite universities are all bright, motivated, a step above the average really smart kid.  I call it the "it" factor.  They are the kids who the universities think will be game changers in the future.  Each uni defines it slightly differently, based on what they want/need to craft the ideal freshman class.  
We get that many do not like/do not understand these intangibles, but they are likely here to stay.  And really I think it's in the schools best interest to keep them. [/quote]

Ok, do you think the kid who got into Duke that was posted by PP has an “it” factor?[/quote]

... Yes. Graduating top 5% at what seems like one of the top boarding schools in the country is no joke. Also seems like a well-rounded student, you have to remember that at boarding school athletics are often a major part of the experience. Juggling the workload and athletics is not easy at boarding school, and not to mention there were some standout math abilities. On the other hand, he clearly benefits from lots of resources and advantages being upper class, and I'm assuming he got his hedge fund internship through a family or school connection. Overall, I think it's a clear admit at many top schools regardless of privilege. Maybe not Harvard or MIT but outside of that any school would have probably been interested.[/quote]
“Regardless of privilege” is a bizarre counter factual when all the circumstances surrounding attending an elite boarding school in the first place are synonymous with privilege. [/quote]

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