Anonymous wrote:Being Malala or Greta Thunberg is a hook

Greta Thunberg is cringeworthy bordering on child abuse. That’s one tiger parenting right there.

Anonymous wrote:Overcoming personal or family trauma.

No, not a hook in any way at any college.

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Anonymous wrote:Probably the biggest hook is being a faculty kid.

I don't think that is true, and not a hook at all schools.

Athletic recruit is easily the biggest hook.

While true, it’s much harder to be a world class athlete than a good student.

Nope. For HYPS, you can lie and say that your kid is a "great athlete" even if they suck. Not only that, you can say your parents attended HYPS, even if they didn't. Happening right now in close in NOVA, for real, sadly. Make a couple mil donation, and done and done.

Legacy is a hook but only if you have the stats to place you in the ranges of the accepted kids. Outside of that, legacy does not help ---- absent very large donations or the 10th generation to attend harvard.

field hockey is not a rich kid sport. We had a team at my high school which was the lowest income high school in the state.

Hooks - recruited athlete, URM, big donor, legacy. None are completely dispositive of admission but for the rare really, really big donor and most (but not all) recruited athletes.

(URM full pay legacy with scores in range, mildly salty at waitlist, though as we get closer to May 1, might end up finding they prefer a different school anyway)

Anonymous wrote:Overcoming personal or family trauma.

Not a hook. And as an essay, it is a myth that sob stories are what admission officers want to read about - no. These types of essays often reveal personal weaknesses and are difficult to do well.

Overcoming personal or family trauma.

Hold down a job. Seriously.

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Anonymous wrote:Everyone talks about kids with hooks getting into great schools. Can you provide some examples of things that count as “hooks” these days? I think I get the concept but I am not sure where a nice honor or cool EC becomes a “hook”?

Being URM.

No. Being URM isn’t enough. You have to be URM AND first generation college student.
Bigger than that is:
1. Rich legacy that donates
2. From Wealthy family
3. Athletic recruit

People love to post that URM is such a big hook and how unfair it is. In reality the best chance of being admitted is one if these three categories.

URM is indeed a huge hook. Your 1 and 3 are correct. 2, not so much.

"Wealthy" can make a big difference, but you have to be really wealthy, not just, I can afford a $1.8M house in the DMV.

if your family is wealthy enough to be known - billionaires, not millionaires

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably the biggest hook is being a faculty kid.

I don't think that is true, and not a hook at all schools.

Athletic recruit is easily the biggest hook.

While true, it’s much harder to be a world class athlete than a good student.

Nope. For HYPS, you can lie and say that your kid is a "great athlete" even if they suck. Not only that, you can say your parents attended HYPS, even if they didn't. Happening right now in close in NOVA, for real, sadly. Make a couple mil donation, and done and done.

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Anonymous wrote:Everyone talks about kids with hooks getting into great schools. Can you provide some examples of things that count as “hooks” these days? I think I get the concept but I am not sure where a nice honor or cool EC becomes a “hook”?

Being URM.

No. Being URM isn’t enough. You have to be URM AND first generation college student.
Bigger than that is:
1. Rich legacy that donates
2. From Wealthy family
3. Athletic recruit

People love to post that URM is such a big hook and how unfair it is. In reality the best chance of being admitted is one if these three categories.

URM is indeed a huge hook. Your 1 and 3 are correct. 2, not so much.

"Wealthy" can make a big difference, but you have to be really wealthy, not just, I can afford a $1.8M house in the DMV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone talks about kids with hooks getting into great schools. Can you provide some examples of things that count as “hooks” these days? I think I get the concept but I am not sure where a nice honor or cool EC becomes a “hook”?

Being URM.

No. Being URM isn’t enough. You have to be URM AND first generation college student.
Bigger than that is:
1. Rich legacy that donates
2. From Wealthy family
3. Athletic recruit

People love to post that URM is such a big hook and how unfair it is. In reality the best chance of being admitted is one if these three categories.

URM is indeed a huge hook. Your 1 and 3 are correct. 2, not so much.

Do not

DS with undisclosed SAT got into his first choice. No summer employment, 3.6 gpa. One sport, freshman-varsity.
Felt like a solidly average student.

He did write a touching and personal essay.

I do t think he had a hook.

Hooks may be different from school to school, based on institutional priorities and they can change from time to time.

For example, a lot of colleges are putting an emphasis on first-generation college students because "social mobility" has been added to some of the big rankings that people fuss over. That wasn't really something you heard about 5-10 years ago.