Anonymous
Post 09/08/2021 10:16     Subject: Re:Can you give examples of hooks?
Write a book about the awful fecha of growing up in a wealthy bubble and how parents search for hooks to preserve their families’ place at the top of the socioeconomic pyramid through credentialism.
Anonymous
Post 09/08/2021 10:10     Subject: Re:Can you give examples of hooks?
Playing in a Dr Hook cover band.
Anonymous
Post 09/08/2021 09:27     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:fencing

Travel to a hidden gem (Iceland, Portugal, San Marino, etc.)


Being a recruited athlete is a hook, but it's very hard to be good enough to be recruited. Popular sports like football easier than others because of large rosters. Niche sports like fencing more difficult because of small teams and fewer colleges field such teams.

https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/estimated-probability-competing-college-athletics

While the percentages seem high, the NCAA chart above includes all NCAA schools including pudunk u with its 99% acceptance rate. Need to have developed exceptional athletic skills and have matching academic record to be recruited by a T20 school.


One can get into schools like NJIT for div I fencing or with a 28 ACT score. Getting into Princeton for fencing is a different story. So not all hooks are created equal.
Anonymous
Post 09/08/2021 09:10     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:fencing

Travel to a hidden gem (Iceland, Portugal, San Marino, etc.)


Being a recruited athlete is a hook, but it's very hard to be good enough to be recruited. Popular sports like football easier than others because of large rosters. Niche sports like fencing more difficult because of small teams and fewer colleges field such teams.

https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/estimated-probability-competing-college-athletics

While the percentages seem high, the NCAA chart above includes all NCAA schools including pudunk u with its 99% acceptance rate. Need to have developed exceptional athletic skills and have matching academic record to be recruited by a T20 school.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 21:42     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:fencing

Travel to a hidden gem (Iceland, Portugal, San Marino, etc.)


Why would expensive travel count? My kid would be a shoo in if it were but I don’t even think it’ll come up on the application. Being an exchange student would be a positive but still not a hook.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 21:37     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
fencing

Travel to a hidden gem (Iceland, Portugal, San Marino, etc.)
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 19:35     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not trolling here, but how hooked do you think my DC is as a full-pay, Latino, Legacy at an HYPS school? Definitely in?


What if you're all of the above but Asian, not Latino? Also not trolling.


Not a definite but better odds than Asian American students applying without legacy. Full pay at a HYPS doesn't count or else a development case.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 19:14     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winner of an Olympic medal.


It is TOTALLY OK to just make it to Olympic trials as long as you also have good grades. No medal needed.


Nope. Sport dependent.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 18:55     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:Not trolling here, but how hooked do you think my DC is as a full-pay, Latino, Legacy at an HYPS school? Definitely in?


What if you're all of the above but Asian, not Latino? Also not trolling.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 13:45     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:Winner of an Olympic medal.


It is TOTALLY OK to just make it to Olympic trials as long as you also have good grades. No medal needed.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 13:39     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Can you be the kid that writes an essay on a common theme but manages to stand out?
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 13:19     Subject: Re:Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:DD is a junior and I guess has some hooks. URM, plays high level club soccer. Captain for 3 years. But she just tore her ACL so she will not be a recruited athlete. She wants to write her essay on finding her identity outside of soccer. Her friends think this is overdone and “cringey”, but she is pretty passionate about it.
What do you think? Should I try to change her mind?


I hear the PPs who have said you should let your DD find her own voice, but in all honesty, our kid's college advisor rarely told our DC what to write about & singled this one topic out as overdone. She was like, please write about anything but tearing your ACL & it impacting your whole identity (or some similar summary). Sorry! As to how to go about it, just comment that it's hard to stand out writing this sort of essay as it's a fairly common experience (sadly).
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 13:01     Subject: Re:Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DD is a junior and I guess has some hooks. URM, plays high level club soccer. Captain for 3 years. But she just tore her ACL so she will not be a recruited athlete. She wants to write her essay on finding her identity outside of soccer. Her friends think this is overdone and “cringey”, but she is pretty passionate about it.
What do you think? Should I try to change her mind?


Not trying to be snarky, please review the rest of the posts where folks are trying to discourage parents from “gaming” the hook (essay as well). Unless you are that app reader reading your DD’s essay, no one can give you a definitive answer, let along another 17 year old. While one AO may find the topic “cringey”, another may absolutely love it given the circumstances. If your daughter is passionate about the topic, then let her do her thing. This is not your ride but her first foray into charting her own path. Don’t micromanage it. If the schools don’t want to admit her because of essay, guess what, that really isn’t the school for her. She will not be happy there as their values and priorities aren’t aligned.

Let the humanity and personality come through the essays and not worry so much about what makes for a “right”essay.

Fair enough but be sure she has an editor re-read for quality, error-free writing regardless of the subject matter. You can have the most amazing idea in the world for an essay and if the writing is poor, it will not help at all.


PP here, agree. Passion may get lost in bad grammar and poorly executed "voice".

Just be sure to let this be an exercise in these kids finding and expressing their own "voice". I have to admit, DS grew leaps and bounds from end of Junior year to the end of the app . He learned to self reflect deeply and to project his thoughts. We saw this experience not as "getting into college", but as finding out who he was and where he would thrive. He has no regrets at the end of the journey and we are proud of him for that.



+1 I think this is such a sane way to view the college admissions process--view it as a rite of passage towards figuring yourself and your goals out. Help with slight strategic thinking and polishing to put the best version of themselves forward but mainly the aim is to land in the right place for them at this moment in their lives.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 12:38     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Anonymous wrote: Legal immigrants are actually strongly opposed to illegal immigration (but I digress so I stop there)


yes, in general, but there are exceptions ... came in with temporary visa (including student visa), has partner and kids here but because not married cannot apply for residence, cannot marry because illegal, so around we go in circles, and doesn't have 10k for lawyers and anyways it's afraid to get into the thick of it with what to do and what not to do so overstays visa and then that's it, illegal
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2021 12:19     Subject: Can you give examples of hooks?
Oh definitely.