<p>Is being the founder and head editor of a weekly newsletter at my Jewish community considered a hook for Haravrd or any Ivy? This newsletter is about 1 page long and deals with news in the Global Jewish World. I have been doing this for about 2 years, and the newsletter is widely read and highly esteemed by head figures in my community. </p>
<p>It was very very easy to do (I just wrote a few paragraphs and sent it to my Rabbi for printing every week), so I never even considered putting this as an EC, but now I'm thinking it might even be a hook!</p>
<p>It certainly is something unique! I'd deff. put it as an EC.... But as I learned from people on this board, you can be poor, from south dakota, black, have perfect scores, etc, and STILL no get accepted... Harvard is a "reach" for all... But if your SAT scores, GPA, other Ecs, Recs, and essay are up in the ballpark with the rest of the applicants, you're sure to be accepted by AT LEAST one of the top schools. Back on subject, I don't think it's a "major hook", if you will... I wouldn't write an essay about it...</p>
<p>"It was very very easy to do (I just wrote a few paragraphs and sent it to my Rabbi for printing every week), "</p>
<p>This also is an indication that while it's an interesting EC that should be listed on your application, it's not a hook. Hooks are things that are difficult to achieve and are virtually unique.</p>
<p>You could improve what you're doing by adding to your newsletter some stories about the local community that are written by you and whatever staff you can gather. Right now, you're basically rewriting news that other people have reported. In fact, if you were a professional news outlet, you wouldn't be able to publish such stories in your publication unless you paid a membership fee, which is how newspapers get stories from places like AP.</p>
<p>ok.... but the colleges don't have to know it was easy...
Besides, collecting articles from the several writers and editing the whole thing was indeed quite a challenge overall.</p>
<p>And yes, as you have said, we do have some of our own material on the newsletter.</p>
<p>It is devided into 3 sections:</p>
<ul>
<li>International/National/Local headline bullotins.</li>
<li>A breif editorial.</li>
<li>Explanation of that week's Torah Portion.</li>
</ul>
<p>The best way to look at Harvard admissions is this. Harvard has enough applications to fill their entire class w/ valedictorians or those w/ a 1580 SAT, & roughly enough applications to fill their entire class w/ 1540+ Valedictorians. Unless you have these stats, what is it in the rest of the resume that will cause Harvard to choose you over one of these "perfect" students? I don't think that the activity you mentioned qualifies, but it certainly is worth mentioning.</p>
<p>ok.... but the colleges don't have to know it was easy...</p>
<br>
<p>Well, if I read that someone was editor of a newsletter, I would assume that it was easy unless the kid showed me otherwise (like, by submitting a sample that included a bunch of investigative reporting and one-on-one interviews with prominent people). I would view being editor-in-chief of the high school newspaper as a much bigger challenge, even that is not a hook in my book. Anything Harvard sees by the thousands is pretty much a non-hook by definition.</p>
<p>I think people make too much out of the hook concept. It's a useful way to describe the fact that certain unusual accomplishments can make an application memorable, but it's not like they're sorting these into hook and no-hook piles. Showing a lot of passion, dedication, and skill in EC's in one area can be very good for your application. That's really all that matters. Don't get hung up on the "hook."</p>
<p>yes, and the people who are recruited athletes, URM's, and with legacy make up about 20% of all who are accepted.</p>
<p>So what about the rest of the applicants who don't have a hook by your definition?</p>
<p>Hanna is pretty much correct. Hooks are definitely something to bump yourself up on the list of applicants, but even without a hook you've got a pretty good chance (~10% + ) of getting in.</p>
<p>Totally incorrect Orrican. URMs alone are 20%. Legacies about 10% and athletes and other special groups another 20%. This gives everyone else far below a 10% chance as the overall average is only 9%!</p>
<p>No newsletter is a hook. As Northstarmom said, a real hook, after the categories already discussed, is something very unique. Not an editor in chief or captain of a team which are a dime a dozen. For a newsletter to be unique, you would have to have won national awards, impacted a community in a highly tangible way like raising a large amount of money....</p>
<p>The thing is, you can dream but would be foolish to try to belive you're hooked and identify an average effort as a hook. Dream, apply, but get real dude!</p>
<p>Princeton Review corroborates bobby100s stats - around 20% URM (excluding Asians), Harvard publish legacy data (10%), and the 20% figure for recruited atheletes and others sounds about right.</p>
<p>How can something be a hook be something that is very, very easy? LOL, this post is a joke.</p>
<p>"It was very very easy to do (I just wrote a few paragraphs and sent it to my Rabbi for printing every week), so I never even considered putting this as an EC, but now I'm thinking it might even be a hook!"</p>
<p>Why cheat yourself and the college where you dream of attending because of its academic excellence, not its student body of cheaters!</p>
<p>"ok.... but the colleges don't have to know it was easy..."</p>
<p>If I was on adcom, I would throw your app into the bin right away.</p>
<p>Wrong again, orrican. "Most" successful applicants do have a hook. The 50% we've discussed above and those with true academic hooks like Intel winners and holders of 20 patents. There are music and art prodigies. Internationals from countries where they made amazing contributions. Everyone you encounter at Harvard has a reason for being here. Sure, some are just really rich kids, but most have done something outstanding.</p>
<p>
[quote]
ok.... but the colleges don't have to know it was easy
[/quote]
But they will figure it out. If it were truely a hook (or an area where you show a lot of passion) it will show up in your classes, ECs, recommendations, and in your interview. If you position this as your passion, as an alumni interviewer, I would jump on that topic to find out more (not to test if it is true ... but because if this is your passion this topic should allow you to be animated, passionate, and knowledgable) ... and if you're trying to make something cool but not too big, into something more than it really is the conversation in the interview will be telling. If this was a big deal one of your teachers would mention it in their recommendation (or perhaps worse ... someone, intending to help, writes something like ... "this student has great initiative ... own their own they started a small newsletter for their temple ... it show their commitment to the community and to have initiative"). Trying to bull your way through an application could have some serious negative consequences.</p>
<p>Bobby, would you say that a combination of EC's, towards which you show passion and comitment for a long time, are some what of a hook? (or something that will get you into Harvard)</p>