<p>Hi everyone :) </p>
<p>I'm just trying to see if I have any strong hooks that would make my application stand out during the admissions process. My target schools are: Stanford, Columbia, UPenn and Cornell (Harvard would be nice too but i'll just stick to those lol).</p>
<p>Some achievements I think could be hooks include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Elite Youth Ambassador for my province's children's hospital for three years (100 hours a year, fundraised $2500+ each year that went to help build a new oncology unit)</li>
<li>House of parliament awarded me with a national certificate honouring my "outstanding volunteer and leadership" work (3 consecutive years)</li>
<li>Founded a registered non-profit organization that gathers youth from all over the province and encourages them to fundraise money. the fundraised money goes to a company that we are in partnership with to fund for a "One to One" program: for every unit of product that the company sells, one unit is sent to an impoverished community in Africa or India. (e.g.: granola bars)</li>
<li>Cardiothoracic heart surgery internship at Stanford University during one summer</li>
<li>Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award (do americans even acknowledge this? It is a royal program but i think it may be more prevalent in the commonwealth)</li>
</ul>
<p>please give me your thoughts! thank you!</p>
<p>Those are impressive activities & achievements, but not really “hooks”.<br>
Here are links to previous discussions about what it means to have a “hook”:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1485636-what-hook-how-do-i-get-one.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1485636-what-hook-how-do-i-get-one.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1368608-can-someone-help-me-define-my-hook.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1368608-can-someone-help-me-define-my-hook.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1257975-what-qualifies-hook.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1257975-what-qualifies-hook.html</a></p>
<p>Most applicants to your target schools would be expected to list significant extracurricular/community-service activities and achievements on their applications. They are almost necessary for admission (unless, perhaps,your academic achievements are truly extraordinary), but typically not sufficient to “hook” an acceptance if your stats (GPA, rank, scores) are below the medians. If your stats are above the medians, those activities & achievements might tip the decision in your favor.</p>
<p>However, your $2500+ fund-raising for a new medical facility in Australia/the UK/Canada won’t bump you ahead of a legacy applicant with nearly-equal stats whose family brings $25 million to the table for a new facility at Penn. A “hook” typically involves an accident of birth (e.g. being born to alumni parents or super-rich benefactors, belonging to an underrepresented racial/ethnic group, being a 7 ft. tall female basketball player, residing in an underrepresented state.) Depending on how many admission slots might be tagged for “hooked” applicants, even the single-digit admit rates to some of these “tippy top” schools may overstate the odds for unhooked applicants.</p>
<p>Suggestion: Go ahead and apply to some of those schools, but also have a look at small, selective liberal arts colleges that don’t get so many international applicants. Your admission chances will be higher and the quality of classroom instruction will be at least as good.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about doing something for a hook into college – a hook for one school may not be a hook for another school. Just continue to achieve doing the things you feel passionate about. You are doing that already. Ironically, your “hook” in terms of being a bit different, might just be that you are from Britain (or so it sounds from your activities). I would suggest that you eventually add some other schools to your list – the ones you have listed are all super selective and are not sure things for anyone.</p>