Are any of the things I have here considered a "hook"

Applying to College
1

<p>Financial Aid: Not necessary, but welcomed
ECs:</p>

<p>Theater (Musical and Drama): Lead Roles in all but 1 show
Habitat for Humanity (President of local chapter): Have been on mission trips
Tutor an Autistic Child in Math [he's learning calculus right now]
Organized a concert in a third world country, raised $26,000 which was donated to charity [I sang 5 songs as well]
Helped special needs children at a school
Organized a cultural show [about my culture] in my area a few times to raise awareness [I was the MC, $10,000 raised to charity]
Also Organized a tolerance awareness thing concerning the Israel Palestine affairs [I was the main speaker]</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Worked at Penn as a research assistant [did A LOT more than washing testtubes]
Website Designer
Graphics Designer</p>

<p>Other ECs:
Chemistry Club, Biology Club, Medical Club, Debate, Choir, Green Hope Ambassador, Gay Straight Alliance, Badmitten Club</p>

<p>AIME Qualifier, Perfect ACT Score, 3 perfect Subject Tests</p>

2

<p>Not hooks, but good set of extra curriculars. Your list of “other EC’s” will most likely end up not being on your app.</p>

3

<p>Your community service might be. One of my friends was (and continues to be) very involved in service during HS, and she won a national award. She had been waitliisted at Harvard but she kept them updated on things like that and got in. If community service like that isn’t a hook, it’s at the very least a definite plus factor.</p>

4

<p>Hooks=recruited athlete, legacy, URM, development. After that, Emma Watson had a drama hook at Brown (plus is probably of interest to development).</p>

5

<p>None of those items are hooks in the traditional sense of the word.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>If you are the main or sole organizer on the above, then it is impressive.</p>

7

<p>I don’t see any “hooks” which mean a SINGLE factor that heavily improves your app. That said, with those ECs and scores, you have a good change everywhere.</p>