Hello CC people,
I’ve been living in the States for a short time and English is my 2nd language.
Income: under 60,000
First Generation
I’ve encountered many hard situations in school, I’ve literally been fighting to get into AP/IB courses. The only one who really knows me in school is my guidance counselor! She loves me! But literally I’ve been working so hard and as a international student, every thing is a little bit harder for me in school. I’ve been bullied and made fun of because of my accent or my mindsets yet I never give up and I continue living my life and accomplishing what I want.
Anyways, do you think that I have some good hooks for UC Berkley and UCLA?
I think it really depends on what your GPA and SAT scores are. If you are able to discuss your past hardships that you’ve overcome somewhere in your application then it may add a boost to your likeliness to be accepted, but you still need to have good academic stats and extracurriculars like any other student.
Aside from athletics, hooks tend to refer to things you have little control over-like ethnicity and legacy status. What you need to be asking is whether your credentials are strong enough to make you a a reasonable candidate at the schools you want to attend.
Nothing you listed is a hook. A hook would be legacy/development applicant, recruited athlete, or under-represented minority, and for the UC’s, URM cannot be a factor in admissions. Whether anything you listed might give a bit of a bump is another question.
If your families income is that low you will not be able to afford UCLA or UC Berkley as they do not give financial aid to international students I believe they do give merit aid to international students (might want to double check this) but those are very competitive. Given that information it doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to afford either school with or without your “hooks”. As for your question about hooks the only one that might be considered a hook is first gen college student. While I believe you have what it takes to be successful, you sound very motivated and determined, getting bullied and going through hard times isn’t a hook; however, it is very impressive you keep doing what you want and trying hard. It sounds like you have the attitude and drive to be successful I just don’t think that being successful will include going to UCLA or UCal Berkley and it doesn’t have to. Find colleges which you can afford and will have the type of student body you’re looking for as it sounds like a good accepting student body will appeal to you. I’m not saying you can’t find that at either of the UCs I just think you need to be realistic about finances. Anyway best of luck!