<p>What are some really good hooks?
Hooks that will help boost your chances alot?</p>
<p>Don’t worry about hooks. It’s too late to develop any. Focus on your applications and give all the information the schools ask for. They will identify what your hooks are.</p>
<p>Some hooks are:</p>
<p>Athletics. Do you participate in some kind of athletics? Swimming? Football? Basketball?</p>
<p>Arts: Do you have a skill in drawing or painting? Do you play an instrument? Have you ever won in a contest, like a drawing contest, or a piano concert? Do you like to act a lot, and performed in a lot of plays?
These are all hooks.</p>
<p>Are you in any accelerated/advanced classes, like accelerated math? These boost up a lot too. </p>
<p>Are you participated in any competitions, like MathClub, Mathcounts, Kumon, Destination Imagination or something? If you are participated in like some kind of program that’s only for gifted students or skilled students, these are good.</p>
<p>Are you involved in community service? This is a BIGGIE. Boarding schools look for a lot of community service people. Volunteered in a hospital? Volunteered in anything? Cleaned the Park? Something that says you are interested in helping out in community.</p>
<p>Your skills. What academic subjects you’re good at. Writing? Math? English? Foreign Language?</p>
<p>Are you one of the top in your current school? Are you above average? Are you different, and learn for your own sake?</p>
<p>Are you different than other people? have you experience a lot of difficulties in your life? Something special or unique about you that stands out? </p>
<p>These are all hooks.</p>
<p>Oh and say that you will help a lot in the boarding school’s community. thats’ good.</p>
<p>I agree with Benley</p>
<p>Clydoclyde, most of what you list are not hooks. They are very nice qualities to have, but the applicant field, as a whole, is very competitive. </p>
<p>From a 2007 thread, <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/264002-i-got-my-ssat-scores-today-5.html#post5113089[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/264002-i-got-my-ssat-scores-today-5.html#post5113089</a> here is a post by Baseballmom which sums up hooks quite nicely:</p>
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<p>I would add to the “not hook” category, placement in accelerated, advanced, or gifted classes. The applicant pool is very competitive.</p>
<p>In addition to Periwinkle’s last, under great recommendations, a nice hook is knowing a board member or active alumni that can write a letter of recommendation. Writers of recommendations normally prefer that the student will attend if accepted. Please don’t ask someone to write a letter and then reject the school in March.</p>
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<p>Agreed. Just because you may be the only 8th grader in your school doing XYZ instead of the normal ABC, doesn’t mean you’re the only applicant doing that. I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority of applicants are academically qualified, motivated and accelerated to various degrees.</p>
<p>While some of the things clydeoclyde said were not hooks, they could be somethings that make you stand out such as being in Calc BC in 8th grade, or founding an organization or club, being on jeapordy, winning a national/international contest</p>
<p>Would skipping a grade and THEN receiving straight A+s be considered a hook? Also are there a lot of Indians (Asian kind not Native american) at the top prep schools?</p>
<p>Skipping grade might be against you because they might not think you are mature enough to handle boarding school. They are a good amount of indians at top prep schools because like asians they are very smart.</p>
<p>A true hook has two components. It must be a) a quality or ability only you or a very small select group possess and it must be b) a quality or ability the school needs.</p>
<p>To use athletics as an example, being a varsity football player would be valued by a school with a football team, but unless your team won the state championship or you have been otherwise recognized as a remarkable athlete it would not be a hook because the school is likely to have received applications from many competent football players.</p>
<p>Being the captain of the state championship team would show your drive and leadership but it wouldn’t be a hook at a school without a football team. In fact it could work against you at that school because the school would expect you to take an offer from a school with a football team.</p>
<p>Playing an instrument for many years, putting in a lot of community service hours and getting great grades are all commendable, but they’re not unique accomplishments. In most cases they take hard work but they don’t require the kind of talent that makes for a true hook. If you’re first chair of a major youth orchestra, founded a successful international charity or have won a major science contest that puts you in a different league. </p>
<p>And as I’ve said before, not all hooks are created equal. Being a sibling or a legacy is generally a weak hook. Schools want to keep their alumni and current families happy, but most alums. and current families don’t have a substantial impact on the school. Combine sibling or legacy status with a history of major family giving and you’ve got a strong hook. Simply being a legacy/sibling puts you in the select group but money puts you in the “quality the school needs” category.</p>
<p>As to puppylvr’s question, no, skipping a grade would not be a hook. Schools are not particularly looking for young students. It could, however, be a good essay topic.</p>
<p>I would also add that submitting a letter from a board member or connected alum will only help if that person is willing to put a bit of their personal juice behind your application. Many board members are asked to write letters and unless the the director of admissions believes acceptance or denial of your application will make a difference to that person’s level of support for the school it won’t have a substantial effect on your application.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. Actually, a lot of people can’t tell that I’ve skipped a grade (6th grade). Would asking my 5th grade teacher for a recommendation, who went great measures to have me skip a grade, be a good or bad idea? She loves me and we keep in touch.</p>
<p>Puppy, that is not true at all. The Indian population at prep schools is extremely low, like 0 compared to Asians (Chinese, Korea, Japan, other Asian places)
My parents were like scouting for Indian people at the tours, lol.
At
Andover: Like 1
Hotchkiss: 1 or 2
Exeter: 0 Current students (3 applicants in the room)</p>
<p>Puppylvr, it’s great that your 5th grade teacher made such a difference in your life.
However, she should not write one of your rec letters.
I’m sure that your current teachers love you just as much, and their input will be more meaningful to an admissions officer.</p>
<p>There should be more than that, if you consider Indian Americans as well as the few students from India.</p>
<p>Being Indian could help at Hotchkiss. Hotchkiss has been going for the whole internationalism thing. Currently they have the largest percentage of international students of any school (more than double other top schools in some cases) and more students in international students in absolute terms than other top schools. The guy who lives below me is an indian, and a proctor. Very smart kid probably on his way to Stanford. So yeah, if you stress your international background and the diverse perspectives you bring to Hotchkiss that is a BIG hook.</p>
<p>I always thought hooks were outstanding ECs.</p>
<p>I heard there was this girl who applied Exeter as late as June and got in for fall last year! Her hook (or not) was that she had published a book.</p>
<p>SiliconValleyMom: why would asking my 5th grade teacher be a bad thing?</p>
<p>Would being partially from El Salvador and partially from Minnesota be a hook? How about living overseas your entire life (lived in 7 different countries)?</p>
<p>Being from North Dakota is a hook, but I know it does not guarantee me a spot at any school.</p>