I don’t agree with this: “Having passion and dedication to interests of ANY kind can be a ‘hook’”. A true traditional “hook” is one (or more) of the following: Recruited athlete, and things that do not depend on what you do BUT who you are (e.g. child of alumnus (legacy), child of faculty member, big donor, well known politician, or author of a best selling book; URM). And then again these vary by school. A passion may give a boost but it isn’t a true hook. ~Credit to ucbalumnus for this definition of “hook”.
Woooo RI resident! :-bd