If I am a highly qualified applicant (top scores, grades, solid ECs, and fabulous essays and recs) but I have no hook is it possible for me to get into an Ivy league school?
Most people do.
Can you? Yes. Will you? Nobody here will be able to do more than guess.
Thanks for the replies!
@skieurope I totally understand that my chances can’t really be guessed - you never know with top tier schools. I currently attend a high school that has never had a student accepted to an Ivy league (and only about 5 students have ever applied). My GC knows very little about the process, and many people have told me that a hook is necessary to even be considered.
From personal experience, I can assure you that “many people” are wrong. Good luck.
Few people have real hooks. All you can do is apply and take your chances like everyone else. And keep in mind that there are tons of amazing universities that are not Ivy League!
I personally know a lot of kids who go to ivies without a hook in any shape or form. Are they smart? Yes, extremely, I feel like an imbecile among them.Do they have stellar ECs? Yes, so much so that they blind me. Do they have top-notch essays? Absolutely, they make me feel like I don’t know English. But are they URM/legacy/first gen/have cancer/lost parents/saved the world? NO!
You need to do your own research and filter that, not rely on others who, in so many cases, have not.
Of course it’s possible. But after you do the best job you can, during the 4 hs years and on your app/suppp, there are so many factors that go into final decisions.
I hope you did look at this link, from another of your threads http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs
Yes, of course. I think you’re overestimating the value of hooks: having them helps, but decisions are ultimately made on how qualified you are.
I think there’s a lot of confusion ‘on the street’ about what a hook is. It’s URM, legacy, recruited athlete or donor kid. That’s pretty much it. Other ‘hooks’ that people talk about aren’t really hooks in the sense that the school is actively seeking them out. Sure they want kids with eye-popping ECs or amazing personal life stories. But those aren’t hooks. They are just things that differentiate someone and make them stand out from all the other kids with top grades, test scores, and recs.
So, in answer to your question, yes, lots of kids get into super-selective schools who are not URMs, legacies, recruited athletes or donor kids.
And I’d like to add that not all URMs have sad/sorry/socio-woe-related stories. Tell all your friends.
My son’s best friend got into Yale. Not a legacy. Not an URM. Not an athlete. Not a donor. Nice kid. Well rounded. Had a rock band, played in a couple of orchestras, did theater and taught at music camp in the summer and volunteered at Hebrew school during the school year.
Yes.