<p>I'm many kids take 3 foreign languages throughout the course of high school, but it's really all I have. I wouild have completed the each sequence by the end of high school (AP Spanish Langauge/Literature, Japanese 2, and American Sign Language 4). I would have 10 foreign langauge credits, while s student would only need 1 to graduate, and I would have taken 3 Regents (state exams) in the LOTE area.</p>
<p>I also plan on tutuoring for Spanish, and I have community service hours (at least 50 by senior year) performing in holiday signed shows and deaf culture presentations. </p>
<p>I'm sure the red I'd get from my Spanish teacher would reflect this greatly (he's also the head of the LOTE department, I'm I think teachers talk). Not only that, but I speak Korean. I hope to emphasize the struggle or growing up as a first generation immigrant in one of my essays. I figure discussing this would be beneficial to a possible IR or Linguistics major.</p>
<p>Is proficiency (at the very least) in 5 langauges a hook? I might be able to push fluency in 3-4 (not Japanese).</p>
<p>It will not be a hook -- that is something that is particularly unique and desirable -- like a recruited athlete or nobel prize winner.</p>
<p>However, you do look like you have a passion for languages and schools like to see a passion. Are you test scores, GPA and rank at the top? Are you considering applying for top, top schools?</p>
<p>one suggestion -- make sure you proofread any essays you write. You might have been in a rush when you posted, but you have so many errors in your post it was difficult to figure out what you had written.</p>
<p>I wrote the post a couple mintues before I jumped into the shower for school -- sorry about that.</p>
<p>I won't be first generation. Everyone in my family (parents, grandparents, aunts uncles, and even siblings) has attended SOME form of college.</p>
<p>My frosh/soph weighted GPA was 96.6, but I have a 98.5 (not including 4th quarter or finals, which I know will be killer) and 4 APs this year. I think my average will be about 103 weighted by the end of Junior year. I'm, at the the moment, ranked 2nd in my class. Unfortunately, my SAT scores aren't that good (I have a superscore of 2090), but I'm going to study over the summer and aim for at least a 2200. I hope to attend Georgetown for either linguistics or IR.</p>
<p>If you are looking at linguistics or IR(things that incorporate those languages) it isn't a hook per se, but it is one hell of a draw. It shows a passion for the subject, and that you will be prepared for that type of subject.</p>
<p>So it should help you get in, but isn't a 'hook'.</p>
<p>As others said, not quite a hook but it's a definite passion/focus. If you can demonstrate that in other parts of the app (awards/honors, essays, etc.), then it'll make you extremely compelling.</p>
<p>the definition of a 'hook' basically includes: urm, first-gen college grad, recruited athlete, actors on TV shows, child of celebrity/business mogul, parents capable of donating a library, doing something that would be very impressive for even an adult to accomplish (i.e. very successful author, nobel prize winner)</p>
<p>so yeah .. fluency in five languages doesn't count as a hook. but it's still awesome!</p>
<p>That you've taken the time to learn this many languages is definitely awe-inspiring! Incorporate that into your essay, at least in some way, and you would distinguish yourself from more two-dimensional applicants that study or get engaged in academic life for their resume lines only. Good luck!</p>
<p>Unless you can make it really good, don't write about your struggles as a first-generation immigrant. It won't set you apart from your closest competition (other Asians, many with the same essay topic in mind).</p>
<p>^^ Good point. Or, if you still feel this is an important topic to you, try and work out an original take on it or mention it only briefly. Being a first-immigration student IS a big deal, but you have to reflect on what this has meant to you concretely, not just rely on it as proof of hardship.</p>
<p>If you can put a lot of unique voice in it, that's a great topic. It's in the indirect casualties of being a marginalized immigrant that first-generation really takes on meaning.</p>
<p>I disagree. You should write about something you feel effected by, inspired by, impeded by - something in your life you know is always there in your mind. That makes for an honest and strong essay. If you're writing on her picking up English for the eye-juice points only, sure - but I'm hoping that's not your reasons and that you've simply done some soul-searching and come to understand how profoundly the immigration issue has impacted you.</p>
<p>It's easy for non-immigrants to write these types of question off as cynically exploited cookie points, but for those of us who've gone through the process, it is a profound one. It's one of the topics we can write about with our hearts rather than dictionaries.</p>
<p>Hmm, as a nominally-disadvantaged first-generation Chinese (I immigrated at age 3.5) I chose not to mention it as a struggle and I think I did better because of it... avoid the pitfall of being pigeonhole-able, and life will be better. (My essay was on migration and moving a lot... but mostly within the U.S. It was reflective... and positive, most of all.) I definitely think the immigrant experience makes a very strong essay, but if people are cynical here, they might be cynical as adcom officers too... be wary.</p>