<p>"don't fall for the newspaper "hook." it's not a hook, it's a hobby!"</p>
<p>Ok, this is going to be an opinion issue. I consider "HS newspaper editor" to be the same kind of category hook as "trombone player" but perhaps others will correct me. Hooks differ from school to school, so maybe "HS newspaper editor" is known to be one that Swat does not consider.</p>
<p>It all depends what you make of it in your application. I mean, if yuo are a great writer and that shines through your application and reinforces school newspaper, blogging, interest in political issues, and so forth, then you are going to be accepted to Swarthmore. The reason I despise chances threads is we are being asked to make qualitative assessments with nothing to go on. </p>
<p>In fairness to Duhvinci, his initial statement at applying early decision was technically accurate. I believe this applicant is a good solid applicant, but not a stand-out applicant. I futher believe that the odds of admission for a good, solid applicant go up signficantly with an Early Decision application and the enthusiasm, research, and communicated fit that usually accompanies an ED application. The RD stats are daunting with acceptances seemingly going to a lot of truly outstanding applicants (the Harvard/Swarthmore crossover acceptances). So I do not disagree with Duhvinci's fundamental advice.</p>
<p>I disagree with Duhvinci's accessment that everyone is ranked #1 in their high school class. Only 45% of Swat's freshmen this year were ranked in the top 2% of their class. So a true #1 (as opposed to high schools that call 25 kids "valedictorian") is a strong qualification. IMO, a high class rank may be the most important of the "stats" categories. 1 out of 500 while holding down a job during the school year will get the applicant into the contender column.</p>
<p>I think Swarthmore really cares about finding people who have a mindset of wanting to effect positive change. Not just being good at writing, but wanting to write about things that you find important. The essay is really important, because I think that that's a big part where they determine whether they think you'll fit here. I think a genuine desire to take advantage of what Swarthmore offers, and to use the learning you'll acquire here to help in some small way better the world might override numbers. For example, a friend of mine had better numbers in pretty much everything--more 5's on AP exams, a higher GPA, more math team awards, he was the captain of the Latin quiz bowl team while I was just a member, he went to national math competitions whereas I mostly did regional and state, and he was really good at the violin, and he was valedictorian--ranked #1 in the class, whereas I was somewhere in the top maybe 15-20% of the class. And yet, we both applied, and I got in but he got rejected. I think it has to do with the essay and getting across in your application somehow, directly or indirectly, that you genuinely care about your education and that you want to use that education positively. I never stated that directly in my personal essay, but I think I mentioned somewhere that I want to become more aware of the big issues in the world and that Swarthmore would be a place where I can learn more about current issues. I think college admissions officers have a way of determining whether you have genuine interest in learning and using that learning or whether you're just always trying to get good grades and have excellent SAT scores.</p>