Definition of a hook?

[skieurope]

case in point: Nathan Chen, the national figure skating champion and an Olympian was rejected by Harvard this year.

International level accomplishments and/or fame often result in admissions to tippy top schools. Malala, Michelle Qwan, Malia Obama, Emma Watson are examples.

As noted, Nathan Chen was accepted to a tippy top school and he is not a recruited athlete - his hook is his fame. Also, his rejection from Harvard is assumed based on FB snooping, since I don’t believe he has publically mentioned it. Along the same lines, assumptions have been made that Malala did not get into Stanford.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/square/2015/09/12/stanford-insisting-malala-does-sats-before-offering-her-a-place

We all know where some of these uber-celebrities were accepted, since they attended, but I’m not sure there are many cases where we know all their decision results. The point being, I don’t think that anyone is claiming (or should claim) that a hook will result in acceptances from every single college past the ED/REA round, although for some applicants, it might.

[jzducol]

I think there is always confusion between “a recruitable athlete” and “a super accomplished athlete”. The former is a hook and the latter is just an outstanding EC which can greatly enhance the chance of admission, but they are in different categories. For the definition of a hook, I don’t think having great accomplishment in EC is quite the equivalent to a hook.