<p>Is it possible for an Asian, high income, not from an underrepresented state, not 1st to go to college, perfect GPA/SAT, no disciplinary problems, and decent, committed + passionate EC's but no ridiculous awards (by which I mean things like #1 in state for debate, #1 on West coast for football, #1 in national competition for viola, IBO medalist, Intel Finalist, etc) to get into the top colleges? If so, what would make them stand out? Would it be great essays + recs?</p>
<p>I would think so, I know people who haven’t really got hooks just a lot of extRacurriculars who have gotten in to hyp</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>My son tells me there are many unhooked kids at his HYP school, including lots of Asians. I understand the long odds for the unhooked to be accepted but, YES, some do get in.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>Unless you are an olympic athlete, child of a senator/president, or child of a $10 million+ donor, the odds are long for everybody. But the odds are really really long if you don’t apply.</p>
<p>I do think however you need to be unique in some way .</p>
<p>I don’t think people we get into these schools necessarily need a “hook,” but yes, they need something special about them (heavy commitment to a certain EC, finding an organization etc.)</p>
<p>oops sorry i meant who* :P</p>
<p>You don’t need a hook, per se, but you do need to portray yourself as being interesting. Having a slew of high scores is great, but not in a vacuum. Schools don’t want to admit people who are only good at grinding out stats – they want people who will contribute to the atmosphere of the school in some interesting way. If you have stellar stats, that’s the best you can do on that front. But the other 50% of the battle is letting the intriguing aspects of your personality shine through.</p>
<p>I’m a white caucasian male who had great stats (4.0 GPA, 2350+ SAT, first-gen, etc) but nothing super-impressive EC-wise (got into HYS and a bunch of other top schools/Ivies, deferred/rejected at P). I made up for it by having killer recs from diverse sources (one from a science teacher, one from a humanities) and interesting essays that tried something new. Admissions officers get tired of reading the same old essays with the same old motifs and themes. Give them something they’ll remember all day!</p>
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<p>That’s great to hear (although I don’t even have 1st-gen status). Don’t you HAVE to have 1 science and 1 humanities?</p>
<p>Also, what year were you applying to college?
Congratulations on your impressive acceptances; which did you pick?</p>