<p>Which EC/Hooks do you all think best strengthens an applicant's chances? I realize it varies by schools and spots that need to be filled on teams, choruses, etc.... Is being in a gifted education program considered a hook?</p>
<p>The best ECs/hooks are things you’re passionate about, willing to spend a lot of time in, and able to do well at. </p>
<p>Pretty much everyone at the more selective schools is gifted in some way, so being in a gifted program is not going to make you stand out unless there’s something special about it. That said, it will still certainly help your application.</p>
<p>+a gazillion million trillion thousand megazillion billion infinity googooplux</p>
<p>Not really; there are tons of people who apply to selective school that are in gifted education programs. Being in Duke TIP, etc. isn’t a hook to me. </p>
<p>I’d say that anything you are passionate and excel in is a hook. Not everyone is a virtuoso musician or a math genius; you do not have to be to get in. </p>
<p>If you really want to know though, I’d say that recruited athletes have the best chances by far.</p>
<p>Right-- a hook is not something you can manufacture-- it’s something you spent years doing whether it’s playing a sport at a very high level, playing an instrument or painting at a very high level, worked in robotics where you invented some new advance, or being born a gazillionaire. But most kids don’t actually have hooks–and schools admit lots of kids without them. The schools do, however, want to you genuinely care about whatever you do, both in academics and ECs, rather than have a big list of things you’ve done briefly just to pad your application.</p>
<p>Better to find a school that matches your genuine interests than to pad your CV with fake interests to match the school.</p>
<p>I spent nearly a year researching and compiling a list of schools I though might be a good fit for S2, but he refused to consider most on the list because they did not offer a particular EC he is passionate about. He is a wiser than me.</p>