Sorry but gaming is the opposite of a hook.
- Do not write an essay about gaming. My gut feeling is admission staff reading and evaluating are not STEM oriented and think gaming is a waste of time. They want an interesting class, and gaming in your room for many many hours per day, is just not interesting.
The only exception is if you created a game and turned it into a real business. There was a guy who did this with some kind of gaming minecraft server and is at Stanford. His business had thousands of players and he employed a full time adult developer all while he was still in high school.I can’t remember his name, but he put his essay and resume online.
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Target schools that value high SAT scores plus your state schools. Any of the good tech schools might like that 800 Math and the AIME awards.
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If you are truly top .1%, you probably won some money in tournaments. I would put that on the list of ECs.
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If you are a pro in Esports (the guys I see on TV who make a $50K salary) in the league controlled by a number of NFL owners, ignore everything I said above and go all in. I think an essay about competing all over the world could make a good essay if done right.