<p>I studied abroad the second semester of my sophomore year and was wondering if this would be considered a "hook". </p>
<p>As an ED applicant to Columbia College, will this help me?</p>
<p>( I have other EC's but this is my biggest/the one I am most passionate about.)</p>
<p>Are you asking whether you should put it on your application? If so, I’d say yes, assuming you don’t have more important activities to fill up the 7 spaces on the application. If you’re just asking from a “Will this help me get in?” standpoint, the answer is: “It may have some marginal affect on your application.” I don’t know what you expect to hear. There are no guarantees, and nothing will automatically give you a 5% boost in admissions process. Just fill out your application as best you can(showing your true qualities), and send it off. There’s nothing you can do otherwise.</p>
<p>I wasn’t really expecting to hear anything but thank you for your input! I guess I’m just over-analyzing everything until I found out…</p>
<p>I wouldn’t think so. I wouldn’t say it’d give you a significant advantage if any at all.</p>
<p>What is so minor about it that it would not give any advantage? Studying alone in a foreign country, in a foreign language, with completely unknown people… that’s quite a bit of accomplishment in my opinion!</p>
<p>(I might be biased, as I spent a year on an exchange in Ohio - I’m Czech)</p>
<p>andykcom: Studying abroad may make a candidate appear more interesting, but it is not comparable to being a legacy, or an athletic recruit, which are true hooks where the admissions office splits the applications into separate piles.</p>
<p>Anyway, I really don’t see the point of this discussion. Bottom line: Put anything you’re proud of on your application.</p>
<p>^being legacy isn’t really a hook, a hook is something that causes a univ to be unlikely to reject you, like being in a prestigious orchestra, or playing a sport for state, columbia still probably rejects 3/4 or 2/3 of legacy applicants. likewise studying abroad is pretty darn far from hooking a college to you, people study outside their cultures all the time, in fact a ton do, while it’s probably rewarding and challenging, it’s nothing extra-ordinary or rare anymore.</p>
<p>^ ok, thank you for the clarification. However I disagree with the statement that “in fact a ton do”. My Ohio school, for example, which was composed of a very wealthy students had not sent anyone for a year-long exchange for four years when I was there.</p>
<p>Going to a language camp to France for two weeks might not be anything special, but in my opinion this is a higher league.</p>
<p>confidentialcoll, they reject 3/4 or 2/3 of legacy applicants? Do you have a source? I know one legacy at columbia who had only a 1400/1600 SAT, was white, average EC’s, and he got in. (RD too!)That is a fairly low standard. Are you talking about legacies that have <1400’s that are being rejected? I didn’t that there were that many unqualified legacies applying…</p>
<p>I think it’d be definitely very good to see, but not necessarily a HOOK. Where did you study?</p>
<p>My friend’s brother studied in Israel for a year, and was admitted to Brown with 1350/1600 SAT scores and a rank that barely made top 10% of the class. I can’t imagine what could have stood out on his application more than the year in Israel.</p>
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<p>Well said. The OP is a typical post that misunderstands the concept of “hook.” One hardly unique and not overly impressive EC isn’t going to get you in.</p>
<p>“confidentialcoll, they reject 3/4 or 2/3 of legacy applicants?”</p>
<p>dude they reject 9/10 applicants, so rejecting only 3/4-2/3 of legacies is a God send [for the legacies]. general rule of thumb is acceptance rate doubles for legacies (not ED acceptance rate doubles, general acceptance rate doubles), it’s empirically true for other ivies, i think penn has data to that frequency on their website. </p>
<p>“However I disagree with the statement that “in fact a ton do”. My Ohio school, for example, which was composed of a very wealthy students had not sent anyone for a year-long exchange for four years when I was there.”</p>
<p>well your school is just your school, also being rare doesn’t make it great, for example i could be the only person whom i know who can twist his/her toungue 360 degrees - you get the picture. so studying abroad does happen a lot, and it’s by no means extra-ordinary, it is interesting and does add value.</p>
<p>“My friend’s brother studied in Israel for a year, and was admitted to Brown with 1350/1600 SAT scores and a rank that barely made top 10% of the class. I can’t imagine what could have stood out on his application more than the year in Israel.”</p>
<p>“I know one legacy at columbia who had only a 1400/1600 SAT, was white, average EC’s, and he got in. (RD too!)That is a fairly low standard. Are you talking about legacies that have <1400’s that are being rejected?”</p>
<p>let’s not senselessly theorize with single data points, i doubt either of you read their applications, so you don’t completely know your applicant’s credentials, and they’re single instances even if you do. those SATs aren’t bad, they’re close to the threshold above which they begin to hardly matter, if you found me a 1100/1600 with nothing else extra ordinary then we’re talking.</p>
<p>The acceptance rate being so low, it is inevitable that the majority of legacies will get rejected. The majority of the students @ Columbia are not legacy. Statistically speaking legacy students are held up to a hire threshold at any school, but when it comes down to giving their spots to more qualified students who aren’t legacy, it is inevitable many will be rejected.</p>