<p>What is considered a "hook"? </p>
<p>I've heard Legacy(no for me), Athletic ability (not really, I play sports, but I'm not really a stud), but I don't know what else.
I am an Eagle Scout, which will help a little for college, but I don't know if that counts as a "Hook" </p>
<p>I'm 15 so I still have time, but I heard that you need to have VERY good test scores, rank and GPA to get in w/o a hook.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Really, I would say legacy, minority status, or recruited athlete. The other things will help some, but not as much. You have to be very good to get in without a hook, but the majority of students still do, so you can do it!</p>
<p>A “hook” is something that makes you unique and desirable as a member of the student community, and thus would attract admissions to accept you. I would consider being an Eagle Scout a minor hook. Major hooks are things like being quadrilingual, running your own business, raising thousands of dollars for cancer or Uganda, or having a book published. Things that would make the adcoms overlook mediocre test scores or that C in sophomore year chemistry.</p>
<p>Region of the country may also present a hook–if you are indeed from Hawaii, that might be considered a hook as I don’t imagine that many apply from Hawaii!</p>
<p>No, I don’t currently live in Hawaii, but I was born there, and people call me Hawaii boy. My father’s military and I’ve moved kind of a lot and have lived in some pretty cool places, like Honolulu (though I don’t remember it from living there, just vacation), Washington D.C., NYC, and now Cleveland. I’m thinking of writing my college admission essay about something like this about moving, or maybe my years of living in NYC, I lived there during 9/11.</p>
<p>I was wondering, being a military family probably wouldn’t help, but I could use it and my unique life for college essays, but not a hook.</p>
<p>And, since Hawaii may not be represented that well at ND, hopefully Manti Te’o can set the trend and get more islanders to South Bend.</p>
<p>Tell you what, you get Te’o to play for us and you’ll have thousands of fans pulling for your acceptance.</p>
<p>lol, Amen Jason Pham and props for following recruiting. I am on II if you are on any of them.</p>
<p>I lurk on II from time to time and I’m a moderator on IrishEnvy. Great news about Watt finally going public !</p>
<p>I see hooks right in front of me. </p>
<p>Just tell admissions who you are, what you do, how you think you got to be who you are and draw from those experiences. You were born in Hawaii but you don’t life there but you are known as Hawaii boy. Why is that? That’s interesting. You got to move around a lot, not everyone does that, how did it shape you, starting over, making new friends, connections, having faith in your ability to perserver and lay new roots down. You just have to package it right. I’m sure there is an endless array of perspectives you could take. NYC during 9/11, were you afraid? How did you see yourself changed if at all. I’m interested enough all ready to give your app a second look. You have to convince the admissions ppl that you provide a unique perspective and that you would add something to campus. </p>
<p>I will be a freshman this fall. I wrote about my identity as a swimmer, how it’s changed me, how I came to a leadership position. How it fosters personal growth giving me insight into so many things. I also had great SAT SATII ACT and AP scores though.</p>