HOOKOLOGY 101: special, college-applicant qualities as admissions advantages

Papa_Chicken · February 5, 2006, 2:54pm

Yes, this is certainly a much-discussed topic on CC; however, I thought it would be good to round this one up at least for the newer readers.

So, lets have at it.any perspective will do.

Papa_Chicken · February 5, 2006, 2:57pm

Questions often abound whether this or that EC is a hook. Generally, a strong hook is one where a specific college NEEDS an admit with that quality. Admissions candidates with strong hooks can be selected in spite of sub-standard academic credentials. Examples include recruited athletes, musicians to fit particular roles in the school band or orchestra, natives of a sought after ethnicity or place of origin, and national science contest winners if the college defines these a priori as a special recruiting need. The key to understanding strong hooks is figuring out a colleges specific needs, however, this is difficult to do thoroughly, but certain strong hooks, like athletes in specific sports, can be assessed more easily.

Weaker hooks characterize a colleges wants versus the stronger needs. Yes, a college may want an admit with fluency in 5 languages, but this unique skill is not necessarily a strong hook, just something that colleges might like to have. Weaker hooks yield some admissions favor particularly in tie-breaker situations, but generally not to the degree of offsetting sub-standard academics as is possible for strong hooks.

bluebayou · February 5, 2006, 2:58pm

direct descendent of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett

Papa_Chicken · February 5, 2006, 5:18pm

LEGACY
Yale: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=122543&highlight=hook%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=122543&highlight=hook</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=31884&highlight=hook%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=31884&highlight=hook</a>

PACKAGING A HOOK:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=126869&highlight=hook%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=126869&highlight=hook</a>

soozievt · February 5, 2006, 9:21pm

add to the "things from one's background".....
first generation college student

roshke · February 5, 2006, 9:34pm

.... also add
overcoming an obstacle of any kind - illness, family circumstances, physical disability etc.

Papa_Chicken · February 5, 2006, 10:54pm

Some difference of opinion on degree of hook for first gen.....in part probably due to its varying importance by college.

eulenspiegel · February 5, 2006, 11:31pm

I don't know how big a hook you want, and I certainly didn't follow all those URLs, but I saw one college application that asked about ECs and had space for honors and awards, especially at the state and national level. There's is a limit to the value as a hook of being the best something at your school or even in your region.

Papa_Chicken · February 6, 2006, 8:30am

some background articles & blurbs

Exeter's definition of "hook":
<a href="http://college.exeter.edu/published/ccoguide/appendix.html%5B/url%5D">http://college.exeter.edu/published/ccoguide/appendix.html</a>
"A subjective factor in the admissions decision-making process which can influence, to varying degrees, a student's final decision, such as legacy (s.f.) status, athletic recruitment, exceptional artistic talent, or membership in an underrepresented multicultural population."

what is your hook?:
<a href="http://www.petersons.com/common/article.asp?id=515&path=ug.gs.advice&sponsor=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.petersons.com/common/article.asp?id=515&path=ug.gs.advice&sponsor=1</a>

USNews admissions strategy article:
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/articles/brief/02cbstrategy_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/articles/brief/02cbstrategy_brief.php</a>
excerpt: "...even near perfection might not get you in at selective institutions. Although they are loath to admit it, many selective colleges target certain groups of applicants for admission; they might want to increase the diversity of the student body or expand the physics department, say, or add women's ice hockey or a few potential future donors. Students in the targeted groups are described as having "hooks," attributes so attractive that they're likely to overcome even mediocre grades."

Reed College on hooks:
<a href="http://web.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/admission_messages.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/admission_messages.html</a>
& an except: "Most applicants compete not with the whole applicant pool but within specific categories, where the applicant-to-available-space ratio may be more, or less, favorable than in the pool at large. Categories can exist for athletics, ethnic diversity, international citizenship, institutional legacy and loyalty, musical and artistic needs, component schools or special academic programs, and in some cases, even gender. Students in the selected categories, which vary from institution to institution, have a "hook" because they help meet institutional needs. Books such as Elizabeth Duffy and Idana Goldberg's Crafting a Class, former Stanford admission dean Jean Fetter's Questions and Admissions, and former Santa Cruz, Vassar, and Bowdoin dean Richard Moll's Playing the Private College Admissions Game peer into the hidden reality of category admission."

Upromise web site on how admissions decisions are made:
<a href="http://upromise.educationplanner.com/education_planner/applying_article.asp?sponsor=2867&articleName=How_Admission_Decisions_are_Made%5B/url%5D">http://upromise.educationplanner.com/education_planner/applying_article.asp?sponsor=2867&articleName=How_Admission_Decisions_are_Made</a>
excerpt (there's more than this): "A hook, in admission parlance, is any additional advantage that makes a candidate attractive to a particular college. This will vary from school to school and from year to year. Some candidates may try to hide their hooks, preferring to be admitted on only merit (parents tend to discourage this) while others will fight furiously to exploit even the most inconsequential connections. Such hooks may include athletic ability, minority status, veteran status, alumni connections, special talent (e.g., art, music, theater, writing, etc.), underrepresented socioeconomic background (e.g., first-generation college), geography, gender, VIP status, ability to pay full tuition, or miscellaneous institutional needs."

WSJ on Groton grads:
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Polk_Groton_Grads.htm%5B/url%5D">http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Polk_Groton_Grads.htm</a>

TheDad · February 6, 2006, 12:44pm

BlueBayou #3: LOL!!!

eulenspiegel · February 6, 2006, 5:06pm

Thank you for your well-explained and constructive input.

cavalier302 · February 6, 2006, 5:07pm

You're welcome, eulen! ;)

cheers · February 6, 2006, 5:12pm

Papa Chicken....you research hound, you.

Let's go further with what's wrong with hooks, let's rank them.

By far, the most powerful hook is athletics, so says me.

An nationally recognized athlete in a well-funded sport is the ultimated hooked candidate.

Papa_Chicken · February 6, 2006, 5:25pm

well, I agree cheers, next to being a legacy at UVA...just kidding.

I'd say top top athletes beat out just about every other hook, but URMs in general are fairly high as well.

Cav-- I'll have to think about your comment and apparent view on this overnight....my first reaction is that while all of this talk may seem very cynical to some, it is reality & its is part of the process of matching supply & demand...may seem like just a cold, hard view, but I'm all for an explicit process & recognition that colleges must consider more than pure academics to form what they believe is the right class.

fendrock · February 7, 2006, 8:11am

If a school offers a special program, is it a "hook" if the student would participate in that program?

For example, only a few colleges provide serious dance classes for nonmajors (Barnard, Smith, Skidmore, etc.)

Will a dance background help an applicant, because the school needs participants for its dance program?

Or does the dancer still have to be of a caliber where they could be hired by NYCB in order to consider his/her dancing a "hook"?

Papa_Chicken · February 7, 2006, 8:50am

a note for First Generation students....

I just noticed that the newest Common Data Sets for 05-06 have several revisions, including a couple of new categories in the "relative importance...of factors...in..admisions decisions" section, C7, including addition of "First Generation". So, one can now see how important colleges put admissions weight on this factor. See this thread for listings of CDS':
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=76444&page=3%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=76444&page=3</a>

Not all colleges have a publicly available CDS, and some are not current that are available.

There are 4 levels of importance given in section C7: Very Important, Important, Considered, & Not Considered.

Of the 05-06 CDS' I found via the CDS thread, 2 3rds (27 out of 41 found) rated First Gen as "Considered" and none categorized it as "Very Important".

Here are the colleges that named First Gen as "Important":
Bowdoin
Fairfield
Kenyon
Mt Holyoke
Oberlin
U Colorado
UNC CH
U Richmond

& the ones that named First Gen as "Not Considered":
Ga Tech
Messiah
Penn State
RPI
U Maryland BC
U Scranton

...interesting on the latter group...3 technically oriented schools & 3 from the heartland of Pa.

soozievt · February 7, 2006, 8:57am

Actually, I think it is not unusual that schools like U Scranton or Messiah don't consider "first generation" to be a hook because they may get quite a number of kids in that situation. I think it is more the "elite" schools that take an interest in "first generation" because it is not as common in their applicant pool and they want kids like that...they want diverse student bodies and not where every kid's mom or dad is a doctor, lawyer, etc. They have plenty of those. Building diversity is valued highly in very selective colleges whereas schools that are small in PA have a lot of kids from PA, for example....and so in terms of building a diverse class, the elite schools want kids such as first generation who round out the class and in fact, it is attractive to them to find qualilfied kids from such an upbringing, and it is more atypical of their applicants. I think it is a more common profile for a school like Messiah, etc.

Susan

Papa_Chicken · February 7, 2006, 9:12am

fendrock-- I think there is potential that a special program, like dance, may have admissions sway, just like an athletic team "may" have sway. The only way to gauge this from what I have read & discussed (no 1st hand experience here), is to ask...the program administrator, past program "recruits", and adcoms. Like sports recruiting, you may receive an answer from the program admin that they do have sway, but be wary of that claim & look to the experiences of past dance "recruits" to objectively assess; adcoms are more likely to deny sway or at least give you a less than positive answer.

I'd also continue to seek out experiences from others in your situation. But keep in mind that predicting any kind of hook or admissions sway for a special talent is very school-specific and demand may vary from year to year.

Papa_Chicken · February 7, 2006, 9:22am

good points soozievt, makes sense for schools with a more local draw....however, I'm not seeing the elites claiming a great deal of importance to First Gen, at least in their CDS reporting....Dartmouth, Cornell, Stanford, Swarthmore, & Williams all report "Considered" ....my gut reaction was the same as your's though...perhaps they are taking a middle-of-the road approach to reporting the importance of this criterion in its first year of use, or a more jaded view could be that perhaps its the desired appearance of having all of the academic criteria as most important that pushes other criteria like First Gen down a notch or 2.

soozievt · February 7, 2006, 9:37am

The thing is, First Generation IS considered at elite schools. However, that doesn't push this attribute to the top of the list of "important" factors, and it doesn't mean "you're in". Same with things like Legacy. These things are "notches" on an application. The candidate has to have the academic qualifications and other attractive attributes. But since SO many have those at elite schools, things like "first generation" or something of that sort, might nudge one applicant over another equally qualified one. It's like if the kid is from North Dakota, they don't say, "oh, this is VERY important" but it is surely considered, as opposed to just another kid from Scarsdale. I think the term "considered" is about right on this matter. I don't think they are going to claim it is very important or will get the kid in. But when all things are equal, these other more "uncommon" aspects will be a plus on the kid's file. Thus, it is "considered".

Susan

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HOOKOLOGY 101: special, college-applicant qualities as admissions advantages

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