<p>I just want to add to what I was writing earlier....</p>
<p>At an elite college, being first generation is what is a "tip factor". It becomes a bit of a "hook" in the sense that the student differs from the typical student in the applicant pool at an elite college. That's why it may be a "tip" at Harvard to be first generation but not at Messiah, where the fact that the student is first generation is not as unusual in their pool of applicants. The reason the school would not claim "very important" is that it truly is not the KEY factor for the student to be admitted but it is more of a "tip" factor, and thus why they term this attribute "considered."</p>
<p>It was explained to me that a "tip" factor for a marginally qualified candidate at Georgetown was that she was the child of an alumnus. Such candidates get a second review. It also helped that the applicant was recommended by her father's law partner who was an officer in the college's alumni association and a fund raiser.</p>
<p>My kids and their friends, as far as I know, have absolutely nothing that would make an admissions officer say WOW!!!! We've never had a _________before! Oh, well.</p>
<p>As a Hispanic (born in Mexico of Hispanic parents, family moved to the US in 1976, US citizen) married to a European American, are my kids considered URM's?</p>
<p>fendrock, I think it would depend on whether they get too many dancer applicants or not and I suspect the ability will always play a part. Harvard gets plenty of cello applicants, but few of YoYo Ma caliber.</p>
<p>Physical diseases may not be a hook at all: They may cause colleges to fear that expensive accommodations would be necessary or that the person will lack the stamina to attend college.</p>
<p>I know that Brown really wants more first generation kids; not sure if that's reflected in the CDS but I've heard it directly from admissions staff. I don't know if it meets the definition of a hook, though.</p>
<p>Gender as hook: Boys applying to former all-women LACs (like Skidmore, Goucher) or women applying to tech schools. Most colleges want a balance in the sexes. Same might apply for female engineers applying anywhere.</p>
<p>As for programs -- if a school has made a large financial investment in a certain academic area -- like, built a beautiful new geology building with spanking new labs -- you bet they want to accept kids to fill that new lab space. </p>
<p>As for the state you live in -- I know a girl who researched a certain southern LAC and discovered that the only student from her state who attends that school is a senior this year. She feels she has a good shot there.</p>
<p>myau-- I would only consider language proficiency a "strong" hook where a college needs to fill its seats for a specific program. For instance (purely hypothetical), if a school like Middlebury (a school known for its languages) with many non-typical language departments for its size (e.g., Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese) doesn't see too many students interested in specific language programs where they've invested considerably...perhaps they'd like a candidate who is clearly committed to taking that language in college. </p>
<p>This is a very difficult thing to figure out, but in Middlebury's case, again by way of example, its easier because they put out some info to at least start your assessment. Here's how I would start... This factbook publication, <a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/896E69F0-2240-4CAB-80EF-6FE473BB1266/0/totalmajors06.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/896E69F0-2240-4CAB-80EF-6FE473BB1266/0/totalmajors06.pdf</a> , shows how many students are majoring in various languages over 3 years. [Appears that Arabic & Portuguese are new programs as they are not listed on this pdf, so maybe they are looking for students there, clue 1....worth a call to program chair/coordinator if thats your language of interest.] Any with declining populations (where they might want to bolster their enrollment)?...not really based upon just 3 years of data. Next, what's the student-teacher ratio look like for each program?....that is, which programs have "excess" professor capacity where more students would be good for the school? Depending upon how you count visiting professors (this case I counted all), the Italian dept has a ratio of ~3:1 for 2006 majors to current profs....as compared to roughly the same for German, Japanese, Spanish & French, but closer to 4:1 for Chinese.....so they may not want to grow their Chinese majors.....BUT their ratio for Russian is 2:1, so perhaps they want more students to take Russian? [BTW, the Dean of Admissions at Middlebury is a former German prof, for what its worth.] </p>
<p>So, with the exception of Russian, and perhaps the new programs in Portuguese and Arabic, I don't see too much potential for a strong hook with this Middlebury example. Recommend you try to do the same type of analysis with each target school to match your language to school need, assuming of course that this is the type of hook you mean, but you may have to get the raw info from the school's language program coordinators directly. Middlebury makes for a great example as they have loads of info on their Institutional Research web site, like the link I provided above, but many other schools do not provide such info on the web.</p>
<p>Is being very involved, and in an extremely high position as a national officer of a very famous and well-regarded organization nationwide a "weak hook" or just a "good ec"? I done tons of work through this. In my opinion this is not something like just being president of a active club at a school or being a state-president or boys state governor, I'd think this is higher. (I got politicians chatting w/ me all the time) I suppose if you'd like to equate it to something (since i cant reveal it for confidentiality reasons, you could easily google me) It would be like being an International Trustee for Key Club International</p>
<p>I think being having done an exchange year (or semester) can definitely make you more interesting. However its hookiness is often offset by the fact that ranks and GPA often take a hit. How interesting it is could depend on where you went and what you learned there. (There's a regular on this board whose daughter probably became "the dancer who speaks Russian" in the admissions office.) I think it's really advantage in admissions terms is that you are likely to be able to write an interesting essay based on your experiences.</p>
<p>RootBeerCaesar,
I would think that what you are describing would be a hook, based on the one example I know of a local young woman. She was VERY high up in Key Club and traveled quite a bit in the role, speaking to all sorts of people. She ended up at HYP. Of course, she was also a terrific student.</p>