People keep using th terms “hook” as in “You really need a hook to get into School X.” So, anyone want to help create a list of “hooks” that are attractive to colleges?
Are you an Olympic medal winner? Are you the child of a famous person? Does your family contribute HUGE sums of money to the college (like enough to fund a building)? Are you a musician who has played a solo with the professional symphony in your area? Are you a famous person yourself (actress, singer, model, published writer, etc)?
Things like that.
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Are you a recruited athlete (not just a 3 sport varsity athlete at your HS), are you a math olympiad medalist, did 6 generations of your family attend the college you’d like to attend.
Usually, “hooks” mean non-academic characteristics that are particularly desirable to colleges, although a given college does not necessarily consider all or any of them, or to the same degree as some other college. Examples:
- Recruited athlete.
- Legacy, as in related to alumni (relationship definition may vary by college if considered).
- URM, as in underrepresented minority race/ethnicity (definition of such may vary by college if considered).
- Relation to large donor.
- Relation to faculty or staff.
- Relation to other person of interest (e.g. important person in business or politics).
Note that out of the above, only recruited athlete is something that the student can personally influence. The others are either fixed (e.g. your legacy or URM status for the given college that considers those is not something you can change) or can only be influenced by others’ actions (e.g. your parents making a large donation to the college).
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Are you geographically desirable? Many colleges want to have students from as many states as possible. Good if you live in North Dakota, not so good if you are from New York or New Jersey.
Underrepresented minorities are another hook.
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Sometimes.
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You are a STEM student, but you have also won state and/or national competitions for you research/invention.
When is that not a hook?
When the college does not consider race / ethnicity in admissions.
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You are only under represented IF you are underrepresented at a particular college.
A URM might not be underrepresented at a HBCU, for example.
And agree with @ucbalumnus some schools don’t consider this at all
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True.
I don’t know if my DD’22 is “geographically desirable.” We live in Maine, which is not a populous state but she is applying to several Massachusetts schools, 1 New York school, 1 Pennsylvania school, 1 Connecticut school, 1 Rhode Island school and 2 Virginia schools. So it may not be all that advantageous?
@lollylolly your kid is applying to colleges that are IN the region where you reside.
That is not a hook.
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Adding the Hispanic serving institutions, such as U New Mexico and UT San Antonio, as schools where being Latinx would not be a hook. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) | White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics
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I think being a first generation student is a hook (parents did not go to college).
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Neither UNM nor UTSA considers race / ethnicity in admissions.
But note that the HSI definition lists “at least 25 percent Hispanic students”. In a state like New Mexico (49% Hispanic or Latino in Census data), a college could theoretically meet the 25% Hispanic students threshold to qualify as an HSI, but still have Hispanic or Latino students be underrepresented relative to the state.
Concerning race, I believe being of American Indian descent is a hook.
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It’s fair to say some schools consider race and some do not. U of MD has 26 factors they consider in their “holistic review,” including race, ethnicity, socio-economic background, English as a second language, etc. In the aftermath of George Floyd protests and a decreased reliance on standardized test scores, a number of Ivy League colleges boasted that their freshman classes this year were their most diverse classes ever.
IMO a hook is a when a particular college would want a particular student above other similarly (or even better) qualified applicants. Some common examples of hooks include:
–recruited athlete;
–child of a very large donor (when college hopes for more large donations);
–parent or applicant has fame (ex. Malala, Obama kids, Emma Watson etc.).
If you had a hook you would know it.
Some colleges do give a bump in the admissions process to URM, legacy, geographic diversity etc. but that is not consistent among every college.
Sometimes an activity can be a bump one year or at one college and not another – an example given by an Ivy League admissions officer is that they may need a harp player for the orchestra one year and give one qualified applicant a preference over similarly qualified applicants in admissions at the conductor’s request, but then they would be set at harp for the next four years as there is only one in the orchestra.
IMO being from Maine is not a hook for east coast colleges (if you were applying to U of Alaska that might be different).
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also the OP is not a URM so no need to continue that conversation here.