<p>Harvard hopefuls please place your <em>hooks</em> here that you will present to admissions.</p>
<p>I'll list my two</p>
<p>Water Polo:</p>
<p>Will most likely get recruited
Team Captain
All-CIF team First Team
All-American Honorable Mention
Played for one of the top 10 HS teams.</p>
<p>Research/Science:</p>
<p>Cancer Research Institute 9-10
Cancer Research Internship 11-12
Siemens Westinghouse Regional Semi-finalist
Intel Talent Search Regional Semi-finalist
Participated in AACR (American Association of Cancer Research)National Meeting
Summer student at City of Hope National Research Center
Summer student at Childrens Hospital of LA
State Science Olympiad
Young Scientist Award (given to 1 junior every year)</p>
<p>Mines are so different from yours that I'm starting to think that maybe mines aren't even "hooks," at all.</p>
<p>But anywho::</p>
<p>Hispanic, 5-year immigrant, poor, first generation, 800's on verbal, spanish, italian, french, us history, world history, and literature, hoping on writing tomorrow...comparative literature (i think it's a hook for me...) published poetry and prose in literary mags, lots and lots of passion in volunteer activities, lots and lots of consistent political activities w/ recommendation from local mayor, lots and lots of classical music, president and founder of four clubs.</p>
<p>All this, I think, would be great if my transcript wasn't so bizzare....</p>
<p>1st semester freshman year - phenomenal
2nd semester freshman year - phenomenal
1st semester sophomore year - out of this world
2nd semester sophomore year - out of of this world
1st semester junior year - what the #$@%!
2nd semester junior year - AUTOMATIC REJECTION
1st semester senior year - 6 APs, 3 As, 3 Bs </p>
<p>but I did have/still have some acute personal/family problems going on....so I included an extra essay/pity letter....I hope they have some sympathy.....even though I know they won't.</p>
<p>SURFING!!!!!!!!!
Tennis-eh, Harvard has a good tennis team so I have no shot at recruiting
I haven't placed my research in to any competitions yet so it couldn't be a hook.
I am just starting research with the director of anesthesiology at UCSF (not on app damn)</p>
<p>But I doubt anything save the Nobel Prize can make up for two Ds. Yep, I said it. I have TWO BIG FAT Ds on my transcript!!! </p>
<p>God I hate myself for it.......I'm gonna end up at a state school, or worse yet, community college......all because of my mathematical stupidity......so you can all just point and laugh, I don't blame you.....</p>
<p>studying in a different country
(imagine spending ten years in an American school system and then suddenly having to study in a different language, culture, etc.)</p>
<p>international philosophy olympiad (but no medals)</p>
<p>I know what you're saying, Mzlover. I had a really golden application (good SATs, national ECs and awards), until my sophomore year of straight B+s/Bs and my senior year, during which I garnered high As for all my written/language classes, my chem and calc grades were Cs 1st marking period that I brought up to Bs 2nd marking period. I don't think anything can save me now.</p>
<p>I had straight A's 9th and 10th grade and the first half of 11th. Second semester 11th grade I got a D in AP Chem and a C in PreCal. I'm so not a math person. Luckily I got all As and a B in AP Calc last semester. Don't know if I can be saved though. My hooks are being African American and a playwright, if the latter even counts as a hook.</p>
<p>I wouldn't rely on my race to get into a school like Harvard, sirwonkalus. But the playwright part is very attractive if you are accomplished. </p>
<p>As far as grades go . . . obviously, all As would be most helpful. A few B+s won't hurt too much. A C is going to hurt. But even that won't kill you. Ds might kill you. But keep in mind, they only see your final grades and the first semester of your senior year while they're evaluating. So keep those hopes up.</p>
<p>well how would like building a museum and doing a lot of research for it help me and my hook? and also getting involved with cultural awareness in the community?</p>
<p>Geez, no offense, but when I signed onto the HARVARD board, I thought everyone would have like world-class hooks like Jiulliard/Carnegie Hall music, Broadway drama, or Olympics.</p>
<p>Furthermore, those people are actually quite rare. Contrary to popular opinion, most people at Harvard aren't prodigies. Why? Because true geniuses are just that---geniuses! A dozen are born a year, if that.</p>
<p>Please don't get offended, people, (or turn this into a nature vs. nurture debate), just be honest with yourselves. How many of us can say, without a doubt, that one day we'll be awarded the Nobel Prize? </p>
<p>It's common sense that not everyone at Harvard is a prodigy. As someone said, prodigies are very rare. Students who get into Harvard each have something special about them, but that doesn't mean that they have done something world class.</p>
<p>If one lives in a large metropolitan area with lots of opportunities, one would be expected to have done something more impressive than would a person who grew up in an isolated area with few opportunities. However, even a person in an isolated area could have done some things that were impressive for people in their millieu.</p>