<p>Hi everyone! I'm not a first-generation student and an Asian-American, but is being a low income student a "hook"? Thanks!</p>
<p>Well what do you mean by low? $100,000 with 11 people in a house is considered low and $80,000 for 3 people is fairly high.</p>
<p>Not really. Most colleges prefer out-of-state/international students or rich students to get the most money from. The more poor students they have, the more they have to give out. Ofc, this is not a major factor if you go to IvyLeague because those schools have endowments to the billions.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats My father passed away when I was young and my mom is currently unemployed. Our income is roughly less than $20,000 for a family; would this be considered low income?</p>
<p>@long2181998 What about other private universities like UChicago?</p>
<p>That would be considered low. A student on here got into Stanford with a 1700 with a household income that was around there and I’m pretty sure his income had a lot to do with it. @long2181998 Most universities are need blind. So that wouldn’t factor in.</p>
<p>@kdtriple5 not particularly sure but you can learn more here <a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/affording-education”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/affording-education</a></p>
<p>They have a very good amount of endowment so I don’t think financial aid is gonna be a big deal. </p>
<p>Not really a HOOK per se, but it can be attractive for diversity.</p>
<p>^^ Former Admissions Directors, such as Michele Hernandez (Dartmouth), seem to disagree: <a href=“10 Secrets for Top College Admissions | HuffPost College”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;
</p>
<p>A “hook” is something that can differ from college to college. A hook at one school can be a detriment at another. If you are applying to a need aware college for instance, unless you are one of their top applicants in that pool, it certainly would not be a hook and could mean you don’t get accepted. For some colleges, though it can be an “edge”, it may not make up for some issues in the academic profile unless the student is going through Questbridge or some other outreach program. A number of colleges are doing their low income college “recruitment” that way, and that is a program you should check out. </p>
<p>It can be a negative hook if you are looking at schools that are not need blinded.</p>
<p>And for truly need blind schools it is generally not considered (not withstanding the Michelle Hernandez quote above).</p>
<p>For some colleges it will be looked at unfavorably (but excellent applications and scores can counter this) and for some (“need-blind”) it will not be taken into consideration. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t call it a hook. But coming from a disadvantaged background and excelling despite less than ideal circumstances that can make you a compelling applicant. You didn’t say anything about your achievements. I disagree that it makes a difference if you are a Questbridge applicant or not. QB can help bring such applicants to the colleges attention and lets the applicants more fully explain such background, but if you have the same kind of background without going to QB I think you will get the same kind of consideration. </p>
<p>Thanks to all that have responded! I’ve managed to do some research on colleges that are need-blind, and all of the colleges that I’m planning on applying to are need-blind! </p>
<p>@BrownParent Did you want me to mention my academic achievements? If that’s the case, I’m in the top ten percent of my class, have gotten all A’s but a low B in BC Calc and a high B in Physics B and will graduate with 13/14 AP’s out of roughly 20 offered at my school. I also have gotten a 35 on my ACT; would you consider those solid stats? Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>@kdtriple5 - Have read your posts, I was wondering if you have looked into Questbridge? There is a sub forum for QB in the financial aid forum. You might want to check out the program as you seem to be a very good candidate for the program.</p>
<p>Oops. Just say that BrownParent mentioned QB already.</p>
<p>@momofmusician17 Hi! Thanks for the advice; I have already contemplated applying to the Questbridge National College Match Program this fall, but I wasn’t sure if it would increase my chances of getting in or not? Thank you again!</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to apply to QB. If you work on your essays over the summer, you will be ahead of the game when you apply to colleges in the fall. 
If you are selected as a finalist, you don’t have to go through the match process. With your family income, you definitely meet the criteria for a $0 EFC. If you have a VERY strong preference for one of the QB schools, you might want to consider applying to that school SCEA, EA or ED versus using the match process. You will still have a QB finalist designation on the CommonApp even if you don’t go through the match process. I would read some of the QB threads on using the match process versus EA/ED. I do know one candidate who was a finalist this year, went through the match process, wasn’t matched (probably didn’t have a $0 EFC), was encouraged in an e-mail from Columbia to apply after not being matched, and will be attending Columbia in the fall. </p>
<p>@momofmusician17 Thanks so much for the help! (What instrument does your child play? I used play the violin until last year )</p>