<p>My hook is a fortnight I spend yearly at a school for handicapped children in a town in rural India. The handicaps are mainly cerebral palsy, autism, deafness and Down syndrome for what it's worth. I really played off that angle in my Common App essay but now I'm beginning to wonder if that was a good idea.</p>
<p>Basically, can having done community service at a school for handicapped children in rural India [very unique experience] qualify as a decent hook?</p>
<p>It's more like an outstanding EC, not a hook.</p>
<p>It isn't impossible for others to do the same EC as you, nor do adcoms look at it as though you were black. It's just a very good EC.</p>
<p>hmmm... thanks. any more input?</p>
<p>Calling race a hook is an ignorant thing to do, wfcxcopperx. Talking about hooks in GENERAL isn't really worth it. That is an awesome experience, and will be a strong contribution to whatever image of yourself you are trying to create in your application.</p>
<p>but URM is hook... so how's it ignorant? lol</p>
<p>unless, ur urm, recruited athelete, legacy, or vip/development case, no u dont have a hook. The above 4 factors are the ONLY hooks that raises ur admission rate dramatically. copper is right. ur so-called hook is no where near a hook. stop being naive. helping handicapped children is an extracurricular, not even an outstanding one.</p>
<p>Race cannot be a hook. It may (pretty heavily) affect an application, but a hook by definition is something that means that you are IN because whatever you are doing is so fantastic. Curing cancer or being the first teenage astronaut is a hook. Having legacy or being an underrepresented minority is a tip.</p>
<p>REGARDLESS, I maintain that it's silly to talk about hooks and tips like this. All you need is a focused application with strong academics. And for the record, this extracurricular sounds like something special. I don't know why Rogue90 is throwing a fit.</p>
<p>Wishywashy you seem to argue with me and call me ignorant at every point you get... When it seems everybody agrees with my. Yet you're too stubborn.</p>
<p>In most people's eyes, being an URM is in fact a hook. It's a hook because it's something advancing your profile even though you have no decision in it.</p>
<p>And you define a hook as being IN? I hardly think anybody finds anything worthy of automatic acceptance. The general definition of hook is something which might oil the hinge of the acceptance door to make it easier to open, but you still have to push the door at some level.</p>
<p>What you call a hook, people in my area call a tip. That kind of difference is allowed.</p>
<p>The only reason what I posted re: underrepresented minority status was so heated was because I find it really disturbing when bitter kids blame their ethnicity for their deferral/rejection. I am an overrepresented minority, but I firmly believe that while a student's race may be the tipping point that pushes his/her application into the accepted pile, it will not allow an underqualified candiate to get into a school. Legacy, I think, is less about the legacy itself but more about the self-selection it entails (a child of a Harvard graduate is very likely to have been raised in a household where achievement is valued highly).</p>
<p>The main point I was trying to make was simply that the OP is thinking about this the wrong way. You don't need a hook to get into a great school, and I question how much our "traditional" hooks/tips TRULY TRULY TRULY affect whether or not an applicant is accepted/rejected.</p>
<p>Does it really matter? (S)he's going to find out come April anyway.</p>
<p>"unless, ur urm, recruited athelete, legacy, or vip/development case, no u dont have a hook. The above 4 factors are the ONLY hooks that raises ur admission rate dramatically. copper is right. ur so-called hook is no where near a hook. stop being naive. helping handicapped children is an extracurricular, not even an outstanding one."</p>
<p>Umm ok dude, you could just correct me and say that it is not a hook, no need to go overboard and wildly criticize an activity you know absolutely nothing about.</p>
<p>to the op, i don't think what u've done can be considered a hook. many people are doing similar things out there.</p>
<p>renegade, if u dont want criticisms, then dont post and get off cc. if u cant even take a few criticisms, then obviously ur not harvard material.</p>
<p>"the general definition of hook is something which might oil the hinge of the acceptance door to make it easier to open, but you still have to push the door at some level."</p>
<p>-- best definition of a hook by far.</p>
<p>A friend of mine whose sister works in an admissions office at one of the top schools told me that when an application comes in, it is placed in one of four piles: Legacy, Athlete/recruit, URM, or regular. That tells me that IF your race is under-represented at that particular school you have an edge.</p>
<p>I would consider a hook something that gets you attention in spite of other deficiencies, like if you ran a successful website/business but you were only solid academically.</p>
<p>To Rogue90:
"unless, ur urm, recruited athelete, legacy, or vip/development case, no u dont have a hook. The above 4 factors are the ONLY hooks that raises ur admission rate dramatically. copper is right. ur so-called hook is no where near a hook. stop being naive. helping handicapped children is an extracurricular, not even an outstanding one."</p>
<p>The last 3 sentences were completely uncalled for. This was an activity that the op was obviously very proud of doing and there was absolutely no need to bash it. </p>
<p>"renegade, if u dont want criticisms, then dont post and get off cc. if u cant even take a few criticisms, then obviously ur not harvard material."</p>
<p>Honestly, I think people like you should leave CC. One less pr*ck like you and this community will be a lot more friendly and supportive.</p>
<p>To op: Sadly, I wouldn't call you're activity a hook, but rather a strong extracurricular you can elaborate on in essays...</p>
<p>OP: Semantics and cat-fighting aside ("hook", "tip", "urm", "pr*ck", whatever) I'd say you have a good story to tell. It beats the one I used in my essay. Besides, as long as you tell the story somehow, then it gets told and that's what matters. I don't remember a "hook" textbox on the Common App, but I could be wrong... just get the info in there and let the adcomm decide if it is a hook or a line or a sinker... Good luck.</p>
<p>A hook is the great credential I have; a tip is the great credential somebody else has.
To give the OP a straight answer: the charity work you have done will help your application, especially if you wrote a good essay about it, but it is not extremely unusual at top schools.</p>