<p>I am a Bosnian Muslim who was born in Bosnia, a couple of months after the Bosnian War. We lived there from 1996 until 1999 (when we moved to America). Both of my parents had their homes burned down and their parents killed (I'll never meet my grandparents). We squatted in an abandoned house and my mom worked for about 10 dollars every day even while she was pregnant with me. My dad worked 12 hours a day for 3 years but, he was only paid for one of those years, we were extremely poor. When I was 3 we came to America as refugees, my parents saved up money to pay off a person in Croatia to say we lived in his house, so we had refugee status, which was needed to go to America. Right now I'm a junior in high school I have a 4.0 GPA 31 ACT and 2250 SAT score. I'm in German club, Treasurer of Key club, and VP of the AVID club. I still speak Serbo-Croatian and visit Bosnia every summer. Do I have a good hook for Harvard and good overall chances?</p>
<p>Not a traditional hook but an interesting story – which is a good thing. Keep up the good work and good luck.</p>
<p>A war is not a hook. A guy from Syria should be admitted to Harvard only because Syria is in revolution?</p>
<p>^^ why the hating?</p>
<p>I told the OP that his/her story is an interesting one of overcoming unusual challenges from the typical American applicant. That, plus GPA and test scores will serve him/her very well come next April. Maybe Harvard , maybe not. But no one in their right mind should bank on Harvard</p>
<p>Plus: in ten years, if there is a Syrian war refugee who emigrates to the USA, and 4.0/2250 SAT, that kid will get some hard examination by top colleges too. Why shouldn’t she? In the ultra selective school admissions formulae, this is much better than the milquetoast avg. american high achiever from Shaker Heights.</p>
<p>It’s not a hook, but it makes for a great essay. This experience will not increase your chances of acceptance in any way. But, the essay you can base off of it might.</p>
<p>Do I count as an URM because I’m Bosnian and a Muslim so does that help me at all?</p>
<p>What the heck. I am not an American but from what I read on College Confidential to be a Muslim is not a hook. To be an out lander yes, but the hook is not important for ivy league. If the hooks were so important, instead seeing a lot of native Americans on these top american schools there were a lot of Indians, Asians, Europeans.</p>
<p>Thanks to United States of American accepted you now, and by this there are a lot of million of Muslims like you in USA. I am from a very close country to your origins (RO). I want to ask you, anybody wants to Harvard, because they are from Syria, or Iraq or Afghanistan should be admitted to Harvard. If all of these millions of muslims from USA were admitted to Harvard then all of ivies were filled with outlanders and muslims just think. As HelpChristianity said to be a muslim or to be a refugee is not a decisive factor in the admission process. Also your essay will not influence your chance, for instance, there are thousands of students from Turkey, Lebanon, Irak, Iran, Syria and maybe these students have their parents killed by other Muslims. Should they be admitted only because other Muslims killed their parents in a revolution for what ? for nothing.</p>
<p>They will admit you at Harvard if you deserve to be admitted. They (admission officers) knows better than me.</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s not a real hook since you’re not an URM, but like someone said before, it’ d make for an awesome essay. :)</p>
<p>I didn’t read a desire for an empathy admit in OP’s post. A simple question of whether H looks for kids with his family context. 4.0/2250. OP will need to round out the self-presentation in the CA, reflect positives, as well as have the right academics and ECs related to his major and some efforts in the community. He or she has been in the country a long time, will be mostly compared with other US kids. </p>
<p>Totally agree with T26E4: done well, this could be much more interesting to adcoms than the average top performer. Best of luck.</p>
<p>The backstory is worth about a paragraph, but the only “hook” will come in what happened to you post-war and post your arrival in the USA. Otherwise, the essay is an essay about your parents and their circumstances, and not about you. The essay has to be about you and reveal something of your impressions, your life and your opinions in order to be helpful in an application.</p>
<p>A few people on these forums need to chill out. T26E4 and lookingforward are correct. Essentially, your story is not a “hook” in the sense that it can make an otherwise unqualified applicant qualified. In other words, if you can’t get in without the backstory, you won’t get in with the backstory.</p>
<p>However, assuming you are an otherwise impressive applicant, your backstory will certainly help you stand out, and rightfully so. When you’re trying to get admitted to schools like Harvard, standing out is key because most students who apply are otherwise impressive applicants. So I suggest you find a way to present this well in your application.</p>
<p>But regarding standing out, kellybkk makes a good point:
</p>
<p>The focus of your essay should be you, not your parents. If you can make a case for how your parents’ hardships affected or continues to affect you, positively or negatively, you must make that case.</p>
<p>That’s more of what your parents did. However, on your essay, you could say how it affected you. It would make a great story!</p>
<p>Hey, I’m from Kosovo, and I faced a similar situation (stupid Serbs)! I don’t think its a hook, but like the others have said, it’d make an interesting story for your essay. Thats what I’m planning to do. PM me if you have any other questions!</p>
<p>I don’t think a war it is a good story. Just think how many other students are writing the same topic? You need to be your own.</p>
<p>For instance my country removed the communist in 89’ as many others countries in the same year. I think thousands of students from my country wrote the same essay about the communist era even they didn’t lived in that time. </p>
<p>Also The Bosnian war was between 1992–1995. I am 18 almost 19 and I am senior in two weeks, I think you are under 18 that means you was maximum two years old when the Bosnian war was. So practically you wasn’t implied in the war, your parents were. If you was 10 years old in Bosnia when it was the war then you was able to write about this.
I don’t remember anything until age of five. </p>
<p>God bless you.</p>
<p>Can you cut out the religious salutations? Especially to someone who doesn’t practice the same religion.</p>
<p>The bigger question is what happened to YOU from age 3 on … Your parents are clearly courageous. But his s not about them. Age 3 is pretty young. What s your history since then. I imagine you don’t even remember war?.</p>
<p>Bosnian are Europeans and there is no hook for being a European. Islam is a religious identity, so no hook for that either. If your parents do not have a college degree, that could be a hook. If they do not make a lot of money (economically disadvantaged) because they are immigrants etc that could be a hook. If these do not apply, then what you may have is an interesting story.</p>