<p>When I go to college, I'm thinking about maybe an international relations major or something with languages/culture. And I recently realized that a lot of things I've been doing for ecs/tests/awards relate so can this help for schools like stanford, yale, etc? (my grades/rank, etc are up to par with most applicants to these schools) So if I put down those two prospective majors, can it help? Here's my info:</p>
<p>German related stuff:
german club president (very heavily involved)
national german honor society
best german student award
99th percentile AATG test (american association of teachers of german)
participant in german exchange</p>
<p>Japanese related stuff:
SAT 2 with listening 790
Japanese Language proficiency test level 3-passed
Experiment in international living-Japan
Teaching assistant to my Japanese teacher</p>
<p>Global related things:
World history sat 2: 740
World history AP- 5
Model United Nations Club</p>
<p>So is this a hook? How can I convey this all to an admissions officer? does this make me stand out compared to other applicants? </p>
<p>I am also heavily involved in other things as well (in case what I already presented doesn't count as a hook. Not that I do these things for colleges sake, I do them because I like to), such as:
nature center volunteer-300 plus hours
school orchestra +honors string ensemble + area all state
varsity track and field-teams best shotputter/discus thrower although I haven't won anything (yet?) our team for the most part is lame lol.</p>
<p>It's only a hook if it's combined with good SAT score and GPA.</p>
<p>Any chance you could go to Germany or Japan this summer to volunteer or travel, use your foreign language-international interests and tie it in? Could you start an international news section in your school newspaper or could you volunteer at your city newspaper in the international news dept. i.e. I think some real world experience (work, travel, volunteer, community service) would look nice to tie your academic achievements together.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention this--with some real world relevant international experience-you could talk about it in your essay so the admissions officer gets to know you as a person.</p>
<p>well i did do an exchange program with a german gymnasium in Hamburg as well as participating in the experiment in international living-japan where i was in a group travel group for a month which also included a homestay. Do these count as experience?</p>
<p>sry, that last post had horrendous grammar. I'll try again:</p>
<p>I participated in a german exchange to hamburg. I hosted a student for 3 weeks and I also went to his school and lived with him. </p>
<p>I also was able to take part in the experiment in international living which involved a group travel experience in Japan for a month which also included a homestay in Hokkaido. </p>
<p>do these count as experience to "tie it all together" as has been mentioned?</p>
<p>The problem with "hooks" is that you don't know which "fish" will want to bite. You could very well have hooks, but you don't know which schools will bite, and you have to cast your line in their app pool to find out. </p>
<p>If you apply to a school that is trying to build its IR programs and is seeking students with German/Japanese interests, yes, it can be a hook, especially if the dept profs are pushing admissions to look for those types. For schools that have no such department or have their pick of such applicants, it would not be a hook at all.</p>