Is this a "hook" in admission process?

Applying to College
1

<p>Is the fact that I immigrated to America in 8th grade a "hook" in admission process?</p>

<p>Do college admission officers understand the disadvantage and language barrier that immigrant students experience?</p>

<p>I am a permanent U.S. resident, so I will not apply as an immigrant status.</p>

<p>Or do they treat immigrant students just like any other US citizens who were born in US?</p>

<p>When i say "immigrant students," i mean people who came to America lately but will not be applied as immigrants due to their green cards.</p>

2

<p>No and yes.</p>

<p>While not a hook, you can use your experiences in an essay, show your participation with your community through ECs, etc. to give adcoms an idea how being an immigrant has shaped your life and the hurdles you have overcome.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply</p>

<p>I definitely will write an essay about my experience of being an immigrant in America and hardships i have encountered.
However, i worry that this kind of story is too cliche to many immigrant students.</p>

<p>Is it not a hook because there are too many students like me?</p>

4

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<p>It’s all in how you write it. My advice is to stay away from big picture cliches, instead pick out something small and make it interesting and unique to you. I remember one student talked about his mother’s cooking and related that to his culture and experience.</p>

<p>While the term is thrown around a lot, a hook has a specific meaning of certain categories of applicants that college are looking for, generally speaking these are: recruited athletes, URMs, celebrities and development cases. Some people like to add legacies and first gen college students, but these are more of a tip factor IMO.</p>

<p>Your immigrant status, the ECs you do, the volunteering you participate in, these are all factors that are considered in your application, they are just not hooks. The vast majority of accepted students have no hooks, so it is these other factors that are what set them apart.</p>

5

<p>Thank you for the advice! It’s too bad that this is not a “hook” but I should start thinking about the essay.</p>

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<p>Entomom speaks the truth</p>

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<p>Just curious, what country?</p>

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<p>And no - being an immigrant and facing hardships is not a hook unless you find a compelling reason why that experience makes you a good fit for the campus fabric. Schools are trying to build interesting, diverse student bodies - and they turn down significant numbers of applicants in just about every socio-economic, ethnic, geographical group that you can think of.</p>

<p>Be yourself and the right school will choose you.</p>

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<p>I think being an immigrant and facing hardship will help. I will not call it a formal hook, but it’s a tip, I think even a strong one, if you can prove that you overcome hardship and excel in your context. True, schools turn down applicants in every socio-economic group and whatnot, but they would like to keep those who are valuable to their institutions and to the society.
And merely “be yourself” won’t help. Achieving does. Anything that makes you stand out but does not belie your personality does. Stretching yourself is good.</p>

10

<p>Moderator Note: The OP is not a URM, so any discussion of URM status is irrelevant. Opinions on URM status should be posted on the Race sticky thread.</p>