I’m just curious as to whether being a female in comp sci counts as a hook. I did a lot of outreach work in my community to encourage more local girls to get into comp sci so I wrote about it in my essays. I know at some schools it’s more helpful than others, like for example I applied to RPI and RIT so I assume being female will be helpful at those schools. But I also applied for engineering at Tufts, Vanderbilt, Princeton, Columbia, and Penn, and I was wondering if this “hook” will be helpful at those schools (if it even is a hook). How much could it possibly help?
I have a mediocre GPA with bad subject tests, but a very competitive SAT score.
It is not a hook at any school. A hook is a reason a school would want you above others who have a similar profile. Few people have real hooks. You need to be along the lines of a recruited athlete, a child of a huge legacy donor, Malia Obama etc. Being a female in a male-heavy school could be a factor in your favor, but you would have to be academically qualified for any school if you expect an acceptance.
Female students in STEM would probably get the nod over near-identical male applicants, but the colleges you’ve applied to have enough qualified applicants - female or male - to fill their class many times over. They can keep their gender balance around 50-50 while maintaining their high standards, and the odds you’ll be on the bubble - one of 50-100 candidates who present the admissions committee with a difficult choice - and get in because you’re female are microscopic.
A mediocre GPA with bad subject tests will make it very difficult to get into the more selective schools you’ve named.
There are obviously fewer women applying for most STEM (except biology). But my understanding is that as a group they are stronger than the men. So, while odds may be in your favor in terms of numbers, that is probably only true if you are strong enough. So it is probably a wash.