Is this considered a big hook in admissions (Dartmouth specifically)?...

<p>Hi everyone. I'm currently a junior in high school and, as it has been for quite a while now, Dartmouth is my first choice and I plan on applying ED. Neither my Mom nor my Dad went to Dartmouth, but my Uncle and my aunt both went there. After this first death, my family created a fellowship at Dartmouth in XXXX's name, and when YYYY passed away in the crash a matter of months later, his name was added to the fellowship. My family donates a good amount of money to the fellowship every year and the school itself has a lot of meaning to the family. My middle name is even XXXXX in honor of my uncles. My question is, can this be seen as a hook? Similar to having legacy or even greater? Getting into this school would honor my family so much and it would be great to know if the Dartmouth ad-coms would see that as well and take this intricacy of my app into account.</p>

<p>Thanks all.</p>

<p>Yes, I think this will help you in the admissions process, if you also have the normal credentials to succeed at Dartmouth. My impression of Dartmouth (warning: anecdotal evidence) is that they value family connections more than most schools.</p>

<p>My EC’s and scores are great for Dartmouth (Multiple captain and founder positions in awesome things that I’m really proud of and a 35 ACT. SAT II’s still to come but will most likely be great) but the only thing worrying me is my GPA. I had a slow start in high school with class rigor (0 honors classes freshman year to all honors and AP junior with 3 in sophomore. I’ll probably end up with 4 or 5 B+'s by the end of high school but the rest are A’s and A-'s). So yeah, taking this into account, do you think my hook might help me with this GPA fiasco? (Ex: Average admitted GPA from my school to Dartmouth is a 4.7 and I have about a 4.25. Thanks a lot lazy 8th grader me for getting me placed in unweighted classes freshman year. :P). </p>

<p>OP, I would strongly suggest contacting the moderators here and having the details (e.g. your family last name/middle name) removed. You really don’t want this being linked to your anonymous account.</p>

<p>The important points, stripped of any identifying information: you are not a legacy, but your family has endowed a fellowship in the name of your uncles, and your family continues to donate each year. You want to know how to make sure that the adcoms will connect you with your family as you don’t have the same last name and you are not a direct legacy. </p>

<p>Applying ED is a good call.</p>

<p>Thank you so much whichever changed the post! Seriously, that means a lot. :-bd </p>

<p>This isn’t really “legacy”. From what I’ve read from Dartmouth admissions counselors, donating money doesn’t mean much unless it is around 100,000 plus per year. A fellowship outside of your immediate family might not do much. However, take caution when applying ED. The applicant pool is usually a lot stronger and more competitive.</p>