<p>I was just wondering if other things would be considered (at least slight) hooks. Such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>high school prestige (like top 10 in the nation)</li>
<li>internship/research</li>
<li>being published</li>
<li>excelling in a second language</li>
</ul>
<p>Or would those just be considered good ECs? Are there other "less common" hooks I haven't listed?</p>
<p>None of those are really hooks unless you got published in like the wall street journal or something. Like, if they can google it and it pops up without any searching. As for high school prestige, schools will acknowledge that your school is difficult if they send a large number of students every year, but I wouldn’t call it a hook. You’ll get by with a lower GPA, probably, but it’s not really a hook.</p>
<p>I like this question. Can anyone give information regarding languages? I know 3 languages really well, can speak fluent etc. How useful will that be to me in a college app?</p>
<p>Not only are they not hooks, but your #3 is not a hook, either. At least, a 2400 SAT isn’t. It falls under the category of “nice thing to have.”</p>
<p>Regarding languages, my S took 2 languages through AP in HS, and he placed first in the state in both of them on the national exams his junior year. (He placed second in the state in both his sophomore year.) He also won the Langenscheidt Award for one language his junior year (one student per state). He already had a 5 on the Lang AP in one language junior year, and was taking the AP Lit in that language as an independent study. He was not hooked.</p>
<p>Being published: the kid who wrote Eragon would be considered hooked. Brooke Shields, Jody Foster, and JFK Jr were hooked. </p>
<p>I think you are misunderstanding what exactly a hook is. A hook is usually not so much an achievement, but rather a quality that makes you more attractive to colleges by fitting a college’s needs. Generally, these characteristics that make up a hook aren’t really somethin you can change - unless you win the lottery or become a star quarterback overnight.</p>
<p>Under-represented minorities, children of alumni (legacies), and recruited athletes are the most common. Being a celebrity or an otherwise noteworthy individual or a child of a wealthy donor (we’re talking at least 7 or 8 figures) can be a strong hook. First-generation and/or poor, underprivileged background can be a very small hook (some avoid the term hook and use something like tipping factor, in cases like these, because the boost you would get is quite modest). In some rare cases, I guess gender can be a small nudge in colleges with gender imbalances and sometimes geographic location can be a very small tip, but that’s about all I can think of.</p>
<p>Remember: it’s OK if you’re not hooked … most applicants aren’t. If everybody had a hook, then they wouldn’t be very special now, would they? =p</p>
<p>High school prestige is not a hook precisely because it’s reflective of your parents’ accomplishments (in living in that neighborhood or having the wherewithal to send you to an elite boarding school).</p>
<p>HS prestige brings its own complication: multiple highly qualified applicants. It suggests high academic standards- but what matters more is what the kid accomplished in that context. </p>
<p>Being fluent in multiple languages is only helpful when you actually do something with that, outside the usual context. Being a big donor or even a legacy still requires the kid perform to standards, seem able to tackle that school.</p>
<p>And being published? Rarely. In scientific work, it’s often no more than a courtesy to let a kid be involved in the writing. WSJ? Comon for some kids to have “a little something” printed in the media. More impressive to have a regular semi-pro relationship, some ongoing impact. Even “publishing” a book isn’t a tip. Quality and outside success matter.</p>
<p>This is like looking at the trees and missing the forest.</p>
<p>I’ve seen research experience be a hook, but it was extraordinary circumstances: the student had worked on a project at a lab at a tippy-top university for several years during high school. By the time senior year rolled around, the student was in essence performing at the level of a grad student, and was being actively recruited by every college where said student applied. “Recruited” here meaning not “got a mailing” but was being called by deans and Nobel laureates at tippy-top schools. Ended up taking the big merit scholarship at U Chi. The younger sibling wasn’t such hot stuff, and merely ended up at Harvard with the parents paying full freight. :D</p>
<p>^ Yes, that is extraordinary, and it is a case where research experience rose to the level of a hook. The thing that is often missed in discussions about hooks is that the applicant must bring something to the table that meets an institutional objective of the college, such that the college genuinely “wants” the applicant.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, these institutional objectives are fielding strong athletic teams, achieving racial balance, keeping alumni happy, and bringing in money.</p>
<p>Maybe it all depends on what we all mean when we use the word hook, but I don’t think you’re going to find a lot of lesser knows hooks for precisely the reason that Rob gave above: a hook is an attribute of an applicant that meets an institutional want or need of a college or university.</p>
<p>You may have half a dozen qualities that make you an interesting person, and distinguish you from the myriad of other smart kids in the applicant pool, but I wouldn’t call any of them a hook if it didn’t meet an institutional want or need. It may be interesting that you have performed in all of Shakespeare’s comedies, or you grew up in a traveling carnival, or what have you, but those things don’t meet institutional wants or needs. Yale doesn’t have a need for carnies the same way it has a need for tight ends and wealthy donors.</p>
<p>And the things that do meet institutional wants or needs…well, I think we’ve pretty well identified those already. The only one I don’t recall seeing named yet in this thread is celebrity (although I suspect Consolation was alluding to it). When Malia Obama is ready to apply to college, she’ll be hooked.</p>
:D</p>