<p>One of my letters of recommendation was from the principal of my high school. Would that be considered a hook? Maybe a small one? :P</p>
<p>Nope.10char</p>
<p>Not at all.</p>
<p>No. It will help if it’s a really good letter, but it’s definitely not a hook. A hook is something that would cause an applicant to be accepted when without the hook the applicant would have been rejected.</p>
<p>It was a very positive letter, but yea I agree that it probably wont be my saving grace.</p>
<p>Grasping for straws here. Nice principal rec letter isn’t unusual. Sorry. Best of luck to you, regardless</p>
<p>some very bitter people on this forum. wow.</p>
<p>A simple no won’t suffice? You have to take a quick pot shot at me while you’re at it?</p>
<p>Looks like someone got a few too many rejection letters :)</p>
<p>The responses were not at all bitter - they were factual. Posters cannot provide a simple “no” because there is a ten-character minimum for all posts on College Confidential.</p>
<p>sorry you didn’t get the answer you were looking for but the responses weren’t bitter at all.</p>
<p>Letter of rec from high school principal considered a hook? </p>
<hr>
<p>No.</p>
<p>I wasn’t looking for anything but an honest answer. The consensus seems to be no. Thats the only answer I was looking for, thanks :).</p>
<p>i got a letter of rec from my principal as well, and at least the people i talked to about it seemed to think that was really special and good…people on CC are generally very negative because they have nothing better to do than tersely respond to your post and make you feel worse about yourself.</p>
<p>No one’s trying to make him feel worse about himself. The honest truth is that colleges don’t particularly care if a rec letter is from a principal rather than a teacher. A hook is something that can have a significant impact on admissions, like being a URM or your family donating a large sum. It’s certainly not a bad thing, but no adcom is going to say, “Hm, I would have tossed with applicant aside, but he did get a rec from his principal…” I’m not trying to be “bitter” or “negative.”</p>
<p>
Somehow I get the sense the only answer you were looking for was actually “yes.”</p>
<p>Anyway, as notanengineer said, colleges don’t care whether the letter’s from your teacher, your principal, or your frigging senator.</p>
<p>And very few things count as a hook. Some aspects of an applications may be referred to as “tipping” factors, but AFAIK the only hooks are: URM, legacy, development candidate (this means your family–and not like your great-aunt Sue, but your grandmother or parents or something–have donated MILLIONS of dollars to the school. You likely have your name on a building or something). 2400 SAT? Not a hook. 4.0 UW GPA? Not a hook. Siemens winner? Not a hook. All very good things to have in an application, but not a hook.</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware that “hook” was that powerful of a word. It’s definitely not a hook then by that definition. You couldve just alerted me to that. Why does my lack of understanding bother you so much? In no way was I boastful about my letter. I was just asking a question, not trying to rub it in anyones face. Sorry if it came off that way, but I really can’t understand the reasoning behind your attitude.</p>
<p>@dancing doctor – hahah, I love your response :P. That’s often how I feel when I read some of these threads.</p>
<p>To TheGoodDoc, I didn’t sense bitterness in the response that they gave… it just seems to me like they were being thorough in wanting you to understand where they came from, and that’s ultimately very helpful. When you post stuff on here you gotta be ready to hear the honest truth, or at least what people think the truth is. Good luck with admissions and such, I’m sure your principal wrote a lovely letter.</p>
<p>Im not seeing negativity or bitterness here, just helpful responses. Post #14 pretty much nails it, except they left off what is perhaps the most common and probably the most reliable hook, the recruited athlete.</p>