<p>^^Do you mean really, really ridiculously good looking? Because I think they go to the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.</p>
<p>I've always thought of hooks as things that were beyond your control. Would low income be considered a hook?</p>
<p>It's a tip. (See the rest of this thread for the distinction between hooks and tips.) Schools are interested in compiling classes that are socioeconomically diverse.</p>
<p>Yikes, are Intel and Siemens and whatnot that important for Northeasterners? I go to a pretty good New Jersey public school, but I'd never heard of anything like that before I came to this site... I thought my NJ science league participation was good lol.</p>
<p>findis: I just got in SCEA from New Jersey as a prospective applied mathematics major with no participation in Intel/Siemens/ISEF or national olympiads. My school doesn't publicize these things (we're participating in the local testing for usnco for the first time this year.. oops too late) and very few students know about it, even though our neighbor school has several semifinalists a year. They understand.</p>
<p>riverrunner: LOL! You just belied an earlier post about 'senior members' making sensible posts. Seriously, I don't think good looking is a hook, but it is a 'tip' for life in general.</p>
<p>Not that I know from personal experience..</p>
<p>^^vicarious, thanks for laughing at my joke. I was beginning to think I wasn't funny at all, besides not being all that good looking any more.</p>
<p>^^ That was one really really, ridiculously funny movie. My D introduced me to it and we laugh about it all the time. Stiller is a very talented man. Now that kind of talent would be a major hook. No surprise he got the Hasty Pudding award.</p>
<p>Does having the experience of helping deliver a baby in rural north india put me for a "tip" lol... better yet, does an interest in neurosurgery, and the pre-med internships, satisfy the "Ey, we got the next brown version of harvey cushing here" aka passion for an uncommon interest at the teenage level?</p>
<p>All im saying is... networking plays a big role in university life. If you want the best, you gotta find a way to connect and know the best.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say that's a tip...although it would make an interesting essay! haha</p>
<p>interest in neurosurgery and pre-med internships isn't as uncommon as you'd like to think though...take me as an example! that's what I'm interested in too (and have several friends who could say the same) plus admissions officers don't bank a lot on prospective majors since 60% of students change their mind..</p>
<p>This is not a "hook" but on the Yale SCEA results thread it seems like all the people that were admitted had a few diverse ECs, yet had one that they were really focused in (as evidenced by awards) so it seems that Yale may prefer applicants with diverse interests but one demonstrated passion.</p>
<p>So, in conclusion, would Classics help me (Pre-Med track), if I'm involved heavily with Latin on both a local/high school and state level?</p>
<p>I mean, I'm not going to switch my major or anything, I'm just wondering, since, as that earlier poster said, Classics really isn't a top five major at any university in North America...</p>
<p>If it's worth anything, I did get into the University of Chicago, which, I believe (they don't really rank these things since it isn't business or engineering) is pretty strong in Classics.</p>