<p>and i don't mean a gimmick or part-time avocation. At the top tier schools nearly everyone has great SATs, 4.0 GPAs, super essays and recommendations, and multiple varsity letters. What makes this applicant so different we just cannot ignore him/her? You don't need to cure cancer, or work at an Aids hostel in Africa, or study the chimps w/Jane Goodall. But you have to stick out. Have you started your own business? Have you published essays, short stories, poems? Have you been nominated to Boys' State competition? In my D's case she became a licensed sailor as a H.S. freshman and studied abroad in Paris. I do think it is a bit unfair to ask so much of kids and put so much pressure on them, but if it comes from self-motivation it's not that bad.</p>
<p>That makes sense, and I would like to know: How do they have time to find and carry out this “hook?” I can’t see how my D would have time for anything else, keep her grades up, continue with volunteering, EC’s and still have a life (she barely seems to have one now to me). How do kids find the time to do it all? 
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