<p>First off, I want to congratulate all those admitted and for those who will not be attending boarding school next year for whatever reason you should be proud you stuck around such a difficult process.</p>
<p>Now back to hooks. After lurking some posts and some stats of those accepted I think "
true" hooks are by far really small. Hooks as in the sense, this talent in whatever ability made you stand out. Whether it being sports(which I think predominatly is), fine arts, or legitamNowely geniuses.(at my reception at one school I met a freshmen who has finished cal bc before 8th grade and moved on to take quantom physics as a freshmen course). </p>
<p>I'd apolgize for the length but this is how i came to my theory Also this is just a theory so please do not be hypercritical =) :</p>
<p>To share my own story(I hope I dont come as show off- that is not intention) I am an athletic recruit. One day out of the blue after the January 15 deadline one coach emailed me and asked if I was interested in their school. I did not have any intention to even apply to this school because by large I thought was out of my league. Now applying to this school became a breeze. My application fee was waived, I was allowed two week extension to get my stuff in and I had an interview schedueled within days. My interviewer told me that the school contacted her out of the blue as well and asked her to interview me which was rare after the Jan. 15 deadline. After my interview I was sent a course catalog and video and invited to attend winter games. I started stressing about M 10 like everyone on here. </p>
<p>During this Jan15 to M 10, my mom met an old acquintance who is an a/o at one school. She told us this is how it works at her school. All the files are read and screened for the first time. During the first screen usually five people all look one file and if 4/5 agree that candidate should be considered seriously move on to the second screening. A majority of the files are cut here suposedly. Then during the second screening the a/o committee decides to cut/wl/accept from here on. Then its passed off to the f/a committee for those who applied. then finally the director supposedly has the final say. Again this is at X School and I am not sure how other schools do it but most likely itll be similiar. She says however really specialized talents kid who might have subpar grades, scores, or whatever skip the first screening and looked favorably on the second one. Now my stats are in my opinion okay but not super, okay gpa and ranked in only the top 20 percent, so I assume my sport definately helped me out.</p>
<p>After the M 10 decision i received the acceptance letters, emails, nd etc and attended a reception for a certain school I met a graduating senior who played the same position I play in my sport. He says normally the football team receives a large ammount of football tapes but the coaches only pay attention to the positions they need to fill, hence mine. SO then i realized I did not get "recruited" because I was the bestof all the football recruits but because they needed someone to fill the missing position next year. So then after looking at some CC posts and talking to some new acquintances this is my basic theory on hooks and how it influences your admission.</p>
<p>First you have to academic, you don't have to be a 4.0 student but show you have the capability to study and actually care about academics(which is not true for all athletes I can tell you than). the admissiosn committee is not going to chose a kid who might be a god on the field but a pure nuisance and bad influence in class. </p>
<p>Second- You really truly have to be excellent/good in what you consider your hook is enough to get really really noticed. I am a junior repeat and showed I can play at the varsity level. Just because you play the sport and you emailed the coach does not instantly mean it can be considered a hook, just an EC. I think hooks exist within a small fraction.</p>
<p>Third(and most important IMO)- The school needs to fill a certain position- whether it be an athlete or trumbone player for their band. It does not matter if you are the math captain or soccer captain at your school when X school has 4 students competing on the math olympic team or the soccer team has 2 players who are freshmen in the same position asyou. Hooks are rare because every school has different needs although you may be exceptional it may be a hook at one school and not at another</p>
<p>Thanks for reading, just wanted to share that</p>