@theloniusmonk I would have been more proud of my kid had he told me “Dad, now that I got into Stanford, I have been thinking things over. I decided that it’s just as interesting for me to go to an Honors College in South, learn about different sub culture and deal with mosquitos, and graduate for almost free with double majors and save that money for future stuff.” But it didn’t happen. It was a different matter for me because It was cheaper for me to go to an Ivy. Besides, dormitory and foods were probably better at Honors College. I am the type who believes most of one’s real learning is self education and experience based anyway, and getting into Stanford is sufficiently ego boosting so one doesn’t have to actually go there. But hard to see this when you are 18. Like I said, each kid realizes things at different pace. But it seems like he’s trying hard, even staying till 4 am at library to study for several days for Finals. The latest he stayed up in high school was 1 am to finish a group project. Quarter system moves quickly, it seems.
@websensation National merit finalist IS a hook. In fact most of the kids in the area high schools that get into Iviews are usually either URM (affluent public school) or NMF.
@anon145 I agree with @websensation . While NMF is a nice accolade it is not a hook. I have not heard one admissions officer state that NMF is a reason why a college would choose one person over other equally qualified applicant. In all likelihood many top candidates for elite colleges are NMFs.
isn’t NMF defined as 99%tile on PSAT? If so although the smart kids test prep and can usually get 99%tile on ACT or SAT depending on their biased talent and a retake, very few kids prepare for PSAT in our district. N=1 but the only white kid who got into an Ivy that year as also NMF despite lower but similar rank to others who didn’t. I think any “national” or “international” award (by definition NMF is) helps a lot more than just another nice EC. As long as parents understand to the top schools there are 3x-5X times the number of kids per final admin slots the national/international hook most of the time is determinitive.
The elite schools tout their NMF numbers and are keenly aware of them
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/2/5/harvard-tops-list-of-national-merit/
But, respectfully, this thread was OP asking if self taught ASL is a hook- and it just isn’t. It’s a nice thing, like so many nice things kids do. No particular pull. Not a great challenge, she’s not working in the deaf community. And it may not relate to her major. (Eg, if she wants an education major.) And it’s not community service.
"Ivy League material " is a whole lot more than some nice thing(s) you like to ro. and OP needs to learn a lit more about what that is.
A Hook represents an institutional need. NMF finalists aren’t an institutional need.
The academic ability associated with it however suggests an ability to thrive in elite schools. That is the reason for the correlation.
No school sets out to recruit NMF for NMF sake. They do “inadvertently” admit many because of the attributes it confirms. If they highlight it after is irrelevant much as school’s that highlight they “only” accept less than 20% of the valedictorians that apply. It is a statement of selectivity post admission process not an indication of a hook.
Need and/or benefit. The benefit for less prestigious schools are the press releases about the number of NMF scholars that attend. An analogy would be the “hook” of being an URM, where the institutional benefit is the benefit of having a diverse student body. To your point, I agree that being an NMF is more an academic thing than being an URM, and the top schools probably don’t care that much about an applicant being an NMF as such.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: The OP’s question has been answered so I am closing the thread.