<p>So I was just reading some articles online about the perils of the "unhooked white girl" in college admissions...and I feel like the authors were practically describing me.</p>
<p>I have straight a's, 2300 sat, and I have tons of volunteering hours, I'm captain of a varsity sport, and I'm really into the violin...I'm the concertmaster of a university orchestra. I know that these aren't major "hooks," but will I face the same fate as the rest of these unhooked white girls in the college admissions process? Am I simply one of many qualified white girls?</p>
<p>Idk if you will are not, but yes, you are a qualified unhooked white girl. There are worse things in the world, and you still have tons of college options available for you including, having a realistic chance of admission at the best institutions in the world.</p>
<p>It is good to have a realistic assessment of the sheer numbers of people applying, and in your category, but you can make an educated guess they seat plenty of unhooked white girls if you look at admissions data. Mine was one too and she had 7 acceptances and one w/l. You know, by statistics, that your SAT is better than most. Just make smart choices and don’t have all reach colleges. I wouldn’t dwell on such articles.</p>
<p>NO colleges have a problem admitting a student like this one. Whether or not YOU get admitted at the school or schools you want to attend is a different matter. </p>
<p>That school you want to get into, it might think that someone with your stats is just using them as a safety, a sure admission, someone who has no interest in attending their school–because your stats are so much higher than most of their applicants’. </p>
<p>That school you want to get into might have three students with the exact same stats and qualifications and only one seat in their class for someone with your abilities. Elite schools will tell you that they really are building an admissions class and that they want all kinds of diversity. Perhaps your concertmaster skills are not so exceptional in this applicant class because there are two others with those skills.</p>
<p>That school you want to get into might have all the students from your state or city they can handle. All of them happen to be more qualified or desirable than you.</p>
<p>That school you want to get into might have 3 admits available to your school and already an athlete and a legacy have taken two slots and now you’re competing against every one of your classmates who applied and did slightly better than 2300 or was a valedictorian.</p>
<p>It ain’t only about your race, OP, or your gender. You might have spelled “its” and “there” incorrectly 12 times in an essay. When you apply to an elite school, as I’d encourage you to do, you silently agree that you have some chance (moderate to ginormous) that you won’t get in. Don’t take it personally, whether you get in or you don’t. There are forces operating here that you have no control over. You just do the best you can and hope.</p>
<p>Your stats are good and your music is a plus. You have a reasonable chance at the most exclusive schools and the chances improve as selectivity goes down. Write the best essays you can. Be awesome during your interviews. And stop worrying. You’ve already done most of what there is to be done.</p>
<p>Woe is you… you might face the challenge of a lot of similar applicants for the top 10 schools in the country. But for the other ~3,990 schools, you are in the catbird seat. Trust me, your glass is 90% full, not close to empty. My “unhooked white girl” got in everyplace she applied last year – U of Chicago, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Carleton, and several other lower ranked schools with very good merit aid. The fate of the unhooked white girl with a 2300 SAT and 4.0 isn’t all that dire.</p>
<p>My daughter had a 2300+ SAT, was salutatorian of a reasonably good public school with straight A’s, was president of the debate team, captain of the tennis team national merit winner and the list of solid accomplishments, extracurriculars and community service goes on and on. She is great at interviews and was told by one Ivy interviewer that she was the most impressive candidate she had interviewed in 30 years - but in the same breath said she still probably would not get in. Well, she didn’t. She was wait listed and ultimately rejected there, and at several other Ivies. If I heard this story a few years ago, I would have been convinced that something must have been wrong with her application, but I assure you, there was not. She is an unhooked white girl from the northeast, not in a STEM field, who is excellent at everything but had nothing that was extremely unusual. After the initial disappointment, she ended up at a wonderful, non-Ivy school and is loving it. My daughter’s theory is that it’s even more competitive for white girls than for Asian girls, because a large number of the limited spots for these girls are taken by legacies, as most current legacies are Caucasian. These schools do not exist to serve the students. You must serve them. If you have something they need - perhaps your musical skills - then you have a shot. You did not specifically mention Ivies, but if that’s what you want, go for it, and I hope you get lucky. Just make sure to apply to some other, more predictable schools as well. Good luck!</p>
<p>@ormdad: Being a girl intending to major in CS is definitely a hook at some schools that admit by major (or schools that are almost all STEM majors). Or at least it’s easier for girls than guys to get in (a school like MIT would still be tough). Which means that it is at top CS/engineering schools like UIUC, CMU, MIT, Mudd, & CalTech (also Olin, Rose-Hulman, etc.). Likely Engineering at Cornell, UPenn, and Columbia as well.</p>
<p>In reality only a small number of applicants don’t have hooks. Keep focused on the many accomplishments both academically and in music, be realistic about where you apply (understand that the very top schools are reaches for almost everyone), and you will end up with a number of great options for college.</p>
<p>I would absolutely not apply as an engineering major if you have no interest in engineering. Go to a school that wants you for the course of study you are interested in. </p>
<p>"The often anti-social, male-dominated culture is characterized by 107’s unofficial mantra of “dump your girlfriend before this class.”</p>
<p>I don’t know how much a “girl interested in CS” needs to be a hook these days. Computer Science is so hot right now that most intro classes are pretty evenly split male/female. It’s retaining women in the major that is the challenge.</p>
<p>In my Daughter’s case, she has some specific ECs related to CS that I think make her a more interesting overall candidate. Very few of the schools she is interested in admit by major so it’s not likely to really help that much. She will apply to Harvard and MIT because we live in Cambridge, and beyond that most of her schools are not top-10 CS programs.</p>
<p>I come from a different vein – my kids have gone to a private high school that focuses on global learning and diversity of the student body is a key part of this. Having an unhooked “white girl” and an unhooked “white boy” as my children, both with super high scores and GPAs and all the good stuff, I understand the panic. However, my daughter didn’t compete for a spot at her Ivy against her best friend who was a first generation Mexican with parents who did not finish high school or her other friend who is a white female but single mother, GED education and lived in shelters and apartments. My daughter competed against other girls whose parents both had postgraduate degrees, she competed against other girls who had the benefits of parents who read books to her from the time she was a baby, she had the benefit of travel and the benefit of SAT tutoring and the benefit of parents who could sit down for dinner with her at night because we weren’t working a second job. The Tufts admissions director once said to me “It’s like a recipe - we need some salt, we need some pepper, some sugar, some eggs.” The “salt” kids aren’t competing for the same slots as the “egg” kids. We need ALL of those ingredients to make an incredible learning experience at any college. My “white kids” will receive a better education by being surrounded by a diverse group of learners. During the stressful senior year, I tried to remind my senior daughter to focus solely on what she could control about her own application. If she was authentic, if she was passionate about her courses and her extracurriculars and her life, that energy would shine through her application – regardless of who she was competing against. {{I will also add that this same daughter, who had a 790 CR, 770 WR and only 680 Math, was told by some on CC that she would never have a shot at an Ivy because her Math score was below the “magical” 700 mark… despite a 5 on her AP Calc AB test, and an 800 Engl Lit subject and 780 Spanish subject test. I am happy to say that those people were wrong… my daughter was accepted ED by her beloved Ivy.}} So, sorry to ramble – just do your best, focus on you, and you will end up at a school that you will be happy at.</p>
<p>The opposite is probably the case – most applicants to colleges do not have hooks (GPA, test scores, and extracurriculars other than being a recruitable athlete are not hooks). Of course, what is a hook is often college dependent. Being a recruitable athlete only matters if the school recruits you. Having parents who graduated from and donate large amounts of money to a college only matters at that college.</p>