What are good hooks?

<p>I am a junior in high school and I am thinking about college more and more now. My grades are not the best for getting into the top colleges but I am working very hard to get my grades up to a respectable GPA and I think I will get a very good SAT score (I am going to take it in a couple of months and I am looking to get somewhere around 2300. I have been practicing a lot so I hope it all pays off). But what I want to know is what are some good hooks that will help me (if at all) for getting into the top colleges? Do these colleges (ivy league, uchicago, wash. u st. louis, duke, etc.) take any hooks into account? </p>

<p>My hooks (I don't know what all of the possible hooks are but here are the ones I can think of): </p>

<p>-URM (African)
-1st generation</p>

<p>what other hooks are there??? </p>

<p>Thank you guys for taking the time to read and respond.</p>

<p>I would really focus on your SAT’s and GPA right now, getting an SAT score in the 2300’s is not an easy task, also subject tests are required at many top schools, so in addition you need to practice and get ready for these. </p>

<p>You can think about this sort of thing at almost any time, but the SAT and your school work follow a stringent curfew.</p>

<p>boby642 thank you for your reply. I am also starting to study for subject tests. I will be taking US history, Math 2, and most likely Latin as well. I might take chemistry as well. </p>

<p>Really, I just want to know how much a hook can help me with a very good sat score and subject test score and a pretty good GPA.</p>

<p>There is no way to quantify that. Don’t count on it to make up for below average grades for the college in question. Those are good hooks but they count more at some places than others. If you have the best grades and scores, it should make you highly desirable.</p>

<p>Google ‘hooks institutional need’
and read
[Dr</a>. Michele Hernandez: 10 Secrets for Top College Admissions](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>10 Secrets for Top College Admissions | HuffPost College)</p>