<p>I am a junior and I really need a hook. I've done some volunteer work and extra curricular but not anything special as to getting an international award or being on television. Does anyone know of any creative writing contests or maybe even a volunteer group to join that will give me a hook. </p>
<p>If you have any WRITING CONTESTS tell me!!</p>
<p>One does not simply “get” a hook like you “get” something from Walmart… hooks are substantial extracurriculars that show brilliance in a certain area. They’re usually produced at a young age. Being a junior already, it is way too late for you to develop a “hook”. Also, “hooks” are held by individuals who have genuine, pure passion for something that they love to do. The way you’re going about it, a hook would be wasted on you. You don’t actually care about the activity, as long as it’ll get you into college. That kind of mentality will get you rejected not only from college, but will prevent you from doing anything substantial with your life. Any experienced college admissions office will be able to see right through your thin skin. Instead of being so preoccupied about getting college, you should first become a better human being by engaging in things that truly interest you instead of blindly grabbing for “hooks” that’ll get you into college. If you keep at it the way you are now, I can almost guarantee you that you will not be happy with your college decision. There is a certain amount of extrinsic motivation that is healthy for an individual, and you have crossed that line.</p>
<p>Actually schlaag, that’s not the definition of a “hook” at all. You have simply described an extracurricuar activity to which a student is very devoted. A “hook” on the other hand is an aspect of an applicant that fulfills a need at a particular school. For example, if the college has a marching band whose tuba player is graduating, and you are a fantastic tuba player, you’ll be hooked for that college–same theory applies to a superior athletic talent. And if the school’s library is in disrepair and your parents offer to pay for a new one, that will be a hook for you. If you’re the child of a celebrity whose presence on the campus will bring favorable publicity–voila, another hook. As you can see, these aren’t the sorts of attributes you can just “get”. However, if the OP is looking to improve her application with meaningful extracurricular activities or writing awards (which is what I think she means to say), then she needs to identify one or two EC’s and participate in them with enthusiasm and passion (though it’s awfully late in the game to make that happen) and/or research potential writing competitions–demanding that others do your research for you in uppercase letters is really not the way to go about it.</p>
<p>Grow to 6’ 5", develop 4.1 speed in the 40 yard dash and take your HS football team to the state championship.</p>
<p>Hooks are generally acquired by your parents’ status or actions, not by your own ability and motivation (legacy, ethnic background, relation to large donor or prominent person, celebrity, etc.).</p>
<p>The main hook that is related to your own ability and motivation is being an athlete that the college wants to recruit, or if celebrity status is from your own actions (e.g. child actor).</p>
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<p>Try a bait and tackle shop. ;)</p>
<p>@galigirl3949 - Ignore the judgmental comments, they come fast and furious on cc. :)</p>
<p>I think you should take the judgmental comments to heart. There is nothing more disgusting than a teenage student who is hell-bent on getting into good colleges for the sake of social approval. A reason that I hate the college system so much is that it turns intelligent kids into grade-calculating freaks, and produces people who want to produce “hooks” to get into college instead of passionate, motivated individuals. Such blatant disregard for genuine inspiration just proves how ignorant and rotten my generation has become as a result of the “college race”.</p>