<p>Since eagel scout was brought up-I wanted to ask if being a girl scout(through all the levels daisy to senior) is a hook at all? I am a girl scout who is working on my gold award(highest award in girl scouting). Could this help me out at all?</p>
<p>Jyankees:</p>
<p>Good for you for not taking my word for it. Take Chuck Hughes' word for it. Chuck is a former senior admissions officer at Harvard. He wrote a book called "What it Really Takes to Get Into the Ivy League." On pages 103 and 104, he lists sample hooks on a regional and national basis. Eagle Scout is listed as a highly recognized leadership position, along with such things as national president of 4H and category national champion in debate. This is not to say that Eagle Scout carries quite as much weight as the other two, but in both Chuck's and my experience, it is a hook, and a strong hook, nevertheless.</p>
<p>xedx:</p>
<p>NCTE stands for "National Council of Teachers of English." It is a national writing contest, and one must be nominated by one's English department to get the chance to participate. Just being nominated means one is among the best writers from a given high school. States are allocated a certain number of winners based on (IIRC) population. The average number of winners per state is around 12. If you win, that would place you among the very best writers in your state.</p>
<p>Mistyrain:</p>
<p>The answer is "yes." Gold award is equivalent to Eagle Scout.</p>
<p>Congratulations to you on your accomplishment.</p>
<p>Most of these are not hooks... a true hook is something that very people are/have done. Many hooks are out of your control. Here is a list of a few.</p>
<p>-URM
-Low Income (becoming a bigger hook)
-Geographic (for places such as the Dakota's, Alaska, etc.)
-Publishing a book</p>
<p>Thing such as teaching yourself a subject do not really count... think of the school you are applying to and imagine how many people have taught themselves a subject.</p>
<p>ok so not really hooks but here goes ( I think at least these are things that will help me in one way or another)
-I come from Costa Rica, and was able to get an 800 in verbal
-My musical involvment : I play electric guitar and classical guitar. I'm also a DJ, I play aroudn with techno and some ambient music. I've also composed works for my school band and various musical ensembles that I have formed.
-An article I wrote last year was published in a highley recognized national-coverage newspaper in my country.</p>
<p>I'm a normal white suburban Jew whose parents can afford to pay for college with no finaid? :P</p>
<p>wait... being an Eagle Scout is a HOOK?! if i had known this I would have joined the boy scouts...</p>
<p>Just be YOURSELF and follow your PASSIONS. What do you like to do? Spend time doing that and in one way or another CONVEY that passion to the adcoms (through your college app essay, or by winning awards, founding programs, etc etc)</p>
<p>There's always going to be someone "better" than you in EC's, or hooks, subjectively speaking. Someone who's published a book, or a medical breakthrough. Someone who's gone to RSI or was an Intel semifinalist. If you keep comparing yourself to others you'll keep beating yourself up about it and it's all going to be counterproductive. Think, guys.</p>
<p>Stop molding yourself into what you think the colleges want. Just spend a lot of time doing the things you like. And that passion will ultimately show through in winning awards, etc, if your passion is math, then USAMO, or winning Intel if science is your passion.</p>
<p>I mean, it's all good and well if you just wanna look out of the corner of your eye and see what everyone else is doing, just to make sure you stay competitive and what have you, but don't go overboard.</p>
<p>Is being a music columnist for the Houston Chronicle a hook?</p>
<p>Is making All-State band really a hook (Texas)? What about NFL Nationals in debate? Hm...does being Southern (from a rural town of about 5,000 people) have any affect on decisions to top Northern schools?</p>
<p>I'm just curious...I had no idea that I might have actually had hooks before reading this thread.</p>
<p>had a brain surgery when I was 13 on borderline of 14..Im actually waiting for a surgeons appointment to tell me if I have to have another surgery..they found a cyst in my brain on last mri they say though since im healthy theres a chance i wolnt have ne thing done im crossing fingers! One of the struggles of this is That theres a tube that drains Fluid that blocked up b/c of tumor causing headaches its called a shunt and this could malfunction...any time right now im thinking it might have malfunctioned just a couple of days ago and am starting to get aches.</p>
<p>I volunteer at a center for the blind/death?</p>
<p>Anything that makes the college think you will be very successful in the future, thus bringing more positive attention to their school, thus increasing their income by students who, like most of you, are attracted to top schools. It's a vicious cycle.</p>
<p>-swimming
-URM
-founded company that works with Amazon.com
-dont need financial aid?
-family member a former trustee at Stanford--which may or may not help i dunno</p>
<p>As for NFL Nats... depends how much the school knows about HS debate. Heh.</p>
<p>Always wondered whether there might be some TOC-breaking kid who got passed over for an NFL-kid. That'd really suck. xP</p>
<p>My school never did anything with TOC...we only did UIL and NFL, so I don't know a thing about it. How much more difficult is TOC compared to being in a tough district for NFL? Or even a tough Region (the Regional Tournament my school has to go through for LD might as well be state)? Like I said, I don't know anything about TOC.</p>
<p>TOC = Tournament of Champions. 75 elite circuit debaters get to go, based on the number of bids you receive over the year, acquired by reaching a certain point in outrounds at designated national circuit tournaments.</p>
<p>excellent post, paco!</p>