Episode 7 — Building An Admissions “Hook”

The Game: A Guide to Elite College Admissions

In prior episodes, we’ve determined that top colleges seek not only students with excellent grades, course rigor, and test scores but also students with compelling admissions “stories” or “hooks” related to their academic/intellectual passions and how they will contribute to their future college—and hopefully, the world—in some specific, unique way.

However, just as with students’ “metrics” (grades, rigor, scores), a focused resume is still not necessarily sufficient for gaining admission to highly selective schools. And many students build their “hooks” in areas that are the most competitive, highly common, and may lead admissions officers to question whether the student is perhaps just using the college as a stepping stone to a “prestige career.”

In this deep dive episode, we dig into the strategy of how students should go about building their hooks, how to make them more unique, and how to analyze evidence for students’ passions while also considering the practicalities of time, competition, and more.

While students often build their focus in areas that minimize their chances of standing out in top applicant pools, we hope this episode will help many have a better sense of the considerations that should go into picking optimal candidacy-building paths and how to “course correct”—or reposition—one’s hook as needed over time all the way up until final presentation in the applications to ensure the best odds of admission.

“The Game” is hosted by Sam Hassell and brought to you by Great Minds Advising.

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