How to Write the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
Let’s talk about how to write the perfect hook for your college essay!
“How do I write the perfect hook for my college essay, Lisa? What’s the hook that’s going to help me stand out?”
I get asked about college essay hooks A LOT. In fact, how the write perfect hook for an essay is probably one of the questions I get asked the most when college application season gets into full swing.
The reason for that, of course, is that it’s not easy to come up with a good hook for an essay. A good hook that grabs your reader and makes them want to read the rest of you’re essay … that kind of hook takes thought, consideration, and some trial and error.
It’s well worth it, though! As college admissions offices are receiving record-breaking numbers of applications, a good hook for your college essay can make a huge difference in how your admissions officer sees you and evaluates your application.
So What Is a “Hook” Exactly?
A “hook” actually refers to the opening of your essay. It’s the first one or two lines that grab a reader’s attention, tells them, “This is going to be a good read!”, and gets them to read the rest of the essay.
Why Is Having a Good Hook So Important in a College Essay?
College admissions officers have to plow through A LOT of college essays. Harvard alone has received more than 50,000 applications a year for four years straight now, and the University of California system received more than 250,000 in the 2023-2024 application cycle.
There’s no way that anyone looking at thousands and thousands of essays could help feeling like it’s all a blur after a while. It takes a lot for for an essay (an by extension, an applicant) to stand out.
But a good hook in your college essay can go a long way to helping your cause! A good hook essay should give an intriguing peek into who you are as a person, something that’s going to show the admissions officer that yes, this is going to be interesting and worth paying attention to!
Stephen King has described the importance of the opening line this way, “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say, ‘Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.’”
But enough on the theoretical. Let me give you some examples of some famous hooks from literary history and why they work!
To give you some inspiration for your essay, let’s take a look at some famous hooks from history…
Some Famous Hooks
The Conversational Hook
“Call me Ishmael.”
-“Moby Dick” by Herman Melville
Is there a more iconic hook in literature? With just three words, Melville begins dropping hints at who the narrator is and the story he’s about to tell. This hook also has a very conversational feel, like you’ve just drawn up a chair to hear a really good story which draws readers in.
The Curiosity Hook
“It was the best of time, it was the worst of times…”
“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens
Another iconic hook. But let’s unpack it for a moment. Why does Charles Dickens’ famous opening work so well as a hook?
This hook immediately gets readers asking questions: Where are we? What’s going on? What does Dickens mean when he says it’s both the best of times and worst of times? And how did we get here?
It’s an extremely clever hook that plunges us into the writer’s world and interested in what is about to happen next.
The Humor Hook
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
Is there a funnier first line in literature? Millions of Jane Austen fans would fight it out with you on that one! But this is not only one of the funniest first lines in literature, it’s also one of the most copied, showing up in everything from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains”) to articles in The Telegraph (“It is a truth universally acknowledged that great words will be misquoted”).
So clearly it is a memorable hook, and it’s not just because it’s delightfully humorous. This opening hooks you in because you’re immediately invited into the writer’s unique point ov view. This is someone who is witty and insightful and sees the world in an interesting way. You instantly want to get to know her which is exactly what you want in a hook.
The Thoughtful Hook
“I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
“Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
This is another hook that invites the reader into the writer’s unique point of view. Unlike Jane Austen, though, the tone is reflective and thoughtful. This hook announces, “I am a writer with something important to say. You should listen to me.”
The “Where Are We?” Hook
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfect normal, thank you very much.”
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling’s opening for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” has been voted among the best opening lines of all time, and it’s easy to see why.
With a single sentence, we’re in the world of Harry Potter where being “normal” should be questioned and those who are proud of being normal ...well, the less said about them, the better! But it also instantly makes the reader start caring about the other people who populate this universe, the not “normals”, and wondering what their adventure is about to be.
Now, let’s get started the hook for your college essay!
Getting Started on the Hook For Your Own Essay
Now that we’ve taken a look through some famous hooks from history, what are the biggest takeaways:
A Good Hook Is About Your Unique Point of View
When college admissions counselors are reading tens of thousands of essays, you need to stand out immediately. From your opening line, you need to say something that establishes that you are not like everyone else.
An interesting observation, a startling insight, a statement they haven’t heard hundreds of times before … these can go a long way to hooking a reader into your essay.
One of the most famous examples of this in a college hook is Brittany Stinson’s famous “Costco” college essay, which famously got her into five Ivy League Universities and Stanford:
“Managing to break free from my mother’s grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning.”
This college hook works because, yes, it’s infamously wacky. Who writes about their childhood memories of rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning?
But it also works because it’s a first glimpse of how Brittany thinks about what she calls the “kingdom of Costco,” and it makes anyone reading it, but especially a college admissions counselor learn more about her thinking.
Humor can be very effective as a hook in a college essays!
College Essay Hook Pro Tip: A big reason why humor is effective as a college essay hook is because it’s unexpected! It’s also a big reason why it makes an essay memorable.
Being able to show an interesting point of view is especially important in the college admissions process when selective colleges are hunting for students who aren’t skilled at getting good grades, but have intellectual curiosity and vigor.
Showing a unique point of view in your essay can go a long way to moving the needle as they consider you for admission!
A Good Hook Draws the Reader Into Your World
A big part of successful hooks is drawing the reader into your world: Where do you come from? And why would it be interesting to us?
Painting a vivid picture of the world you come from can go a long way in helping you pull a reader into your story. Who wouldn’t want to jump into the world Harry Potter after one sentence?
So help your reader see the world through your eyes! That means using descriptive words, invoking the senses in your writing, adding fascinating details, and using writing techniques like metaphors and similes to get the reader to feel like they are experiencing your world with you through your essay.
Just as importantly, by getting your admissions officers start seeing the world through your eyes, you will be getting them on your side in the admissions process!
College Essay Hook Pro tip: One way to draw in your admissions officer is to pull them in with a conversation-like opening. Here’s an example from one of my students:
“When people ask me where I’m from, I usually start by saying that I’m from San Francisco… but from there, well,… it gets complicated.”
This is a good hook, because it feels friendly and casual… like we’re sitting down and he’s starting to the admissions officer a little bit about himself, one-on-one. But it also hints at intrigue: “Oh! How is this complicated? Is a good story coming?”
Good college essay hooks often drop you into the action.
A Good Hook Gets You Interested in What’s Happening Immediately
One of the best ways to draw your reader into your world is to drop them into the action as it’s happening so they’re invested immediately.
Here’s an example of this kind of hook that one of my students wrote for his personal statement.
“I was a decimator of thousands. I had slaughtered all that had come before me. It all lay in ruins…”
I stood over the plate of hematopoietic stem cells that I had unintentionally annihilated in a single stroke.
I stared at the lifeless petri dish before me, wondering how I could have come so far only to fail so spectacularly. I could hear the “Ka-ching” of research dollars tabulating the cost of my massacre.”
This was a terrific hook! Besides being both funny and relatable, it also starts pulling the reader into wanting to know more: How has he come so far? What happened next?
College Essay Hook Pro Tip: If you’re telling a story, what’s the most interesting or dramatic place to drop your reader in to get them invested in what’s happening? Start your essay from there!
Help! I’m Getting Stuck Writing My Hook!
It’s easy to get stuck trying to come up with the perfect hook for your essay!
If that happens, don’t get hung up on it! Just start working on the rest of your essay, and come back to your hook later.
Oftentimes, just getting into the groove of your essay and feeling into what it’s about will start getting your writing juices flowing. Once you have a first draft of the rest of your essay, it will be much easier to come back and write your perfect hook!
Need more help with your college essays?
Check out my college essay coaching!
And for additional help with your college applications, check out my college admissions consulting and college interview preparation and coaching.
Not sure what to write about for your college essay? Learn what not to about write about in your college essay and the college essay topics to avoid in my new blog.
Check out my blogs on popular college admissions topics like:
What Not to Write About in Your College Essay
9 Good Questions to Ask During Your College Interview
How to Write a College Essay About Leadership (with Examples!)
How to Write a Medical School Interview Thank You Letter or Email
How to Write the NYU Supplemental Essay (with Examples!) [UPDATED FOR 2024-2025]
How to Write the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Supplemental Essays (with Examples!)
How to Write the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) Supplemental Essays (with Examples!)
