The high school
The essay
The connection
The hook
The background
The interview
None of those things alone get a student into college. They can influence a decision in some cases, but they don’t have the power to change an admissions “no” into an acceptance.
So be wary when someone claims a student “got in because of…,” however that sentence may finish. Unless they were in the room when the decision was made (or they’re a high school counselor who had communication with the admissions office), the person making the claim doesn’t know the real story. And the real story is rarely just one chapter.