How to create a “spike”
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Anonymous
This is DCUM. Sure you can. |
Anonymous
| What is she most excited about? |
Anonymous
| Here’s a hopefully helpful post for you, OP. I have twins finishing their first year in college. When they were applying, one was very spiky and the other was a generalist. Sounds like you may have one of the latter, and that’s great! I’d have your kid lean into doing a breadth of activities at a contributor level (eg the school play, a rec sport, volunteering at the library), one activity at a leadership level (eg treasurer of a club) and then get a real job every summer. Then maintain rigor and high GPA, study for and do well on SAT/ACT. Finally, cultivate good relationships with a few teachers, coaches or other adults who can write personal and specific recommendations. That’s it! Forget the spike, it’s too late if it hasn’t revealed itself by now. My generalist is at a T5 school. Good luck to your child and enjoy the next few years; they go quickly! |
Anonymous
Finally, someone nice. Thank you. She is passionate about music, STEM (particularly math), and writing. Like I said, not very concentrated. She excels most at math but plays her instrument at a high level. Is there a way to connect or narrow down these disciplines? |
Anonymous
| Is everyone on this forum a nutcase? |
Anonymous
It’s honestly helped me calm down a lot about college admission. I don’t want to be like these crazy parents. |
Anonymous
This is why I keep coming back. To remind myself that I’m sane. |
Anonymous
+3 OP, in all seriousness, the way to make your child succeed is to mold to them - don't mold them to what you wanted at their age. I can not stress this enough. |
Anonymous
(or at your age!!) |
Anonymous
| The best spikes come from the kid's natural instincts and preferences, not from parental grooming. |
Anonymous
"We are aiming for T20s". Ugh. No advice except to back off and let her figure out what she's interested in. |
Anonymous
Does she like computer science? If she does, maybe computational linguistics or computational musicology? Volunteer as a research assistant at a nearby university or start a club at her high school in these fields? |
Anonymous
You can't just "volunteer as a research assistant." A high school student has no value to a nearby university as they have no skills, etc. They're a liability that some faculty are willing to take on, usually if they owe someone (i.e a family member) a favor. |
Anonymous
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A parent generally cannot manufacture a spike. It is something innate with the student, a passion that they are obsessed about - debate, coding, football, whatever, something they truly excel at.
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Anonymous
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Okay, op. A lot of the pps are rightfully cautioning you abt trying to gin up a “spike” in your daughter but want to caution you about something else-if she’s a 9th grader you have no idea what she will be like by junior and senior years.
Sure, she’ll still be smart, but other than that you really don’t know and it’s absurd to plan as if you do. Kids grow and change a lot in high school, often in ways that purposefully differentiate themselves from their younger selves (and their parents.) your avid musician could easily lose all interest in the French horn, pierce her nose, and devote all her time to becoming and influencer. Not that she will, but kids deviate in all sorts of ways from their apparent trajectory as freshman. You may think “no, not my special larla!” But I’m here to tell you, yes, your special larla. My best advice for the long term well being of your daughter is: chill. |