How to create a “spike”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right now, pointy kids are what is looked for at top schools. But in 3-4 years, who knows? They may be back to wanting well rounded kids. See what happened with test optional? Let your kid be who they are and follow their interests. It’s too hard to game college admissions.

What is the motivation for colleges? I.e. why do they want a certain type of student (“pointy”, well rounded, etc)?

[Anonymous]

There is no such thing as a spike.

[Anonymous]

my kid had a natural pointy interest - what is your kids interests?
STEM (what EXACTLY with stem), writing and music (What kind??) - you need to flush these out.

1. Get concrete, specific hyper-focused activities that the kid is actually interested in. Could be blogging or youtube or volunteer, but kid-driven.
2. Discover national organizations, other ECs that are related to 1 above.
3. tie to an academic area (once you do 1 above, this part will be easier).
4. find match schools (some good ones mentioned above)

OP - have you been back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your kid passionate about? What would they do when no one is looking around? If given two weeks or two months with no supervision, how would they fill their time?

The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

OP - if you answer this, someone can offer real suggestions....without it, well, there's not much to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your kid passionate about? What would they do when no one is looking around? If given two weeks or two months with no supervision, how would they fill their time?

The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

OP here. Thanks everyone for the answers.

DD loves math and does a fair share of math programs and competitions. She does it in her free time for fun (personally that seems crazy to me! 😅)

Her other main hobby is playing the piano, which she does for a few hours a day and has been doing for many years.

She loves to read, but doesn’t have much time for it. She likes movies too.

These are all activities she enjoys but is not extremely good at. I would place her at the state/regional level for math and piano. She has interests but isn’t crazy good at anything.

[Anonymous]

Why do you think she's entitled to attend a T20 school over thousands of similarly situated applicants?

[Anonymous]

Piano, math, reading, and movies. Sounds like a typical teen with pretty common interests, which is just fine! Let her be instead of trying to mold her into some ideal specimen.

[Anonymous]

Saying that attending a T20 school is someone's goal or dream is kind of like saying you want to have dinner at a Michelin 3-star restaurant - but you don't care about the location, the cuisine, the time of evening, the menus, the number of guests you can bring, or any food allergies. You just want to eat at that 3-star - whether or not you might actually enjoy it - just because everyone else there is spending the same amount of money as you are and had the same amount of trouble scoring that reservation.

Might it not be better to aim for a 3-star restaurant that really appeals to you (favorite cuisine, beautiful setting?) and then have some 2-stars and 1-stars in line as well where you could have an evening you'd really enjoy and that met your tastes and your interests?

It all depends on whether you want to remember enjoying your special meal or whether you want to try to impress other people by telling them you ate at that 3-star, regardless of whether you actually liked it.

There's nothing wrong with dreaming big, but ultimately you still have to match the college to the kid. Just because a school is T20 or T30 or T50 doesn't make it good if it's not the right school to help your student reach their full potential. Believe it or not, not everyone at Ivies is cherished, and nit everyone thrives, and not everyone graduates on the verge of lifelong wealth. Find the school that will let your kid become the best version of themselves, OP, and be proud of what it will do for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your kid passionate about? What would they do when no one is looking around? If given two weeks or two months with no supervision, how would they fill their time?

The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

OP here. Thanks everyone for the answers.

DD loves math and does a fair share of math programs and competitions. She does it in her free time for fun (personally that seems crazy to me! 😅)

Her other main hobby is playing the piano, which she does for a few hours a day and has been doing for many years.

She loves to read, but doesn’t have much time for it. She likes movies too.

These are all activities she enjoys but is not extremely good at. I would place her at the state/regional level for math and piano. She has interests but isn’t crazy good at anything.

I would encourage the Math and Music. Then look at MIT / Cal Tech when she's won a couple of Olympiads

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you think she's entitled to attend a T20 school over thousands of similarly situated applicants?

Who said she was entitled? She’s not. I simply want to improve her chances of getting into a T20 because she wants to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your kid passionate about? What would they do when no one is looking around? If given two weeks or two months with no supervision, how would they fill their time?

The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

OP here. Thanks everyone for the answers.

DD loves math and does a fair share of math programs and competitions. She does it in her free time for fun (personally that seems crazy to me! 😅)

Her other main hobby is playing the piano, which she does for a few hours a day and has been doing for many years.

She loves to read, but doesn’t have much time for it. She likes movies too.

These are all activities she enjoys but is not extremely good at. I would place her at the state/regional level for math and piano. She has interests but isn’t crazy good at anything.

I would encourage the Math and Music. Then look at MIT / Cal Tech when she's won a couple of Olympiads

Okay, thanks. Is it possible to win olympiads when you are not a genius? I’m worried she won’t reach that level and will feel disheartened. Can average kids achieve these national titles with just hard work?

[Anonymous]

Then why does she deserve an improved chance of getting into a T20 when so many others have the same or better credentials?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your kid passionate about? What would they do when no one is looking around? If given two weeks or two months with no supervision, how would they fill their time?

The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

OP here. Thanks everyone for the answers.

DD loves math and does a fair share of math programs and competitions. She does it in her free time for fun (personally that seems crazy to me! 😅)

Her other main hobby is playing the piano, which she does for a few hours a day and has been doing for many years.

She loves to read, but doesn’t have much time for it. She likes movies too.

These are all activities she enjoys but is not extremely good at. I would place her at the state/regional level for math and piano. She has interests but isn’t crazy good at anything.

Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but she'd have to be pretty phenomenal on piano to be regional/state level. Those kids practice 3 hours/day and have played since 5. Of, course, if that's her, go for it! But, if she is good but not competitive with the crazy level of competition for that instrument, think about other ways of using piano -- accompanying chorus or the school musical, playing for children's programs or seniors, etc.

Maybe she gets interested in physics and sound and uses her musicianship to help her research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your kid passionate about? What would they do when no one is looking around? If given two weeks or two months with no supervision, how would they fill their time?

The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

OP here. Thanks everyone for the answers.

DD loves math and does a fair share of math programs and competitions. She does it in her free time for fun (personally that seems crazy to me! 😅)

Her other main hobby is playing the piano, which she does for a few hours a day and has been doing for many years.

She loves to read, but doesn’t have much time for it. She likes movies too.

These are all activities she enjoys but is not extremely good at. I would place her at the state/regional level for math and piano. She has interests but isn’t crazy good at anything.

I would encourage the Math and Music. Then look at MIT / Cal Tech when she's won a couple of Olympiads

Okay, thanks. Is it possible to win olympiads when you are not a genius? I’m worried she won’t reach that level and will feel disheartened. Can average kids achieve these national titles with just hard work?

Of course not, because the above-average kids and geniuses work hard too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your kid passionate about? What would they do when no one is looking around? If given two weeks or two months with no supervision, how would they fill their time?

The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

OP here. Thanks everyone for the answers.

DD loves math and does a fair share of math programs and competitions. She does it in her free time for fun (personally that seems crazy to me! 😅)

Her other main hobby is playing the piano, which she does for a few hours a day and has been doing for many years.

She loves to read, but doesn’t have much time for it. She likes movies too.

These are all activities she enjoys but is not extremely good at. I would place her at the state/regional level for math and piano. She has interests but isn’t crazy good at anything.

I would encourage the Math and Music. Then look at MIT / Cal Tech when she's won a couple of Olympiads

+1 these two could be a winning combination - left brain/right brain.

Study the bios and backgrounds of other
candidates on Reddit to get ideas. There’s so much out there…