Both my kids are in top schools. They both went to public school, probably one that dcum parents would look down on. They did their applications pretty much by themselves. We always discussed course selection for high school as a family because we liked going through the catalogue (i didnt grow up here so find the process fascinating). They took our input sometimes but mostly did their own thing. One kid leaned towards languages and excelled in those (voracious reader since age of 3), taking a gap year after high school to pursue learning a language in a foreign country. Her empathy for all people amd animals, her love for fairness, has led her down the path of Global studies, minoring in languages, possibly a diplomat or lawyer in the future. Her extra curriculars were sports and being in the writing center helping other kids. Second kiddo was born an artist and daydreamer. All her extra curriculars and electives in high school revolved around art. Both played sports for 12 years. Neither of them the greatest at it but both of them excellent team players. Neither of them worked in high school, we were lucky enough that they didnt need to contribute to the family income and neither of them were into starbucks/lululemon life that many of their peers needed to work a job to fund. Ha. Anyway, all this to say, their spike is who they are. If you know your kid, you know their spike. You cannot mould them, only give them direction. The spike will reveal itself if you just look at them with curiosity and openess. It may not be a spike YOU like, but it doesnt matter. Be their #1 cheerleader, its the privilege of a lifetime to get a front row seat to our kids lives.enjoy the ride.

And we wonder why our kids are growing up stressed with more and more mental issues. Just read this thread it will tell you everything you need to know. Imagine the pressure that these kids are being put under to represent some perfect vision their parents have for them...holy shit its disturbing - how about we let our kids be kids.

Anonymous wrote:

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

+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…

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/s/Bgt9aGxwl3

good example of a spike for the person looking.

Ask your kid a hypothetical question, if they take away devices for a day what would they want to try or learn for no other reason than curiosity? Then ask them how would they go about doing it (without access to internet, not even for a map)? If they can’t, they need to answer the first question with something they can figure out on their own. Go from there and then give her a day to do it. You can do it with her. What would you do? Start exploring your area differently together. Go DO things. Get off DCUM and explore with your kid.

Anonymous wrote:How can you create a fine art thing in 11th grade? Kid didnt do music because covid totally gutted the piano thing, wanted to do dance but had ankle surgery that also sidelined her 2 years. Trying to figure out how just the love of the arts can be created into the app

You can’t manufacture it. It’s based on their interests.

What do they do in their free time? Expand on those natural interests. What would they do if they had 2 hours/2days/2 months with nothing to do?

How can you create a fine art thing in 11th grade? Kid didnt do music because covid totally gutted the piano thing, wanted to do dance but had ankle surgery that also sidelined her 2 years. Trying to figure out how just the love of the arts can be created into the app

Anonymous wrote:No idea where this kid falls as far as grades and rigor, but she sounds like a well-rounded above average kid. The reality is those are a dime a dozen, and it just seems you are trying to force this spike/T20 thing. I’d take it down a notch and be more realistic rather than setting your kid up for disappointment (yes, she can still aim high but be very realistic about target schools and learn to love them).

And she may very well get in to her T20 with that background. But she may not. And if you haven’t built everything up around that goal, she will take her delightful sounding self to her target or safety and excel. In other words, do not pursue the T20 as the end goal. That way lies madness.

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.

OP, the dichotomy of Stem talent/interest plus a deep involvement in a fine art is extremely common at my kid’s ivy. They all seem to have it or something similar. This includes the premed stems and the engineers. Very few of the engineers are hooked so it provides a mostly unhooked admitted stem group(athletes and certain other major hooks are not in engineering, for the most part).
Stem plus a deep fine art is also very common at other schools that are T30-50 and common destinations from our area. The main difference in the kids who are at the ivy is that they had very different transcripts: love the challenge so took the hardest courses, grades are top of class, and seem to be naturally good test takers who have always been 98-99th%ile (the schools here do nationally normed tests all through , and the top score kids get into the highest math level in 3rd grade, or school sends info to parents on summer programs like TIP—so people know who the top kids are). By now, you should know where your kid is on nationally normed tests unless your kid has never had any testing. If they are naturally in that top 2% they are the type of kid that will rise to the top of high school easily and be noticed by teachers, and if they go to T20 will likely do well there. If they dont get in, and MANY of these kids dont, they will absolutely excel and stand out at their T30-50 and do very well because they will easily be the top 10-20% there

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.

They are 14. What did we do when we were 14 when no one was looking? We hung out with friends and did as little schoolwork as possible.

It was perfectly age appropriate.

Sadly, 14 year olds don’t do much of this anymore. They’re either being shuttled around by parents, building a narrative. Or they’re in their rooms staring at a screen of some sort.

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.

They are 14. What did we do when we were 14 when no one was looking? We hung out with friends and did as little schoolwork as possible.

It was perfectly age appropriate.

Anonymous wrote:

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

+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…

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/s/Bgt9aGxwl3

Wow, thanks! That’s basically my kid, lol- same summer programs and everything.

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?

If you tell someone they're not a "math genius" they'll live up to that expectation. Anyone is capable of anything they set their mind to. There's recent studies on this but I can't post you a link because its something I've heard about in conversation, not online.

Anonymous wrote:No idea where this kid falls as far as grades and rigor, but she sounds like a well-rounded above average kid. The reality is those are a dime a dozen, and it just seems you are trying to force this spike/T20 thing. I’d take it down a notch and be more realistic rather than setting your kid up for disappointment (yes, she can still aim high but be very realistic about target schools and learn to love them).

100% spot on.

No idea where this kid falls as far as grades and rigor, but she sounds like a well-rounded above average kid. The reality is those are a dime a dozen, and it just seems you are trying to force this spike/T20 thing. I’d take it down a notch and be more realistic rather than setting your kid up for disappointment (yes, she can still aim high but be very realistic about target schools and learn to love them).

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

+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…

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/s/Bgt9aGxwl3