Advice on spike for college? [music, writing, but wanting to go into pre-med]

Applying to College
1

Hi College Confidential,

Sophomore here. It’s probably a bit early to be on this site, but I thought I would try and ask for advice on my spikes.

I want to go into pre-med with a major in science, but the issue is my spikes are in music and writing. For example, I have, among other smaller awards:

  • National YoungArts Merit Winner in (musical instrument)
  • National YoungArts Merit Winner in (writing)
  • Scholastic Art and Writing National Gold Medal
  • A couple top prizes or semi-finalist/finalist status in well-known international (musical instrument) competitions
  • Performances at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall
  • Participation in prestigious summer music festivals
  • Section leader of youth orchestra that has toured internationally

None of these are remotely related to science or medicine in any way. I have tried cold emailing for research but no professor in my area has responded, and there are only two universities with research going on within 30 miles of here. I don’t think I will be able to get to do research during high school.

I’m a member of my school’s Science Club, Future Health Professionals Club, and I’m the founder of our Red Cross Club. I’ve been playing music at a cancer center near me since I was 7-8 for patients and recently started volunteering for real. The summer after my junior year, I think I will be able to get a paid internship at my local hospital.

I’ve performed well in my AP science and math courses (good grades and test scores in AP Calc AB, predicted straight-A’s and 4-5’s on Biology/Chemistry/Physics this year) and I have a 4.0 UW GPA otherwise. The thing is, I’m not sure if this is enough to actually demonstrate interest to colleges. Is there anything else I can do to show colleges that I’m more than just good at music/writing?

I’m at a loss for what I can do to boost the science/med side of my application. Thanks!

2

I feel that you have a lot of science/med-related activities. Besides, spikes don’t have to be just one thing, they can incorporate multiple interests, as you do by playing music at the cancer center.

3

“Spikes” are overrated, and are not the “winning” strategy that everybody thinks they are. In fact, there is no real “winning strategy” except work hard and do well.

At most colleges, there isn’t really anything called “pre-med major”. You are accepted to biology, or biochemistry, or engineering, or any number of undergraduate programs. Once you are accepted, you take courses which are recommended for students who will want to pursue a medical degree. Most students who think that they want to be doctors and take a pre-med set of courses decide to do something else.

So no, you really do not need to have ECs related to medicine. It helps if you have a good academic background in biology, so AP Chem, AP Bio, P Calc, but what you have done is more than enough.

The point of ECs isn’t, in most cases to demonstrate that you have a passion for a particular field, but to demonstrate that you are more than a grade machine.

The reason that people think that a “spike” is good, is because the most popular colleges like to accept students who have awards, and, for most students, that means focusing on a narrow set of activities, because being good at something usually requires time and effort. These colleges also like to see passion, and, again, there is only so much time that a person has, so that usually leads to a “spike” in activities.

However, some people have two or three very different passions, and the ability to engage heavily in all three. Other people have not yet found a central passion, and so engage in three or four activities. These students are also considered seriously by popular colleges.

In short, you are doing absolutely fine, and if you continue doing exactly what you are doing and what you plan doing, you will be very competitive for almost any college out there.

Furthermore, since the most important factors for being accepted to medical school are GPA and MCAT scores, there are literally hundreds of colleges where you could get an undergraduate degree which will allow you to be accepted to a great medical school.

However, there is a very large chance that you will not end up applying to medical school - only about 10% of male students who start colleges with the aim to be a doctor actually apply to medical school, and only 3.5% of the women (though more than twice as many women apply to college as pre-meds than men). Of these, only 40% end up attending medical school.

So plan under the assumption that there is a good chance that you will find yourself doing something else than being a doctor, mostly because there is a good chance that you will lose interest in being an MD while you are at college.

Again - there is absolutely nothing else that you need to do except keep on working hard, continue these exact ECs.

You should keep pursuing an internship in a research lab. Not because you need it to be accepted to a good biology program, but so that you will have an idea what research looks like. If biology interests you, it is more likely that you will end up in a research related position than as an MD, so it’s good for you to be familiar with alternative careers for people who are interested in science.

Good luck, and keep up the good work.