I read an article on PrepScholar and to have a chance at acceptance for the most competitive schools you should be well rounded yet have a large spike.
My grades are currently all perfect 7/7 (IB System) and I’m an international sophomore (Asian male) in France.
My passion is medicine/neuroscience which is why I have created the pre-medicine society at school and also a member of a neuroscience club at school. It’s sort of impossible to further develop this spike as Intel ISEF doesn’t have competitions in my regions and there are barely any science/math competitions I can enter.
However, I also really enjoy exploring cultures and volunteer at the Asian Culture center in my region and have an Instagram account where I post images of Paris and explain its cultures.
Will it be okay for me to apply to biology/biomedical engineering but have a spike in a different region?
My opinion is that spikes are nonsense. Do the things you enjoy doing. Be involved in them. Write a great essay. Get excellent teacher recs. Have great grades and test scores. Be sure your supplemental essays show that you understand what that college is about. Hope that the admissions officer who reads your app likes you and thinks you have something to offer the college. That’s the “secret” to getting in. And no, it doesn’t matter what you declare your major in, for the most part. Colleges know that kids change their majors all the time.
“It’s sort of impossible to further develop this spike as Intel ISEF doesn’t have competitions in my regions and there are barely any science/math competitions I can enter.”
You’re thinking of “spikes” and ECs as things you do by attending organized activities. But colleges don’t view ECs that way.
You do not need to win a contest or participate in an organized school activity to research, do to a project, to spend time developing your skills in an area of interest. Sorry to repeat myself on multiple threads, but this topic has come up several times today. My son was admitted to a tippy top school mainly because he did very interesting research and projects outside school, clubs or camps - on his own. He did extensive research, developed a project and eventually used that project to land a really awesome job. That job, independent project and amazing reference from his employer were his primary EC/“Spike”. He did very little within organized clubs or school type events.
If you are interested in developing your knowledge of or skills in medicine or neuroscience, do it. Make your own project, develop your own experiment, do your own research. Not because it’s a spike, but because you’re interested. You don’t need a contest, you don’t need a club… just do it.
