I’m currently a junior in high school. I have a 3.89 GPA, 4.8 weighted, am taking tons of AP classes, I’ve been in marching band all of high school and am on leadership, I’m in the math club to tutor and am thinking about doing leadership next year for that, and I volunteer at Give Kids the World. I’ve read that top tier schools are looking for things that make you stand out because all the applicants will have what I listed before and I’m really into programming so my “spike” was going to be apps that I’ve made. For the sake of this question lets assume that everything that I say after this I’m able to achieve even though it would be very difficult. Let’s say that I can make a couple good apps that demonstrate ability to code and belief in a cause. One example I am considering is a political app to contact congressmen and get involved in issues. I would craft a story in my application about me being inspired by my repulsion of the current political landscape in the US.(please no political answers) I could also make a 2D game and could make it decently complex. I want an original concept though and I have a few in mind. My goal is to release those and a couple other ideas to the app store by mid July. I would then move to advertise for whatever I have released trying to grow the user base and get featured in as many place online as I can. The larger I can grow the user base the more impressive it is on the application. If I can achieve this, is that a good enough “spike”?
Update: Also, I forgot to mention that I had wanted to go to WWDC (Apple’s developer conference) this year but I am unable. If just making a couple apps is an insufficient spike then a conference could be something else I could to do supplement that. Also if the apps are not enough then what are some things I could do in that realm that would help with my spike? I am already doing programming club and competition next year.
Impossible to say. I would suggest doing things because they inherently interest/inspire you rather than considering how much of a “spike” affect they will have.
Thank you for the advice! I guess I am thinking about this in the wrong kind of way. I do enjoy programming and would want to be doing at the highest level I can anyways regardless of college. What would be the best way to use this to my advantage though and make programming look professional and impressive to Stanford rather than just like some thing I’m doing for fun?
Stanford does not look for something to be necessarily “professional” or “impressive.” As long as you genuinely pursue your interests and show some dedication, you should be fine
@BobG4422, if an adcom member told you that your activities wouldn’t be enough of a spike to make a significant difference, would you stilll do them because you are so inspired by them? Do you want to make apps and attend developer conferences because that it what turns you on, or because it will make you look more “professional and impressive to Stanford?”
The most impressive things are generally those that you do because you are inherently inspired to do them, not because you want to impress anyone.
Agreed with the above - do activities because you enjoy them not because of how they’ll look on an app. Adcoms, and alumni interviewers will easily see through faked interest rather than genuine intellectual vitality. It reflects negatively on an applicant.
we’re all saying the same thing… have a consistent theme… you’re all over the place. if you are into politics then run for student body president… get involved in local politics… AND then your political app is consistent with developing and furthering your political interests in a more novel and unique way.
if you make a political app, a gaming app, go to a developer conference… you’re a hacker. Stanford gets enough of these applicants to fill a stadium.