2
3 years ago
Admissions Advice

What is an extracurricular "spike"?
Answered

What is an extracurricular "spike"? I have seen this term being used very frequently but I can't seem to figure out what it means. Can someone please explain?

spike
extracurricular
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Accepted Answer
3 years ago

A spike is like when a big athlete is going through a season where they are playing their extreme best and winning all the games, and everyone can easily say that was their best season.

It's an activity in your extracurriculars that will show how your other activities led up to one big amazing extracurricular. This "spike" can be winning a national competition, maybe starting a club in the major you are interested in, or a project you have been working on that became successful.

Admission councilors will know when they see your "spike" if you spent a great deal of time on this activity or if it is something other applicants might not have.

For example, when creating my spike I was in a lot of programs related to science and now I'm creating my school's bio club in which I'm the president. This might be my spike.

When finding your own spike this article by College Vine helps a lot.

https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-find-your-college-application-spike/

Wish you the best of luck :-)

6
6
3 years ago

An extracurricular "spike" is basically when you spend all of your time and effort that certain ec. For example, you could have arts as your spike.

Basically, your application and your achievements should try to revolve around that spike. Going back to the art example. You could create an art-related non-profit or win 1st place at an art competition, or even begin to sell your art.

Finally, your spike should try to be a bit unique from other people. You want to set yourself apart from other people!

Hope this helps

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