I didn't have a spike. Here's the essay that Harvard admission officers LOVED. | College Lead 

Give it a different ending, surprise the admissions officer

Hello as a senior currently applying for college here is what i’ve been told :) they kinda all work together harvard expects you to have good grades but making sure to have a strong extracurricular schedule will only strengthen your application as well as having a strong essay and interview so they can get to know you a bit and

GPA is the most important, but a good GPA won't get you in by itself. The interview is definitely the least important of those 4. Yale for example does not use the interview at all when deciding to admit you or not.

extracurriculars and grades

Going along with what everyone else said, it's a conglomeration of all those things. Grades are good, but so is everything else. The essay alone can actually count for 10-30% of your application, so that kind of goes to show that it's not just academics. As for ECs, spike or no spike, the thing they are looking for there is passion, intellectual curiosity, as well as how you've personally spent your time. Serving your community, demonstrating leadership, and self-motivation are all good qualities to aim for. Also, coming from someone applying this fall, just remember that it's very much a lottery and that *if* you don't get in, it's not a reflection of your worth, nor does it mean your hard work was for nothing. I know it's really easy to get fixated on one particular school, like Harvard, but try to keep your options open, especially since you're so young and (hopefully) your interests will change/expand. You seem like a very driven individual, so I'm sure you're going to do great things, regardless! Best of luck to you, and apologies for this being so long by the way.

@@chemicalmilkshake Thanks! This really helped and good luck:)

Haha yep!

Hey Luffy, what specific question do you have?

@@CollegeLead Nothing. I'm just chilling.

😎

@@CollegeLead I'm just curious. And kinda surprised. With the growing problem of student loan debts, or so I have heard, people still consider college in the states?

​@@luffywest I shared my thoughts in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uHy3GaHotPY.html