Would that be considered as a spike?

I’ve done an experimental study in Psychology in my sophomore year, and got invited to the semi-finals of the most prestigious contest in my country, then got a silver medal in the semi-finals.

Next year, I’ve done another experimental study in Psychology and got invited to the semi-finals again, but didn’t make it to the top 3. Every year, 5 or 6 papers are getting an invite to the semi-finals on average.

In my senior year, I’ve done another experimental study in Psychology and published it at an international conference. I’m also preparing it to publish in a prestigious journal but I can’t guarantee that it’ll pass peer-reviewing.

I’ve been selected to be in a research team, funded by the European Union, and coordinated by the best private university in my country. The research field is experimental economics, so it’s pretty similar to psychology too.

I’m going to write my personal statement on ADHD.

My intended majors are neuroscience and business. Should I make it psychology and business to make it more compatible to my spike?

Hi Berkay,

You’re doing a great job on your spike! Neuroscience is close enough to your spike that you don’t need to change your major. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be in a great place!

Christine

Hey,

Thanks for the reply! It’s relieving to know that I have a spike. Some people tell me that I will look like a robot to officers and I need to add some extracurriculars to show them that I’m a human and I should be more well-rounded.

What activities would you advise? I’ve managed a few research teams and got a leadership course once but people still keep telling me that I need to add “leadership extracurriculars”. What can I do in this context?

Sincerely,

We have some articles just about that! They actually explain why you don’t want to be too well-rounded and how colleges like it when a student’s passion is super clear. Here’s the two I think would be most helpful for you:

Oh, and I want to add that detail; I’ve read over 2,500 volumes of manga until today and watched more than 4,000 episodes of anime (a total of these two makes almost 11,000 hours), so I’d be the one who can very well represent an anime fan and can administrate an anime club. I think that side of my personality would be great when you think about schools’ “diversity” perspective

Thanks for your reply again.

I’ve read the articles. Unfortunately, in my country, almost none of them can be achievable. But, I have another idea. Can administering a forum with 150k visits a month be considered a leadership extracurricular? It’s a specific type of forum (an anime -Japanese cartoon- forum, to be more precise) and I’m planning to write my supplemental essays in that particular type of interest, starting/reviving an anime club.

Does that sound interesting? I can imagine my interest in anime (and solid examples of how can this affect the school) can add a flavor to my application, but maybe it’d be so saucy.

I’m waiting for your reply, sincerely.

That sounds great; I think you should go for it!

Christine