our program

Launching a Spike requires maturity, the ability to execute, and a significant investment of time. Our coaches can also help students, who are interested, in developing these capabilities. Our Spike Coaching program is 100% personalized, so the time it takes to complete a Spike depends on each student. On average, a 10th or 11th grader takes about 1 to 1.5 years to launch a fully developed, high-impact Spike. Oftentimes, younger students are still developing their interests as well as their ability to execute. These are two reasons why they take longer to build a Spike, and our program is one of the most efficient ways to grow these capabilities. An exceptionally driven, mature, and self-aware 11th grader or rising 12th grader, who can dedicate more time to Spike Coaching, may launch a Spike in under one year. We assess how long a student may take to build a Spike during our consultation process.

All students begin with a 12-week Starter Package, which consists of weekly coaching sessions to gain momentum and create a solid foundation for their Spike. Upon completion of the Starter Package, students can decide if they would like to continue coaching full-time (weekly sessions), part-time (one session every other week), flex (on-demand sessions), or temporarily pause coaching.

We consider the student-coach relationship seriously because a positive and authentic connection is foundational to a successful Spike. During our consultation process, we recommend a coach for a student based on the following areas for best fit: personality, domain interests, and teaching-learning style. We go to great lengths to ensure that the student is paired with a coach whom she/he and has confidence in.

Admissions officers from highly selective colleges in the US often see students with similarly impressive scores, advanced courses, and extracurriculars. To stand out from this crowd, students need to demonstrate a compelling reason they should be accepted. Based on data released from the 2018 Harvard Admissions Trial, students who have a “well-rounded” profile have less than a 10% chance of gaining acceptance to Harvard, while students who have a distinguishing factor, like a Spike, have around a 70% chance of being admitted. A Spike must be “uniquely impressive,” which means that this project must align with a student’s individual background and interests. A Spike must also have a “real-world impact.” Creating impact within a community is especially difficult for a teenager to achieve, but this type of contribution is exactly what highly selective colleges like Harvard and Stanford look for. A Spike signals that your student will add considerable value to their college community and go on after college to have a major impact on the world. To learn more, check out our article on How To Get Into Harvard: Lessons from the Harvard Trial.

The coach is there to help a student answer all questions related to their Spike and to developing their admissions profile for college. We also encourage every student to ask about anything else on their mind. Our Spike Coaching program features all early college application support, which includes but is not limited to applying for opportunities during summer and winter breaks, securing internships, and preliminary college research. For specialized questions about college applications, a student or family can also book a concierge session directly with our Head of Admissions.