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Module 1 This is your starting point -a clear-eyed look at what this guide covers, who it’s for, and why it exists. If you’re wondering whether the college admissions advice you’ve been following is actually right, you’re in the right place.
In this chapter:
  • Why we created this guide (and what’s changed about admissions)
  • Who this guide is for -and who it’s written to
  • Who we are and why we have strong opinions about this process
  • What you’ll learn across all 5 modules
  • How to get the most out of this course

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Why This Guide Exists

If you’re the parent of a high schooler, you’ve probably felt it -the growing sense that the rules of college admissions have changed, and nobody gave you the updated playbook. Good grades used to be enough. A long list of activities used to help. Being “well-rounded” used to be the goal. None of that is true anymore -at least not at the schools where admission is most competitive. The strategies that worked a generation ago now produce exactly the kind of application that gets lost in a pile of 50,000 others that look just like it. And the advice most families are following -from counselors, from other parents, from college prep forums -is often years behind what’s actually happening in admissions offices. This guide exists because you deserve better than outdated advice and vague reassurances. We’re going to show you how elite admissions actually works today. Not the sanitized version. Not the marketing copy. The real mechanics -how admissions officers think, what they’re screening for, and what separates the applications they fight over from the ones they forget five minutes later. More importantly, we’re going to give you frameworks and tools you can actually use. This isn’t theory. It’s the same system we use with our private clients -families who invest thousands of dollars in the strategic roadmap you’re about to get for free.
A heads up: Some of what you read in this guide will challenge assumptions you’ve held for years. The admissions landscape has shifted dramatically, and the conventional wisdom hasn’t caught up. Stay with us -the data is clear, and the strategies work.

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Who This Guide Is For

We’re guessing you’re here for one of two reasons.
1

Your child is strong -but indistinguishable

Your child is already a strong student -great grades, solid activities, the kind of profile that looks impressive on paper. But you’ve started to realize that “impressive on paper” describes tens of thousands of other applicants too. Your worry isn’t that your child isn’t good enough. It’s that they’re indistinguishable from everyone else who’s also good enough. You’ve seen the rejection statistics for students with perfect scores, and you’re thinking: what are we missing? What does it actually take to stand out?
2

You're accomplished -but this process is opaque

You’re someone who’s navigated plenty of complex, high-stakes systems in your career -but U.S. college admissions feels like an entirely different universe. The process feels opaque. The terminology is unfamiliar. The advice you’re hearing from other parents, counselors, and online forums doesn’t add up to anything coherent. You don’t need hand-holding -you need someone to lay out how this actually works, clearly and honestly, so you can make informed decisions for your family.
Either way, you’re in the right place. This guide is written entirely for parents -not students. When we talk about building a profile, developing a , or navigating the admissions process, we’re talking to you as the parent who wants to understand the landscape and support your child strategically. This guide was built for parents who are smart enough to know that the standard playbook isn’t working -and motivated enough to learn what actually does.

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Who We Are

We’re Hari Iyer and Ro Arora, the founders of Spike.
Hari Iyer, Co-founder of Spike
Ro Arora, Co-founder of Spike
I (Hari) am a Stanford MBA with three decades of experience building and exiting companies in the automotive industry. My partner Ro is a finance and operations leader who spent years as a Partner at a tech-focused private equity firm. We’ve raised hundreds of millions of dollars, co-founded two startups, and have spent the last decade at the intersection of education and entrepreneurship. But the credential that matters most here? We’re parents. Parents who went through the same anxiety you’re feeling right now -watching our kids navigate the admissions process, wondering if we were doing enough, worrying about things we couldn’t control. We solved the problem for our own children by giving them frameworks to follow their genuine curiosity and build real-world impact around it. That approach worked -our kids earned spots at top colleges, despite not being academic superstars. We’ve helped hundreds of students develop distinctive spikes and earn admission to top universities. Everything in this guide comes from that hands-on experience -every framework, every strategy, every example is built on real work with real students and real outcomes.

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What You’ll Learn

This course takes you from understanding how elite admissions really works to having a concrete action plan for your child. Here’s what’s ahead.

Module 1: The New Admissions Reality

Why perfect grades and test scores aren’t enough. How elite colleges actually evaluate applications -including the three lenses admissions officers use and the venture-capital mindset that drives their decisions. Plus, the four most common mistakes that kill applications -and why being “well-rounded” is the most dangerous strategy in modern admissions.
The unspoken hierarchy admissions officers use to weigh your child’s activities. Our framework, a hands-on evidence audit, what real spikes look like vs. manufactured ones, and detailed case studies of students who built compelling spikes and earned admission to Princeton, Stanford, Brown, and more.
Our proprietary -a step-by-step framework for taking your child from “I don’t know what to do” to a validated, college-worthy project idea. Plus, the common pitfalls that derail families and how to avoid them.
What the first 30 days of spike-building actually look like. How to document evidence in real time, and grade-level playbooks for 9th through 12th grade -when to start, what’s realistic, and how spike-building fits alongside GPA, test prep, and everything else.
How your child’s spike shows up in every part of the application -Common App strategy, spike-centric essays, recommendation letters, and school-targeting strategy to align your child’s strengths with the right colleges.

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How to Use This Guide

This guide is designed to be read in order -each module builds on the one before it. But we know you’re busy, so here’s how to approach it based on where you are.
If you have the time, start at Module 1 and work through to Module 5. The course is structured as a strategic arc: early modules change how you think about admissions, middle modules give you frameworks and tools, and later modules reveal the execution reality. The full journey is the most valuable experience.
Pro tip: Keep a notebook or document open as you read. Many chapters include reflection prompts and exercises. The families who get the most out of this guide are the ones who actively engage with the material -not just read it passively.

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What Other Parents Are Saying

“I was ready to pay thousands for a college consultant, but this free course gave us direction we never expected. I was skeptical, but all the content about what colleges are actually looking for and the strategies about creating a ‘spike’ were exactly what we needed.” -Maria C., mom of high school junior
“Came across this at just the right time. My daughter was feeling pretty lost about what made her stand out -she’s good at everything but great at nothing. The specific strategies in this course about creating a ‘spike’ changed our entire perspective on college apps. It helped us find her ‘thing.’” -Emily S., mom of high school junior

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Let’s Get Started

The next chapter dives straight into a question that surprises most parents: why do students with perfect grades and test scores get rejected from top schools every single year? The answer will reshape how you think about your child’s application.
Up next: Why “Perfect” Applications Get Rejected -the data behind why “good enough” isn’t good enough, and what elite colleges are actually screening for.