<p>This summer will be my sophomore summer of high school. I want to do something that will stand out to colleges (Stanford in particular) so that I may get in. I know that this summer will only account for a small part of how colleges view me, but I would like to know which of the following opportunities would look best to Stanford? (They all interest me):</p>
<p>-Chemistry internship at Stanford
-Chemistry internship at CU Boulder
-Business internship in Jakarta, Indonesia
-JSA summer program (AP Macroeconomics) at Stanford
-internship with a company that deals with chemistry within its products</p>
<p>(In college, I want to Major in business and Minor in chemistry.)</p>
<p>Most Stanford students have excellent ECs, many of them similar to what you’re considering. Do whatever interests you the most.</p>
<p>The most impressive summer programs are the free competitive ones. Anything that you spend a lot of money on is a negative and a job at a fast food restaurant often leaves a better impression than a job clearly got through connections.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I completely agree with Waverly that spending money on tuition is a negative, but I will agree that those community service trips abroad are mostly targeted for the monied and won’t necessarily do you any favors, especially if it’s not your typical M.O.</p>
<p>However, some of these science summers are very competitive and would definitely be helpful to one’s personal growth and perhaps provide some insight into their future. Most important however is doing something you really feel passionate about doing. Not for how it’s going to look on some college EC list. Spending your time trying to cross some T’s and dot some I’s as it applies to college is missing the point of a summer experience and I agree there is much insight to be gained from the regular job as well.</p>
<p>I do think however that getting some exposure to college campuses this summer is a great idea. Son never did one thing that was a academically based during HS summers, HOWEVER, we did send him to some lax camps in between his team tournaments. The best thing about that whole summer was that he got to see enough college campuses (take tours, see what’s required) that he ended up very unsure if he even wanted to play lax in college and, although always a great student, his grades shot through the roof junior year… just in time to make the best impression to colleges. It became more about the SCHOOL to attend vs his ability to play a game at just any school. </p>
<p>Net net: Do whatever it is that you love… you’ll always get more out of the experience. He’s now a MBBC major at a top LAC headed for dept honors and has spent the last two summers in totally academic arenas.</p>