<p>" I can’t help but think (or perhaps just want it to be so) that hard work and commitment to certain activities over a number of years should count for something. " </p>
<p>They do. For some very competitive colleges (aka “lottery schools”), it may not be enough. But for the most part summer programs won’t improve the odds. Consider them if they would be useful for refining college priorities, making it easier to make “the list” of potential majors and colleges. Or if they would be a good “life opportunity”.</p>
<p>We have a couple of kids that applied to very selective summer programs but they each did 6-10 applications over a couple of summers. They both were very successful with summer acceptances at several programs mentioned above and said that college apps after that process did not seem daunting. </p>
<p>I know D’10 was helped in the admissions process. She had so much to talk about and everyone said she was a very interesting kid. S’13 says his interviewers have been very interested in what he did during his summers as well and he always takes along ‘show and tell’ items. He has been getting very positive feedback so far. We will know soon how it all turns out for him.</p>
<p>I say go for it if it is something that they want to do with their summer. We have two other kids that did not go this route and it was the right decision for them. The two that did were looking for the specific opportunities they applied for-we just helped them find options and let them do the rest.</p>
<p>Attending a summer program at a particular university will not help your admissions prospect at THAT university, except for service academies, where attendees are specifically evaluated. But attending the programs does tend to show an interest in learning in general and in a particular area of study, but colleges know that many applicants have to spend their summers earning money and cannot afforded the expensive summer programs at some universities.</p>
<p>I think paying for a summer program makes sense if the subject is something the student is very good at and interested in and if admission is selective. Gifted students who do not have many intellectual peers at their schools may find kids like themselves at summer programs run by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth and the like. Interacting with such kids may give them a better idea of their own abilities. I don’t think working at McDonald’s for the summer is a good use of time for most high-IQ youth, since it has little to do with their future aspirations. </p>
<p>I recommend the book “What High Schools Don’t Tell You” by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross for a discussion of worthwhile summer programs and how they relate to college admissions.</p>
<p>In following up with health/medicine related ECs and in response to a previous poster…yes, volunteering at a Hosp helps. As with what others have posted, the level if competitive selection or vetting to obtain a health related EC also has an effect on the amount that it is valued by the evaluators/ad coms. Thus, a ranking of med ECs might look like this: no involvement, volunteer at Hosp, shadowing a MD, working at drs without borders, working an an mD office, becoming an EMT, involvement in a lab, chosen for NIH, name on an abstract or presentation, name on a manuscript in a scientific journal. Of course, At the HS level, most ate able to get to the volunteer at Hosp level, which is ok but realize that there is no competitive selection here; mainly it shows initiative.</p>
<p>Jamaica is very much in need of medical care.</p>
<p>I disagree. It certainly helped for both my D’s at NYU. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have been accepted if they hadn’t been in summer programs, but it absolutely helped.</p>
<p>Friends’ DS enrolled in a summer program at a Midwest LAC last summer, his “first choice” college. Though the coursework itself was interesting, overall disorganized program administration, lackluster programming of (HS) students’ free-time, rundown housing, poor-quality food, shabby town, and otherwise desolate campus caused family to strike this LAC off their list. They were happy for experience, noting that DS saved himself a 4-year problem.</p>
<p>Think this was a prudent summer plan. Certain issues were flagged beforehand, but the “disorganized administration” problems occurred from initial contact to two months tardy report card.</p>
<p>There is nothing like having a minimum wage job. For starters, it teaches you that you don’t want to have a minimum wage job for the rest of your life. It teaches you that you need to show up on time, pay attention, and work hard. It teaches you patience. It teaches you about getting along with difficult coworkers, bosses, and customers. It teaches you gratitude and respect. It teaches you to not make snap judgements about people, and it teaches you that you can learn a lot from people who aren’t necessarily book-smart. </p>
<p>Here on CC we’ve heard time and again that adcoms actually LIKE seeing work experience. Heck, if you want to make your kid stand out, working at Mickey D’s is going to be far more unusual than a summer at Brown. Especially in recent years, when finding minimum wage jobs was very rough. </p>
<p>Would I have a kid turn down, say, TASP for 30 hours a week at Burger King? Nope. Would I lay out money I couldn’t afford for a summer study program because I thought my kid would lose out on college admissions if she had to take that BK job? Nope. Would I spend money I could afford to send my kid on a summer program that I thought would help their development as a human being, regardless of how it might look for admissions purposes? Absolutely.</p>
<p>That said, I agree that the programs that seem to get the most respect (and hence help the most for admissions) are free/no cost/paid and competitive. A resourceful and enterprising high school student might also do some legwork and find an unpaid but meaty internship. D1’s rising HS senior summer was split between an Earthwatch fellowship (free, competitive) and an internship at a local branch of a national nonprofit, doing policy research (hunted up on her own).</p>
<p>I would take that book with a large grain of salt. I know for a fact that it’s description of the Ross program is exaggerated and somewhat misleading. I lack personal knowledge of the other camps described in that book but I’m highly skeptical of its descriptions based on its description of Ross.</p>