If I have some summer activities that extended to the summer before 9th grade, would it be appropriate to indicate them on a college application?
I would not unless 1) they were something truly extraordinary (ex. won a national award or something like that) or 2) you continued the activities during HS.
I heard that you “round-up” summers for activities. For example, I participated in an internship the summer between my 11th and 12th-grade years, and, in the commonapp, I put that I did it over school break (summer) and my year of participation as 12th grade.
Here’s what collegevine has to say “If you participated in an activity over the summer between grade levels, choose the rising or later grade level (e.g., the summer between 10th and 11th grades should be listed as “11th grade”)”
@happy1 Yeah it’s something I’ve done for two more years while in high school
School districts’ fiscal year is July 1st through June 30th so I would say the summer before 9th grade is considered part of 9th grade. Nothing you do the summer after 12th grade will be on your applications. If you don’t count the summer before 9th grade you’ll have 3 summers worth of activities, not 4.
Not really. If it’s really significant to you there is always a section in the college apps that will state you put anything else about you that you want the colleges to know. There if appropriate you can state you have been doing “X” since the summer before 9th grade, if you feel that’s important. Keep in mind, colleges want to see 2-3-4 years of commitment in some area of interest. Not like 10 different activities for a few months or year each.
DD took a summer class in the summer between 8th and 9th grades, and it is going on her high school transcript, so yes, it counts as high school. Plus, she already had her 8th grade diploma in hand, so she couldn’t consider herself an 8th grader any longer.
Of course, whether colleges care about what you did that summer is up to each college, so if you think it is worth mentioning in an application, then do so.
My sense is that it is indeed counted as part of your HS tenure (you are a rising 9th grader, no longer an 8th grader at that point) and you should include activities during this time if they are either genuinely significant or part of an activity you continued through HS (sport, job, organization, etc) - in which case it’s just a matter of indicating you did this activity for 4 instead of 3 years.
Per the Common App instructions, activities from the summer prior are listed as part of the grade begun in Aug/Sept.
Whether such activities should be listed is a different question.
@Knowsstuff In my case, I have continued the activity in both the summer before 10th and before 11th grade, dedicating 200-300 hours per summer. Would this count as a 2-3 year stretch?
It would “count” as 3 summers.
Yes as stated. But keep in mind. Have a few things that your interested, passionate about and do them well. The amount of hours is nice but be able to write and speak about it with ease. Colleges want to see you an active participant in school or after school events. Then there will be a good chance you will be active in college also. Plus it makes you more interesting. Being interesting is very important especially in your essays.