<p>I’m interested in whether you think there appeared to be any interest whatever at the admissions office in how you spent your summer vacations. Did you all save the rainforests or create successful start-up companies, or did you stay home and watch cartoons?</p>
<p>I had a part-time job. I don't think I did a single intellectually-stimulating thing.</p>
<p>I sat on my ass until August, when I randomly got hired (randomly as in I went in for a bagel and they offered me a job) at a coffeeshop. That was it. Brown never asked what I did anyway.</p>
<p>i did some volunteer work, research, and had a few part time jobs.</p>
<p>i did the summer@brown program for 3 weeks, then i went back to work at my 2 jobs (a learning center - brains are a necessity - and a minigolf course/ arcade - brains are a hassle!;))</p>
<p>I had a part time job last summer and went to debate camp the past two summers, but I don't think I told them about the camp.</p>
<p>my impression is that if you do something remarkable during a summer it can certainly help you stand out, but if you don't it will not hurt you because unless the summer experience is the focus of your essay (or you bring it up in the interview), it usually only gets the attention of a line on a list in your application.</p>
<p>Dizzymom, I am not an ED acceptee but I will speak to your question anyway. I am a parent and am also an alum interviewer for a selective college. I also have a daughter who is a freshman at Brown. </p>
<p>I think the answer to your last question is that a student's summer experiences need not be at either extreme of the continuim you describe. I think there are perceptions on these forums quite often that summers need to be spent in some kind of academic related pursuit and that is NOT the case. On the other hand, "staying home and watching cartoons" is also not going to look too good. </p>
<p>Rather, colleges would like to see kids engaged in worthwhile activities in which they have an interest. These can be almost anything. It may mean a summer program revolving around an interest area (need NOT be academic), academic courses (if that's your thing), a summer job, travel experiences, and any kind of significant experiences. This often comes up in a college interview. I know I ask students how they spent their summers and only look for some type of involvement in something that interests them and I don't mean TV and hanging out with friends. </p>
<p>With my own kids, they annotated their summer experiences on their resumes in a category titled: Summer Experiences. With one of my kids, a current college applicant, I believe a couple of her essays (lost count, she must have written at least a dozen) did deal with her summer activity only because her summer activity happens to be directly related to what she is going to college for (musical theater). Otherwise, I don't think a kid must write about their summers but should cover them on the resume and in the interview or other parts of the application. </p>
<p>Neither of my kids did academic pursuits in summer. Speaking of summers in both middle and high school, the kid who is now at Brown, spent four summers at a six week overnight program that focused on performing arts, though she combined her love of musical theater, dance, waterskiing and tennis there. She spent another summer on a six week travel program throughout the western US/Canada and Hawaii. She spent another summer on a competitive tennis tour of Europe and when she came back she did an internship in a local architect's office as she is thinking of majoring in architecture and wanted to learn more about that field. When she graduated last June, she worked two local jobs for summer. </p>
<p>My current applicant has spent her past seven summers attending six weeks at an intensive overnight theater program and it has turned out that that is the field she is going into in college and beyond though I would not have known that when she started attending there at age nine. </p>
<p>I can emphatically state that my kids never selected their summer activities with college admissions in mind. They chose to get engaged in things they wanted to do. They simply documented these activities when applying to college but college was the last thing on their mind when they participated in any of these endeavors. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>I did nothing other than to enjoy my vacations.</p>