<p>So, I don't have any plans for the summer: that is, plans that can be written down on a college application. You see, I wanted to dedicate my summer to three things</p>
<p>1) Reading as many books as possible, to improve my writing skills, and prepare for AP Literature (next year, senior year)</p>
<p>2) Studying like crazy for the fall SATs. I'm aiming for a 2200+</p>
<p>3) Preparing for AP Calculus - I'm not a very strong math student, so I wanted to try to master/self study the first few units of Calculus before the class begins this fall. </p>
<p>Now, I've always done things over the summer - internships, volunteering, Model UN, etc, this will be my first summer where I don't do anything except personal enrichment. Would it be all that terrible if I had nothing for this summer in terms of extracurriculars/job/volunteering/etc?</p>
<p>I need my senior year to put me over the top right before college applications in that, if I prepare enough over the summer, I think I can achieve a 2200 SAT and hit the top 10 (or top 2%) for class rank.</p>
<p>Did you really just ask if personal enrichment is better than preparing yourself to write a college application?</p>
<p>What do you mean, halogen?</p>
<p>^^
Since when is studying for the SAT personal enrichment, though?</p>
<p>He means don’t sell yourself to get into college.</p>
<p>“Personal enrichment” I guess is the wrong phrase - more like, academic enrichment. I’m not soul searching, just beefing up my stats.</p>
<p>It just sounded weird in the OP. =p</p>
<p>What you described sounds like some great things to do for the summer, especially preparing for calculus. I should have worked on my math skills in the summer before college; I needed that before starting multivariable calculus.</p>
<p>Before single variable calculus, it’s a good idea to focus on perfectly understanding the ε, δ definition of limits, how it is used to define the derivative, and the definition of a Riemann sum. It’s especially helpful to be familiar with those before encountering them in class.</p>
<p>If you learn how to take a derivative and an integral, you’ll have pretty much learned 70% of calculus.</p>
<p>If I were you, I wouldn’t be worried.Time off to study for SATs and to get ahead in classes is valuable.</p>