<p>Like normal people, I chilled my past two summers, which doesn't give anything significant to say in my suppliments' personal profiles</p>
<p>A summer program, internship or job, can show your interest/passion for a subject, project, or activity. It can show you are motivated to stay intellectually challenged, or motivated to save for your college costs. </p>
<p>Two summers of “chilling” may indicate indifference, apathy, and an inclination towards fun over work, perhaps not what top colleges are seeking.</p>
<p>fauve is correct, it may be interperted that way, but it depends on the colleges you are looking at, more competitive, higher expectation of having used the time to further interestes or helping others.</p>
<p>i didn’t see that summer programs helped much with college apps; the people who got into summer programs were amazing in the first place and other amazing people who decided to “chill” got in as well in the same percentages.</p>
<p>I don’t think it can hurt you. It only enhances the application when you show that you have intellectual enthusiasm outside of the classroom by taking summer classes/programs.</p>
<p>fauve’s post may be the most arrogant thing I have read on CC to date.</p>
<p>If youre going to a top tier university it will certainly help, since quite a few of the people youre going against will probably have had jobs or internships.</p>
<p>however, its just plain stupid to think that colleges will view you as apathetic for not doing something academic during the summer. good god, it’s SUMMER, so be a teenager and enjoy it. you can do both, of course, but do what makes you happy.</p>
<p>The importance of a summer program can depend on a number of factors, including: the selectivity of the school, what you did instead lieu of going to a summer program (internship, working, etc.), which summer program (selective scholarship program vs. expensive non-selective program), and what’s on the rest of your application. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer.</p>
<p>instead of summer programs, I’m going to do a physics internship in the spring in condensed matter. To me, I strongly oppose working 364 days/year. I see it as a time of refueling so that I would have the motivation to punch it full speed ahead when fall arrives. On the supplement, would it be appropriate to say that? It asks “how have you spend your last two summers?”</p>
<p>internships are good, but i don’t think it will hurt you specifically if you just chill.</p>
<p>if you go to a summer program i don’t think it will help, unless its one of those super prestigious ones like rsi, tasp, etc…</p>
<p>This depends much on your goals and the level of schools you are applying to. You didn’t say.</p>
<p>I’d always say that enrichment is a plus. Anything that shows your long-term interess is valuable. It does not mean a paid program at all. It means something you did to further academic interests, sports interests, dramatic interests, musical interests. Pretty much anything that interests you that you do.</p>