Ideas for Best Way to Spend Summer?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school in Southern California. What do you think is the best way to spend the summer? I'm getting the general impression that expensive residential programs costing thousands of dollars are not worth it and may harm your college app rather than help it. I am simply interested in making the most out of my summer to prepare me for the college admissions process, SATs, APs, college in general and perhaps a medical career. What different types of activities should one consider during one's summer? Should I consider community college, classes at a university, volunteering, a part-time job...?</p>

<p>Are the NYSC National Student Leadership Conference programs worth it? What about the People to People Future Leaders Summit? </p>

<p>Does anyone know about the ASA (Academic Study Associates) summer programs? I'm signed up for the CAA (College Admissions Advantage) program, an 11-day residential program at UC Berkeley (and also various universities including UMass-Amherst, Emory, Oxford). </p>

<p>Thanks for reading. I will definitely appreciate input on any of these inquiries.</p>

2

<p>Just get a job or travel. I don't know about most of the other people on this board, but I took some classes at Cornell last summer and had some summer homework. And when the school year hit I already felt burnt out from the first day. It sucked.</p>

<p>Edit: And when I say it sucked, I don't mean the class at Cornell, that was fine, I just meant feeling like I wanted to do about 15 minutes of homework and then go to sleep right when the year started sucked.</p>