<p>I got a full scholarship to go to Namibia this summer with National Geographic Student Expeditions. It will be a group of about 22 students and we will work on various wildlife conservation projects with local experts. This is the career field I want to work in, so I am incredibly excited.</p>
<p>My mom is trying to convince me that this amps up my college app a lot. I am going to apply to different top-tier schools this fall and would appreciate any extra incentive to accept me. But I question just how much something like this helps. A lot of students go on summer programs; my own one obviously includes 21 other people. I won't be conducting original research, just aiding and observing others'.
What kind of summer programs stand out? How can one make them stand out on college apps? I already know I will be writing my Common App essay on something else. Thanks for the input!</p>
<p>It’s interesting I suppose. I really don’t think going on a NatGeo Expedition will be helpful at all, but winning the scholarship is a nice perk for your application.</p>
<p>Work experiences, research, internships, etc stand out for summer. Things you have to pay to participate in, probably not.</p>
<p>Re: pancakes response, so all these 1-3 weeks courses at various colleges in different disciplines such as engineering, journalism, etc that you pay for and in many cases you have to “apply” to get in are not necessary or do not help any more than working a summer job at the local ice cream store and reading on your own? For those in the know about the admissions process please advise (we can all speculate but does anyone know what helps if you just can’t nab the internship at Facebook or solve world hunger over the summer?)</p>
<p>I mean, they aren’t useless, they show that you’re pursuing academics outside of school, but they just aren’t that meaningful at all. </p>
<p>If the program is selective at all, it helps. But if it’s just pay-to-get-in, it just doesn’t say very much. Not going to impress the people at admissions.</p>
<p>Now they can show interest. If you pay to do some 3 week program at X University, X University may view you more favorably, but Y University won’t really care.</p>