In defense of the stereotypical teenage job, if a student packages it right, it can be a huge help for admissions. An essay reflecting on how a student dealt with lunch rushes at a Taco Bell near a business park can prove to be an outstanding insight into the strengths of the applicant. Not to mention, there’s a great deal of value in working at a place where many people do not have college degrees and are making well below the poverty level.
By the way, when I applied to colleges one of my essays was an IMO hilarious reflection on my time working as a dancing mascot. I got into a couple of reach schools and one match actually commented that they admitted a professional superhero (what I had to dress up as) in a letter detailing who got in. Would this have worked for Harvard? I don’t know. However, of my friends that did get into ultra-selective schools, many took the stereotypical teen jobs during the summer or school year.
@Whenhen “In defense of the stereotypical teenage job, if a student packages it right, it can be a huge help for admissions. An essay reflecting on how a student dealt with lunch rushes at a Taco Bell near a business park can prove to be an outstanding insight into the strengths of the applicant.”
I would say that working the register and dealing with unreasonable customers would be one of the best possible experiences a marketing/client service person. Frustrated customers in a business are a lot like frustrated customers at Taco Bell. In fact, I would say that these people skills and managing human “situations” apply to any job where you have to interact with other humans, which is pretty much all of them. However, I think that in order to guide the Adcom to that conclusion you would need an artfully crafted essay. Still, I think it could be done.
Aren’t admission committees sensitive to privilege issues here? Many families can’t afford the expensive summer programs. Also the kids at D’s high school who landed interesting summer internships all did so because of parental connections. My D went to a relatively inexpensive one week engineering camp at our local university. It basically convinced her that she didn’t want to be an engineer and was more interested in public policy. She wrote about that in her Common App essay and one of the admissions officers remarked on it at Pomona Admitted Students Day.
Admissions committees seem to be very sensitive to these issues. Generally, high priced summer programs without competitive admissions don’t have very much impact, if any. Anything that is competitive, that shows initiative and sustained effort, that can be related to a long-term interest or direction, that builds desirable habits and qualities, or that results in funding or compensation will generally have a positive effect.
It’s may 30th Tomorrow. Is it too late to enter a Summer Program, Summer Internship or let alone get a Volunteering Position for anything Science/Health Related?
Elaborate on “Start Ups” Do you mean Startup Companies? How do I distinguish a start up from another. And is pro-bono a reference to unpaid internships?
I look at paid employment in high school as providing a valuable education in life skills. My children started working at 16 to feel good about getting a paycheck, for learning to be responsible, showing up on time, dealing with customers, getting performance reviews from supervisors, etc. I saw their self confidence and poise greatly improved from these experiences. They were so excited to apply on their own, prepare resumes, go into the interview, and then celebrate when they were hired. Movie theater and camp counselor jobs. They proceeded to work part time in college and to win prestigious paid summer internships as college students. They do well in job interviews. And I think much of that relates to their experience working while in high school. They got to go to the colleges of their dreams and earn merit aid, without ever going to summer academic programs. And we had a deal with them. We covered tuition, books, room and board. But all other expenses [entertainment, Uber car, food off campus, spring break trips etc,] at college were on them. They saved up enough money from their high school and college jobs to cover. They understand the value of money and what it takes to earn it.
I’m a rising senior and for the 2nd summer in the row I am doing an unpaid internship at a local clay art center. I love it and it’s good experience heading in to elementary education(a lot of it is assisting with summer camp classes). Probably not CC prestigious but oh well. I think doing anything productive over the summer s good weather it’s a minimum wage job or an elite summer program.
I would think internship would look the best, although a camp relating to your career could be helpful. I think a summer job would look good, too, although not as prestigious as an internship. I don’t really think that’s fair, though, because many smart students could never afford these camps.
I think all three of the suggested ideas are better than doing nothing during the summer. My D did two summers in a row of precollege courses. One was competitive, but by far, the main purpose, as far as we were concerned wa that she would be forced to interact with strangers and make friends with them. It worked, she had a great time both summers. We hope it looks okay on her college applications, but as she now has an acceptance, she doesn’t care.
I also think it is far more important to take family vacations if possible. My son wants to work this summer, and he may, but if it interferes with our vacation, tough. Family memories can’t be replaced, and a summer job is only temporary.
It really depends. BTW our city offers low paid internships to rising seniors - every summer the building department has a couple of kids who help file plans and such. My kids did a variety of things different summers. The oldest one took a summer course in one of those programs for high school students (computer graphics and game programming) because it was related to his interest. Later that summer he job shadowed in the computer industry. The following summers he had computer programming jobs. Younger son had no interest in computer programming but was quite proficient in 3d modelling and worked for an architect one summer. He ended up in IR, but it certainly didn’t hurt him to have a real job.
Some kids need the money and you can learn a lot from even a menial job. Some academic programs are prestigious and some aren’t but can still be helpful if they further a student’s particular interests. Some jobs are better than either internships or schooling. My older son was doing the same work that people who’d graduated from college were doing and got recommendations from his boss saying so.
Family travel, experiences like Philmont (Boy Scout high adventure camp in NM doing 100 mile trek in 10 days), there are many ways to spend a summer and craft a good college essay. Or if you need the money … work … I am somewhat skeptical that working fast food will change anyone’s life outlook and the $8 per hour may not make a big dent in a full-pay family EFC. Avoid spending the summer playing video games and watching TV.
Trying to game the system by picking the ideal summer activity seems similar to taking 12 APs in subjects you are not interested in.
Doing something inspiring and interesting during the summer … and enjoying life a bit … seems better. And working on those college essays, they take a long time to conceptualize and write well.
For the OP, this seems like a silly question , go take that free (I assume with $10K) CMU class. It sounds like a great opportunity, CMU is a great school, and you can impress people academically since it is likely a real program (we had one student take a class at CMU and she is at Stanford).