<p>I want to get a job at a local supermarket for the work experience it will give me, and because money. I'm not really interested in spending large amounts of money to go to some summer program at a university, not am I interested in having to compete to get into the extremely competitive programs. So, will getting a job be a good idea?</p>
<p>It is not a bad idea as long as you are able to articulate your objectives and intentions in your College application. For e.g to lessen my college loan burdens i decided to earn and save for my college and gain experience in Division X of the retail sector blah blah. There is no rule that you have to do research or spend time in an university setting. Working in the local store or volunteering in soup kitchen is good IMO.</p>
<p>What kind of question is this? Is getting a job a good idea?</p>
<p>Like, obviously working is better than being idle, and not just for the purpose of college applications, which should not be your primary motivation for any sort of summer activities you engage in. Working is a productive use of one’s time, you learn new skills and about interpersonal relationships in a professional context, and, of course, you get paid. Additionally, having “worked at Local Mom & Pop Shop” obviously ‘looks better’ on a college application than having done nothing at all. Not everyone can afford the price tag of summer programs – even the relatively inexpensive ones are typically several thousand dollars, and not everyone will get into those programs that they want to participate in, either, so there’s obviously no shame in working for the summer, especially if you can neither get into nor finance a “summer program at a university”. But, like, I don’t really know what you’re asking, because I don’t think you need an Internet forum to tell you that working at a job is an all-around better idea than doing nothing all summer.</p>
<p>^^ jumping to conclusions ? He/She didn’t say working vs staying idle.</p>
<p>Well he didn’t mention any other alternatives. He framed it as, “I can’t/don’t want to get a position at a university – Is working a good idea?” The assumption is thus that there aren’t any other major options he’s considering, so, duh, working is better than nothing. If there are other options on the table, you gotta mention them, so we can consider “working vs. other options”, but if you don’t mention any other options, there’s not much for us to assess except the fact that working is a positive thing.</p>
<p>IMHO, working at a store is better than spending thousands of dollars of your parents’ money to go to some program.
But there are things you can do in addition to working, like volunteering.</p>