<p>Work. It is not their child. I think generally they --colleges-- look at time spent vs time wasted. This is time well spent. It sounds like it is the best option for your family too. Lots of scholarships ask for work info as well as ec’s and community service. </p>
<p>Being a camp counselor displays leadership skills. That is a good thing. If she wants to in her free time she can prepare for the PSAT at her own pace. A high PSAT score can lead to good scholarships. She should participate in things she truly enjoys and what suits her. No need to follow the crowd. She should also be refreshed for the upcoming school year so that she can perform well. Junior year can be stressful. Community colleges are ok but some colleges may not accept the credits. She is better off taking some AP classes in junior year. </p>
<p>My child now a high school senior worked two summers as a camp counselor. She received a leadership scholarship at one college and also got accepted into their leadership development program. Some of the college essay questions or scholarship essays ask about work experiences, community service, and examples of how leadership skills were developed. </p>
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<p>I agree. Plus, I hear it’s fun 
I wanted to do it one summer in HS myself, even applied to one, but since I didn’t ATTEND that summer camp, those positions seemed to be all taken by former campers who outgrew the camp. </p>
<p>If your daughter wants to work as a day camp counselor it certainly isn’t going to hurt her in the college admissions process. In fact, many of the selective colleges like to see that a student has had work experience–work experience generally trumps a summer “experience” for which parents pay big $$$. </p>
<p>People believe it’s easy to be a camp counselor but it’s not. Counselors are given much responsibility and they can gain valuable skills from that experience. My daughter was a counselor for 5 years at the sleep-over camp she attended as a camper. I can’t tell you what a positive experience that was for her–she gained a great deal of self-confidence, especially from dealing with the parents of campers. She made life-long friends with whom she’s still in contact. She became so much more organized in her life after working at camp that a few of her high school teachers even commented on it. </p>
<p>My son spent his summers working at our local minor league ballpark, selling lemonade and cotton candy. He was in the IB program and loved the break in the summer. He wrote a great essay about how baseball was a metaphor for life and got into all the colleges to which he applied, including an Ivy. Let her enjoy her summers.</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior and I’ve worked as a camp counselor (in various settings) for the past five summers. If I don’t do it for a sixth summer then it’ll be because I got a job lifeguarding instead. I’ve had the option to look for a lab internship (I have a connection) and perhaps I will this summer, but there will be plenty of time for that in college. In the meantime, let her do what she wants to do, earn her own money, and have a fantastic time :).</p>
<p>Well, it looks like everyone on CC agrees that letting her work as a camp counselor is a good choice. The folks who say you have to do A, B or C to get into a selective school are usually wrong. The path to the right school depends on your personal interests and what you do with your opportunities. I think it’s great your daughter wants to work at a camp and to get a break from school/classes. You don’t want her to be burnt out before she even gets to college. My son worked at a local boy scout day camp his ‘rising junior’ summer. It fit with his interests, he loved being outside, he learned a lot about group dynamics and gained a new understanding of the workplace. It also did not hurt his college application process, he was accepted early to an ivy. So, don’t worry about what the other competitive people say, let your daughter venture on her own path.</p>
<p>She’s only 15–any kind of work is gravy. (My kids hang out at the neighborhood pool, play videogames, watch TV, babysit, mow the lawn, visit relatives, play sports, do a little summer reading/test prep…is that “wasting summer?”) </p>
<p>Another in the work camp… Leadership, follow-through, responsibility, all important for applications. </p>
<p>Most of those things you have to pay for just mark you out as another generic moderately rich kid.</p>
<p>Here is the scoop:
If your D’s friends are vying for HYPS, then yes, doing something very different/unique for summer might help their kid stand out from the sea of applicants. And NO, CTY or a community college class is NOT unique or unusual enough to be considered a stand out. So if your choices are CTY or CC or working as a camp counselor, I would say that all of those choices are equal.</p>
<p>As for language immersion, you might consider doing a big internet search to see if you can find any inexpensive program. You would have look “outside of the box” and not at any prepackaged deals. Maybe your school has a foreign exchange program? Work at an English as a Second Language class or school nearby? Volunteer at a location where there are non-English speakers? Function as a translator somewhere locally? A language immersion program that is organically cobbled together may be a stand out because it’s hard to set up. Your D could also do this during the school year rather than in the summer.</p>
<p>Lastly, to your D’s friends parents, HYPS is such a lottery that really, your D should do what she enjoys or is passionate about. For the 95% of kids who get rejected, sometimes they feel like all of their extra work and ECs were “wasted” and they feel depressed. How sad. It’s better to do the ECs that your kid wants to do. </p>
<p>Disclosure: My D attends Yale and had a more rare EC </p>
<p>Isn’t it funny that it’s the parents who search for these odd ECs that are supposed to show how much initiative and interest the child has?</p>
<p>Working is good experience and a great way to use time. Nevertheless, the summer before junior is critical for test preparation too. She should spare some time to do some practice tests over the summer too.</p>
<p>In my youth I worked as a day camp counselor for many summers. They were the best summers of my life. Enough said :)</p>
<p>I think working is superior to summer programs that aren’t selective (or even some that are somewhat selective). This kid is really too old to start going to CTY, in my opinion. (My kids loved CTY, but it’s too restrictive for older highschoolers, they felt.)</p>
<p>I think it sounds like a great plan. I’m sure it’s hard NOT to at least <em>consider</em> what these other families are saying, however, there is also nothing wrong with going for the experience that your daughter will look back on most fondly. And it’s a responsible, wonderful plan! </p>
<p>During an undergrad music conservatory scholarship interview, after D mentioned that she had worked at Target all summer, the interviewer said: “We like that. We like to give money to students who are also willing to work for it” And they did offer her a lot of money.</p>
<p>Sorry the “competitive set” in your town is a bunch of elitist snobs. My daughters were very fortunate enough to attended out of town summer programs based on their passions. Lucky them. I could afford it. A lot of their friends had to work during the summer because they had to. Jobs varied from bus girl to retail clerk. Those working kids are getting into some very fine schools. I think it is more important to show that you don’t sit around all summer. Attending an expensive summer program is more of a kudos to the parent that can afford it then the kids themselves…by the way…my kids are working this summer, they have to…I am making them pay for their books. Childhood is over. </p>
<p>The summer before junior year my D engaged in 2 activities that would be seen as what the "competitive set "does as it relates to this thread. I don’t feel the need to go into detail here but I just want to share that, while D had a meaningful summer on a number of levels, not one mention about anything she did made it into her college applications. Thus, working and earning money is always a plus and, I believe, seen positively by colleges and, two, not everything a student does during her high school years needs necessarily be referenced in a college application. Also, fwiw, my D is a hs senior and got into her ED school so, really, what you do the summer before junior year in high school is not a make it or break it thing!</p>
<p>Regardless of other the other parents in you town may think and even regardless of what colleges may or may not think, working at a camp over the summer will be a great experience for your daughter, and it’s an experience that she will likely be able to draw on in the future.</p>