<p>S. did the summer camp route - first as a camper then a counselor and I'm convinced it helped him tremendously as a person and as an applicant. He built on the experience and was able to present an application that showed he pursued that interest and had responsibilities for younger kids. It was powerful and I would highly recommend it (for the growth experience). </p>
<p>I've always been suspect of the 'going to Romania to help orphans' kind of e.c. and if adults reading applications can't see what's behind it (Mom or Dad's checkbook) then I wouldn't want my kid at that school. Seriously. What exactly are American teenagers, who often don't have language skills of the country they're targeting, contributing in the short time they're there? It's eye opening for THEM but I wouldn't believe for a second that they're contributing except perhaps to the tourist economy (and that is important). I'm really jaded about this one when there's certainly much to be done here at home. I would hope that admissions people reading an application for a student who spent his/her summers working recognizes the commitment, maturity and skills that go into holding down a steady job and understand if that student hasn't put in 1,000 hours community service.</p>
<p>Re: NHS. Oldest wasn't inducted until fall of senior year and had to do very little to maintain the honor. Youngest is in JHS in 9th grade and has had to plan carefully to fit in her c.s. hours amidst her e.c.s. On top of that, she's also in math and science h.s. with their own requirements. It seems to me it's kind of double dipping - the grades speak for themselves and multiple honor societies are a bit of overkill.</p>
<p>My younger S is one of those NE camp counselor kids, has attended the same camp since he was seven, and has made lifelong friends there. He is returning this summer as a junior counselor (they are finally paying him, versus us paying them). He just had to write a resume for his AP History teacher. He is asking for recommendations from teachers over the summer, since he will be applying to several schools with early action and rolling admissions in the fall.</p>
<p>You can see his committment and passion from his work history versus his school related EC's. Has worked as a snowboard instructor and soccer ref., spent last year as an assistant group leader at an afterschool program every day after school. He is wonderful with kids, a favorite cousin and babysitter all around. He has learned a great deal from camp, and is looking forward to working those 24 hour days this summer surrounded by his closest friends. Wouldn't miss it for any other summer program, regardless of how it much effect his college applications.</p>
<p>D passed up a better-paying and easier job as lifeguard at a health club to work at one of NYC's large public pools. She views this as commun serv since the city NEVER has enough life guards and, as a result, some of these pools (often the only oppty for indigent, inner city kids to get swim lessons) never open or they open w/ shorter hours and for a shorter season. D is troubled, however, b/c she has no glitzy community service exp, like her friend, who signed on for an int'l service proj in Tanzania or other classmate who attended a global development summit last summer.</p>
<p>I've advised her not to worry and I'm certain that any adcom will understand the value of her work. Never the less, it certainly seem unfair that a kid who takes $7K trip to Africa to build schools gets "service" credit (can't believe that the African town wouldn't be better off w/ the $140k instead of 20 unskilled teens and their counselors/handlers) for scholarship purposes while D (and other kids from less affluent families - many of whom have to work) don't even qualify.</p>
<p>Also, I wonder whether adcoms and scholarship sponsors are aware of the new trend of parents satisfying their child's commun serv req by $ donation? (standard formula: # hrs req for commun ser x $6/hr).</p>
<p>Don't assume that adcoms are dumb (or that they don't get the NY Times in Ithaca or Hanover or Evanston). My kid wrote an essay on how to get frylotor grease out of a fast food uniform. It was hilarious and seems to have done the trick.</p>
<p>My kids have met students from across the economic spectrum at college; some of whom did expensive programs and teen tours in HS, some of whom worked in a family business or cleaning fast food restaurants (my kid). I don't think adcom's punish kids from modest means as long as the application is honest and distinctive. And anyway..... since when do colleges require community service for admissions? It seems to me that's a local concoction from the same people who eliminated the academic honor role.... gotta make it easy for the B and C students to get recognized too, you know....</p>
<p>Last year I travelled to a well known private school in my metro area for an information session sponsored by several elite schools. The (obviously very wealthy) parents in the audience were asking whether or not there is, in fact, reverse discrimination regarding participation in programs like these. The clear impression I got is that just as the student who works all summer to save the money for college is an impressive candidate, so may be someone who had the opportunity to live, work and learn the language in another part of the world, for example. The ad officers came right out and said that it's all about making the most of your resources. </p>
<p>LOL, and cynic that I am, I don't think these institutions are exactly running and screaming at the prospect of some of these wealthy (read full freight paying, donation giving) families attending their schools!</p>
<p>That said, I've heard and read numerous sources (info sessions, college books etc.) that say it is considered quiite cliche to actually write your college essay on your summer as a camp counselor or your community service trip to (fill in exotic location here). In my limited experience, schools are not into discriminating against those who are fortunate enough to do these things - they just don't want to read yet another essay about them!</p>
<p>I think that the good news is that people worry too much about having the perfect summer resume. A student who comes across as engaged and active all year round, will be able to pretty much pick and choose how they want to spend a well balanced summer.</p>
<p>My son wrote an incredible essay on a specific aspect of his summer camp experience - but never mentioned that it took place at camp ... as that was not the crux of the essay.</p>
<p>Our son was a life guard at the community beach down the street throughout hs. He got to hang out with friends, get the summer tan and most importantly have fun as a teenager. Yes he took the SAT's in middle school and qualified for the CTY programs but never opted to take any summer courses for precollege students sponsored by JHU.</p>
<p>These laid back summers allowed him to relax and decompress from the hs grind, reinforce friendships, make new friends, participate in our church's youth mission projects and be a carefree teenager.</p>
<p>Sure, his summers were not about resume building. But that would not have been a genuine picture of him at this time in his life. He loved the overnite hoot-n-annies with friends, gigs with his band, hiking the AT and nitetime canoe excursions on another nearby lake.</p>
<p>This summer he is at the "Tute" taking a summer course and working with a prof on several OSP projects gratis. These choices has allowed him to experience a relatively stress free youth directed by his primary interests at the time. And yes, he intends to return home in July to resume work with the band.</p>
<p>.<<....for example, Putney Student Travel, a private company, offers a five-week summer program of seminars at Yale and a trip to Cambodia to address poverty issues for $6,990 >></p>
<p>Am I the only one who finds this more than ironic? What about just sending the $6,990 per college student directly to a family in Cambodia
"to address poverty issues." Every major American city and plenty of rural areas also have "poverty issues" that need addressing --what about sending kids to inner cities as literacy tutors, workers in soup kitchens, etc....</p>
<p>I agree with Thomas Sowell (you can read the whole book here! <a href="http://www.amatecon.com/etext/cac/cac-toc.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.amatecon.com/etext/cac/cac-toc.html</a> ) Kids should not do EC's and community service to build a resume to get into college. Period. Do what you can cuz you like it or you want to help people. Let the college admissions chips fall where they may. And Sowell is right that admissions committees are arrogant to think that they can judge kids' whole characters, instead of looking only at objective criteria like their grades and test scores.</p>
<p>I've always had trouble with community service that involved "communities" thousands of miles from where the student lived and cost several hundred to several thousand dollars to boot. How a student presents their local community service work on an application or scholarship can make a difference. DD designed a community service project, sought funding (wrote to local organizations), presented her project, received funding, got other kids involved using NHS (since they needed comm. serv. hours it was a win-win deal), and delivered the project creations to the designated recipients. The supporting organization gave her 3 checks for project materials totalling less than $500. The project was carried out over 2 years and 2 local organizations - local daycare shelter for homeless children and the police domestic abuse program - received the creations (stuffed animals). Not a huge project and maybe not the largest impact compared to other students' projects elsewhere, but her counselor noticed and she received several scholarships, local awards and citations, especially for her leadership of the project. This project did help in college apps where schools were offering/asking for leadership awards/examples as well.</p>
<p>NOw I admit I think the program that my daughters inner city school has to third world countries to help them set up computers and learn to run them is great <a href="http://www.emeraldcityrotary.org/c4w/%5B/url%5D">http://www.emeraldcityrotary.org/c4w/</a>
but for example all these people that rush to indonesia or india after a major disaster with no training and without being afliated with a group?
Those "helpful" citizens are going to have to be fed- housed etc- and I understand their intent, but I have found that the most I can do- is to give money and support to those groups who know what they are doing- it is just more efficent :)
I also am a fan of giving to your community
I think we can be pretty removed from others that don't share our "lifestyle"
Older D went to a prep school that was fairly pricey- while she was on finaid, some thought being deprived was not having cable.</p>
<p>When she was about in 7th gd- her class spent a week on the streets of Seattle. Working in food banks and shelters- walking to and from all over- trying to find public bathrooms- interviewing homeless and eating along side them in soup kitchens. They did have an indoor place to sleep- but the rest of the time they were on the streets. It was pretty enlightening for my daughter at least- who had never talked to a homeless person before- although I do know people who have been homeless at one point.</p>
<p>I still am a fan of requiring community service- I realize that to some they will just do it to get it over with- but I also think that some who never thought they would get anything out of it, get a lot.
My daughters school required 100 or 200 hours- which is more than the public schools who require 60. But for someone like either of my kids- who are fairly quiet and shy- community service is something that is slightly scary- putting themselves in a new situation, that they aren't really required to do- not like school.
Having it be required- got them to start thinking about what they would like to do, even before high school, and helped them find the motivation to find something they would really enjoy, and they have gotten much out of it.
IT totally changed my oldest- and I see my younger daughter gaining a lot as well, and I expect she will be even further changed after her month volunteering at a residential camp as a jr counselor</p>
<p>We don't allow them to decide what their graduation requirements will be- I don't have a problem wih requiring a minimum amount of community service- but then I think every one should have to give two years of community service after high school or college. :) ( govt supported)</p>
<p>Even when affiliated w/ an organization, a large portion of the $ generated by foreign "service" programs goes to the organizer. I maintain that with the $5-7k per student that such programs charge for providing unskilled teen labor, many of these communities could hire indigenous skilled labor.</p>
<p>nyc, I agree completely. My husband and I have made that very argument many times to an organization we belong to, but it has fallen on deaf ears. People like the idea of their kids traveling on someone else's dime, coming home to talk about how the experience changed them forever while showing their photos which represent only the most extreme of conditions, and then listing on their resume that they built homes on a garbage dump in Mexico or repaired some indigent family's home in Appalachia. To them, the important thing is their kid's experience--it's really just another type of summer camp. My husband grew up in a third world country that was and still is very popular with missionaries, and thus is quite cynical about this sort of thing. But these trips have become so popular that some charitable organizations are becoming rather overwhelmed handling the influx of "helpers."</p>
<p>And yet, we NEED American high school students to travel. Due to a combination of America's status as a superpower and its relative geographical isolation, many Americans are just not aware of the complexities of a global community. In Europe, for example, being multilingual is completely normal and spending a weekend in another country with a completely separate language and culture is ridiculously easy to do. (Just hop on a trian for 20 euros and spend the night for another 20 at a youth hostel). As a result, I've found my high school peers in Europe much more informed about world events as well as more open to nuances than the average high school student in America. This apathy to international politics and trends will prove (and is proving) to be an enormous stumbling block unless the youth and future of America get out there into the world, learning about differences and how to appreciate them. I say this as a high school student who just came back from senior year in Italy on a basically full-ride scholarship. It's not a cliche to say that programs abroad can completely change one's outlook, because it certainly changed mine and opened up doors I never would have considered before such as psychology and international relations. So, while I understand that it is financially illogical to spend five thousand dollars to send a teenager to another country for community service, please understand that the benefits are real. Not only the student gains understanding, but the people he or she comes into contact with in Europe, Asia, or South America will also learn as well. Building a true international community, one founded on peace and understanding, begins at these extremely personal levels. It's a balance.</p>
<p>Summer adventures must be done because the student genuinely wants to, not so they can get into HYPSM... but this doesn't mean they are bad experiences when done for the right reasons. This summer (I'm a hs junior) I am attending a 6-week long summer program at Carnegie Mellon. Why? If I didn't go, I would most likely teach myself Java instead of swimming or riding horses; an instuctor/group of students can help smooth the learning curve. Why do I want to know Java? It's fun!</p>
<p>While paying thousands of dollars to volunteer in a desolate location does seem ironic, not all programs are expensive. The summer program I am attending provides free room/board/tuition - all you have to do is get there... Some other programs I looked at offer financial aid.</p>
<p>I think this article is way too protective, talking about kids stressing out about doing community service. Its not that hard i'm a junior and i already have more than 150 hours in community service while having a job since freshman year and being an IB student. If you want to feel stressed out, try doing your 3500 word IB extended essay in one month will having to work and do dual enrollment, but i'm not really complaining because I've known for more than three years that the summer of my junior year would be hell.</p>
<p>I did community service because I wanted to work for my high school's IT department. With tech support jobs coming throughout the summer to give me some extra cash, the service project allowed me to do something I loved every day while getting some good hours for it, plus some more computer experience. Also, it was a lot more beneficial to me than working at McDonald's or the grocery store would have been.</p>
<p>I got in NHS probably just based on the community service. I took no APs whatsoever in high school, and I was mostly involved in the computer and video areas--my athletics came outside of the school where I could focus less on the competitiveness of high school sports and more on just playing for fun (I was in a rec league for basketball and baseball).</p>
<p>And I don't think NHS made any difference with college apps, unless you count the fact it was obvious I took no AP courses.</p>
<p>If anything the community service made me very popular in the school district among administration and faculty. It's always good to be on good terms with everyone and for good reason. Also, I met my best friend on the job doing service, so that was another benefit of the job. However, I honstly think I'd be in the same position I am now as far as college is concerned if I had just chosen to be lazy those summers or maybe just found a job somewhere else.</p>
<p>Either way, find the thing that best fits you during the summer. Coming a musical background, I would do music camps (Northwestern, Governor's School, Honors Bands, etc.). The summer before my senior year, however, I had more time to do more stuff because I transfered to Andover and we have longer breaks. So, since I was curious in continuing my spanish, I went to Costa Rica for four weeks, in addition to doing my 5 week music camp. It was an amazing exeperience, and I wouldn't take it back for the world. I enjoyed it, that's what mattered, and didn't exactly feel stressed.</p>
<p>Community service...I kinda do think that's important. Admissions or no admissions, it's just important to understand what it means to be a community servant, because these are what the future leaders of today are - community servants (or are supposed to be....Bush...lol). I would do a lotta musical things, like teaching kids violin, or tutoring, or mentoring. Just stuff I liked, not because it looked amazing on a resume. You know what...forget the resume.</p>