Internship/research in area of interest (potential major) > job > volunteering > paid summer camp = sitting on the couch
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For research in area of interest also there are many paid programs now. Where a student is paired with a Professor or PHD student doing work in similar area and they help you with research and teach you how to go about researching. Not sure how college view this. They may not even know that you had help.
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We are planning to apply for a couple of competitive UC programs where chances of getting for a 10th grader are very low but want him to give it a try so he gets some experience with writing essays and stuff (you do need to write essay, submit transcripts and resume). I am not expecting he will get it its more for practice for this kind of thing.
Since S24 is not sure on major we are planning to see if there are some camps/internship opportunities that can help narrow down his field.
If we ca not find these he will probably do a summer job teaching tennis and may be do a course at CC. He wants to avoid doing a course in CC so hoping we can find something else.
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Forgot to add that neither D23 or D24 are thinking about Top 20-50 schools. And we have a firm budget that they have to come under with ultimate college choice (merit hunting for both, as we did with D20).
I do think applying to some competitive summer programs can be helpful in terms of getting experience of writing essays, asking for recommendations (and seeing the importance of creating and maintaining relationships to make recommendation easy to obtain), and in general strengthening those types of skills.
I would still only do it if the child has a genuine interest in the programs, as it is a lot of work and they will have time to learn those skills later on if not currently interested.
Volunteering is another idea for summer activities. And not necessarily something super organized. A ton of kids volunteer at Feed My Starving Children around here, a worthwhile volunteer activity but also something that has set hours and a fully set up system so many who volunteer there are just âgoing through the motionsâ to hit their minimum volunteer hours. If there is a cause your child is interested in supporting, doing some research and finding an organization where they can help beyond stuffing envelopes (or packets of food) might be a great way to spend the summer.
Is the UC program getting referred COSMOS? S24 wants to apply along with his friends, Iâm not holding my breath for it, but who knows.
S24 still doesnât know what he wants to major and hasnât shown any topic he is really interested in. so thatâs the challenge for us.
S22 was the same way in 2020 - not sure what he was interested in. He started working at a pizza place that May and worked for a year and a half. It gave him a lot of material for essays.
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@DigitalDad Only if they submit scores. That is why I donât recommend students submit scores til they review what they get out of it. My son didnât submit his Biology or any of his other AP scores other than Chem. He wouldnât have been able to take intro to Bio had he submit his 5 and supposedly thereâs like a national treasurer of a Bio prof teaching that class and he refuses to miss that class. He did submit Chem so he could skip intro Chem. Prob wouldnât have done that again if he could redo :).
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@i_am_taxed from someone I know who is relevant to an Ivy undergrad admissionâŠtells me colleges donât put weight on paid college summer programs. Some would say itâs just something a privileged person gets to do. My friend who is an adjunct professor at Columbia says itâs the biggest money maker thing for colleges. All profit because of maybe the 90 kids who pay $3500 to take classes there, about three of them pay for the professor. Another 3 for the use of space and maintenance. Rest they pocket.
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UCSB has a couple of pre-college programs called SRA and RMP. UC Santa Cruz offers a bunch of classes where the kids can stay in the dorms (or did pre-Covid). These are the ones I happen to know about, but Iâm sure there are more.
How important are summer programs for admission purposes? There is a college experience camp ($$$), major-specific programs/camps, internships, and volunteer programs. Is anyone already planning for summer?
We (the parents, at least) are planning for next summer. We told D24 that sheâll be getting a part time job. Summer camps are all $$$ and itâs not in the budget for us right now. Our schoolâs senior counselor has said that colleges donât really care if a kid goes to an expensive summer program or not because they know that, realistically, only the financially privileged kids end up being able to do that.
So, for example, D24 is interested âI donât know, something medicalâ in college & beyond, but doesnât know what (except for ânot nursingâ). Ole Miss has a cool one week summer camp thatâs all around different types of work in the field of pharmacy. D24 is interested in goingâŠand the one week is $800, but we live in AZâŠand weâd basically be looking at a bunch of airfare and other travel costs on top of that to get her there for the week, so I donât think thatâs in the cards.
Instead, D24 is going to take our pediatricianâs office up on their offer to have high school students volunteer in their office to help with paperwork. The pediatricianâs office sent an email out about a month ago asking for volunteers because they are very short staffed in terms of general office help.
At the very start of the summer (2 days after school year ends), D24 is going on a big choir trip for 10 days. The rest of the summer will be spent working + volunteering + us listening to her grumble about how weâre ruining her life because now she canât spend all summer long on the couch watching Youtube like years gone by. LOL.
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D20 applied for and attended two competitive programs (2 and 3 week sessions) the year between 11th and 12th grade. The summer between 10th and 11th grade, she took an intensive science course offered by her high school (she hated it). This was all pre-pandemic.
S24 worked at a surf shop last summer and has an invitation to return. Heâll also do a two-week business program in his area of interest just to see if itâs really something that genuinely interests him. And I want him to study for the SAT, so that ought to keep him busy âŠ
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For kids interested in STEM, Cal Poly SLOâs EPIC program is good. It is a one week program where kids are exposed to different types of engineering. It was virtual the past couple of summers but it looks like they are planning in person this summer.
It isnât a resume booster but helps kids learn more about a variety of majors and professions.
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This is exactly the kind of volunteering I meant where it combines a studentâs stated interest with something helping the community (whether a smaller or larger community). 
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My S24 is applying for the cosmos and the EPIC program by cal poly. Cosmos I think very less chance of getting as many kids are applying. But like @beebee3 said above this helps with the essay, getting recommendation process for him. My son has the BW to do the essay and stuff so just want him to get used to thinking about the process.
The EPIC is because he is interested in engineering as one of the fields he wants to pursue and likes hands on stuff so thinking this will be a good way for him get an idea on how engineering would look like. Its 1 week so something to experience.
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I am absolutely no expert on this, but from reading threads for my S21 it has seemed that unless your kid does something crazy impressive during the summer, they should really just do what they want. There doesnt seem to be much that kids can do over the summer that really tips the scales. Working, going to sleep away camp, music, or a program that they enjoy seem to all be good ways to spend the summer and can add to the application if it is meaningful. My S21 went to a pay to play program for drama and used it in his essays to write about how it inspired him and that had to have been helpful. I was begging S24 to apply to a bunch of competitive music festivals and he just doenst want to, not worth doing something for the resume if it doesnt mean something to the kid.
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This is the main reason why we are applying to EPIC.
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My D24 is interested in Law in the future but she is not 100% sure at this point. We were initially thinking of Pol. Science but after doing some research we found that the opportunities after graduation with Pol. Science are comparatively less than Economics if she changes her mind from Law. So, we started looking for decent (not top 20-30) colleges that are good for both Economics and Pol. Science as she may do her minor in Pol. Science. Also minor in Pol. Science provides her opportunities to explore the area with internships and decide if Law is the right field for her.
My D21 is studying in NY and we live in Midwest. Weâre planning to move to somewhere so we can stay close (some 4â5-hour drive) to both the kids. Can anyone suggest some decent, not too competitive, non-grade deflated colleges that are good for both Economics and Pol. Science and can provide good internships in Pol. Science area between WV to NY? Weâre not trying to restrict her too much with geographic location but would like to see if there is a possibility. I donât think she will be comfortable with LACs. She is expecting average size college, not too urban but close to city but she said DC is ok. 
Coming to finances, we may not qualify much for need based but can afford around 35-40K/per year with some loan. Most probably, she is not going to stop with just undergrad.
I would look for a major that had excellent job prospects, and then add law school if they wanted it. More and more the undergrad major and work experience is a big bump for law grads.
Fordham might be a good fit if she can get some merit aid.
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D24âs class had a practice AP English Language test this past Saturday. She said that she got a passing score on the multiple choice section. Teacherâs still grading all of the essays, then is going to sit down 1-on-1 w/each kid to review how they did, provide suggestions for prepping for the test in May, etc. 1 of her classmates moved to Long Island and his last day was the end of last week, so now theyâre down to a 10th grade of 34 kidsâŠwhich is crazy compared to our local public high school, which has over 600 students in 10th grade.
D24 & the VEX Robotics team has another competition this coming Saturday. The team doesnât want to come in 4th-to-last place again, so they decided to meet after school every day this week. Nothing like learning through the school of hard knocks. I think that next year will go a lot better since theyâll all have some experience under their belts (itâs everybodyâs 1st time at it this year).
D24 brought home an A- on her most recent Honors Calculus test, which is pretty fantastic since the past 3 years of math, sheâs often been in the C to B- range in her math grades. I think that whatâs different this time is the teaching style is not the same as in prior years, so she understands it more.
Honors Chemistry isnât going well, but itâs going terribly for everybody else in her class, too. Misery loves company. 
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I donât know enough about schools in that area to give any advice. But just wanted to say welcome and weâre glad that youâre here!