<p>SevenDad- LOL, that is so true</p>
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<p>Now that’s the summer job my kid wants! Actually, I wouldn’t mind that one myself.</p>
<p>Seriously, though, I hadn’t even considered a summer job for my son because his summers are usually spent taking classes and doing all the activities that weren’t available during the school year. What an extraordinary idea, though, that if he’s able to attend boarding school, the summer classes would no longer be necessary . . . wow!!! And summer job all of a sudden becomes possible.</p>
<p>@dodgersmom -</p>
<p>That’s exactly our thought. Our child has participated in summer camps and programs the last few years to give him some of the experiences he craves. If he is accepted and attends BS next year, my expectation is he will get those experiences throughout the school term, and will work a job and get a different set of experiences in the summer.</p>
<p>I think the “life skills learning” that occurs working a minimum-wage job is very valuable. Some teenagers already understand the relationship between hard work and reward, and some need real-life experience to figure it out. My extremely bright and capable nephew flunked out of college after a semester, and ended up working at Subway for the next year to support himself. (My sibling refused to bail him out. Philosophy was: “We won’t pay for college if you won’t work hard and get decent grades. You can move back home and get a job, but if you want to stay in <em>university town</em> you’ll have to support yourself.”) After a year of being a sandwich-king, he decided that perhaps attending college was a good idea after all, and he’s back in school, making good grades, and working on an architecture degree.</p>
<p>The “funny” thing about paying summer jobs for HS kids, where they then use the $ for incidental expenses such as extra pizza and especially real ones such as buying textbooks/sports equipment, is that colleges LOVE that. They would rather see 3 summers spent doing that in the EC columns of summer activities than "spent 5k going to Costa Rica to save one turtle or built same house that Habitat for Humanities has been building by HS students for past 10 yrs).<br>
So we have a win win situation with paying summer jobs.</p>
<p>My Ds shovel s*** all summer and vacations - mucking out stalls at a local barn. It has been a great lesson in the difficulty of physical labor for low pay. Yet it also is shift work with the flexibility to do other enriching things during the summer.</p>
<p>What about working at my mother’s business? That way, my mom can be more efficient by having her employees do other tasks, and I wouldn’t be taking a job from someone that actually needs it. I am already rather money-smart since I help keep tabs on the family finances, and I’ve always been rather frugal anyways. Do you parents think that this would be a beneficial experience? I usually help out sporadically, but it might be interesting to fully dedicate myself to 9-5 paper pushing. :)</p>
<p>@unique6 -
We’ve talked about having our son work at his Dad’s business in the summer, (it would be a job involving hard physical work, minimum wage) but ultimately decided against it. We think he will learn a lot more working for someone besides a family member, plus we think he’ll get a more “honest” working relationship with his coworkers (no question that he’s getting any kind of special treatment, or that they’re cutting him extra slack because his dad is their boss).</p>
<p>@mhmm-
Is this for real? What is your experience or knowledge about this? It’s a relief to me, as I’ve been under the impression my kids would need to intern with the Tokyo Stock Exchange or help build wells in Nigeria during their summers to be “attractive” to colleges. I’m thrilled to know that colleges would appreciate the value of a student learning how to work for someone and managing their own money, no matter how “un-presitigious” the job may be. Seems in my area there is so much competition for the “it” job in the summers that sets their child apart, often working in another state or foreign country.</p>
<p>Depends. It’s harder to “prove” working for a parent resulted in substantial work, than for a different employer. Parents are not considered credible references and the “paperwork” trail becomes a bit iffy. </p>
<p>Still - there are a lot of people who own family businesses and the kids work their butts off and it counts. I’m just warning that the “success” rate of those who work for their parents is lower than those who work for someone else because the work is often “make work” assignments rather than work the parent would hire someone else to do in your absence…</p>
<p>Colleges have seen it all - and it’s too easy to get lumped in with those who are “fudging” the truth.</p>
<p>Just be prepared to discuss your tangible contribution and back it up if you’re working for family.</p>
<p>My son would rather get involved with activities that he is truly excited about and to forgo the traditional job route until the summer before college and I have encouraged him to do so. He’s already begun working on his proposal for next summer for a grant from his BS for work related to social justice in an underserved environment. The work is volunteer in nature but the funds from his school may be used to defray expenses incurred by the student and to help compensate the student for funds that s/he would have earned in traditional summer job. I’m not sure if this is sexy enough for college admissions. I’m not sure if we care. For him, it is huge and if his outcomes are as successful as they are beginning to look on paper, his efforts may very well inspire a one or two young people to redefine their visions of their future. I would certainly hope that an admissions person would be able to differentiate between truly passionate pursuits and resume puffery by looking at the profile comprehensively. If not, perhaps this is a clear signal that there is a better fit elsewhere.</p>
<p>When I said paying job I wasn’t thinking of working for the family, although working in the kitchen of a family restaurant all 3 summers in order to help it succeed, would probably fit the bill as well. Ive gone to many “meet the deans” type of college events when my oldest son was applying and they all across the board spoke somewhat disparagingly about the programs that are there that purport to give kids a “social conscience”. Of course if a kid volunteers in one place for 3 summers (say ladles out soup in an aids kitchen located in the most dismal neighborhood that is closest to home) then that also demonstrates commitment. Or a kid has a passion for photography and every summer goes further and further in perfecting their craft, it counts too. Or an athlete that trains. Its the “passion” that is consistent the entire HS career that matters. But if the kid works to offset expenses, shouldering the burdens of the family? They salivate.</p>
<p>Good to know. Thanks all for weighing in.</p>
<p>mhmm - truly - it’s all good. As long as the decision is self driven.</p>
<p>The reason why I threw out the latter - is that we see things from our own lenses. When you step back and look at a total applicant pool - there are a lot of students who take the easier road, or fudge their work experience by working for parents (and upon further questioning - it’s not real work).</p>
<p>Three things stand out - pursuit of an interest passionately (your photography example is a good one), or pursuit of employment and learning to navigate that system without the safety net of a parent, work at a family business (although the latter is often a stretch because the “references/recommendations” don’t count for as much because of built-in bias).</p>
<p>So whatever the student chooses to do - make the process meaningful (work, hobby or volunteer). At this point, parents should take a back seat in the selection process because that influence becomes obvious at college app time.</p>
<p>But one caveat - some of us are also looking for what students do with downtime. Students who are always focused on learning and meaningful and (fill in the blanks) often struggle to come up with an answer when we ask them what they do for “fun.”</p>
<p>FWIW, I enjoy shopping, movies, and pedicures! :)</p>
<p>Hmm - if properly posed on an application I might recommend admit - lol!</p>