<p>bumpbumpbumpp</p>
<p>Okay so I need help choosing wat summer program to go to. And here are my choices :</p>
<p>1) An educational one where I earn College credits (Harvard SSP or Musikers 3 weeks Michigan 3 week UCLA)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>2) 25 days community service project in south africa. (only get 80 recored hours for it though.</p>
<p>Which one should I do/would look better for colleges?</p>
<p>2) 25 days community service project in south africa. (only get 80 recored hours for it though.</p>
<p>Africa...is this even a question?!</p>
<p>And I don't just mean for colleges, but for your own personal satisfaction.</p>
<p>see if you can try to do both.</p>
<p>The way to choose is to competely disregard what impact your choice would have on college admissions committees and their deliberations. Decide only based on what you would like to do, as though college were not an issue.</p>
<p>Do you want to spend 25 days doing community service in South Africa? </p>
<p>Did you look over the course selection at SSP and the other one and see something you are dying to take, to explore as a subject. </p>
<p>My initial advice would be go to Africa. See an N'debele village and the artistic culture there; feel what it's like to live in a place where you are in the racial minority; experience life in a harsher place, where people are far less affluent and there's no safety net to speak of; visit a game park and maybe a white rhino will charge the jeep you're riding in. In other words, have an adventure that could change your outlook on life. </p>
<p>But I can also see the appeal of SSP, spending eight weeks in Cambridge as a student soaking up the ambiance of life in Harvard Yard and being able to take classes that interest you out of that extensive catalog. Meet roommates, sorry suitemates from all over the world; take the T into Boston for plays, movies, museums; go on sight-seeing trips around the area, to the beach, and to visit a few other fairly respectable colleges that are in the same league. </p>
<p>You'll have a great experience either way. (Note I wouldn't choose the 3-3 choice because I think you could just visit those campuses and that choice wouldn't hold a candle to S.Africa, imo.) Just choose what you want to do without regard to how it may or may not look to colleges. Whatever you choose will be a plus if you gain insight into yourself and use it to describe what you want out of your college education.</p>
<p>This thread is in the wrong place.</p>
<p>That being said, pick the one that you'd most regret not doing.</p>
<p>"Which one should I do/would look better for colleges?"
Neither. This is the WRONG reason to be considering these programs. College admission offices now a days take a dim view of expensive "community service" projects/ or pricy summer educational "enrichment" programs unless they strongly reinforce an ongoing PASSION or STRONG INTEREST that is shown in other areas of your application. They want EC's that reflect a DEPTH of committment to a particular area, not EC's that show your parents have the $ to send you to expensive summer trips or programs. Sorry if this is harsh, but you need to ask yourself- would you still want to do any of those programs if they had no bearing on your college applications?</p>