<p>D who is a Junior in HS is trying to get into a highly selective/ivy league or (the way things are now days) get into a decent college.
This is my question? how much benefit it would be for my D to Africa and do community service during summer. There are a lot of activities to do during summer and we need to decide as which option she should do. Of couse she's really excited about Africa, but she'd be equally excited doing some other things such as Intership, working, or traveling, etc... does anyone has some advice??
Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>I'm no admissions officer, but spending a summer doing service in Africa sounds like a pretty cool hook. Is this an independent thing, or is it one of those organized "we're going on this sweet vacation and are going to volunteer one afternoon so we can say we did service and add it to our resumes" type trips? If it's the latter, I'd suggest having her look into ways to make it more meaningful than "just" traveling the world. If it's the former, more power to her.</p>
<p>Jobs are a great extracurricular and show a lot of responsibility on her part. If they're at all related to a field she's interested in, all the better (like her internship, maybe?) Even if they're not, don't fret. I've worked at the restaurant of a country club since the summer after my freshman year of high school and have been able to tie in my work experience and what life lessons having a job has taught me in virtually every interview.</p>
<p>My rule of thumb is this: If I'm doing something just to say it's on my resume, I probably shouldn't be doing it. Chances are, if I'm doing something that takes up a lot of time, I'll get something out of it that will do me much more good than another line on a college paper. Also, colleges will see right through it if she's just doing something to add quantity to her resume.</p>
<p>Better to do a few things really, really well and passionately than spread yourself too thin. Even in college there are so many opportunities that it's almost impossible to take advantage of all!</p>
<p>Community service in your own back yard is just as valuable as CS in Africa. Exotic locales don't fool people.</p>
<p>"how much benefit it would be for my D to Africa and do community service during summer. "</p>
<p>It probably would not help her. It would just highlight her as being affluent enough to be able to try to buy a cool sounding EC in an exotic location. There already are plenty of Ivy applicants who either are kids of immigrants who travel and do community service in their parents' native lands or who are affluent and do community service abroad that their parents pay for. Neither category of student stands out.</p>
<p>She'd impress admissions officers far more if she had an ordinary (e.g. grocery bagger, cashier, waitress, babysitter, not a so-called internship arranged with the company of family friends) fulltime summer job in her hometown or if out of her own interests, she created a community service project in her own community.</p>
<p>kristin5792, thanks for your comments. Yes, it's a serious project and some fun too...so many option and so little time. So making a decision is hard since she likes all the options equally. And, of course since this is her last summer before she applies for college, she's trying to do something that would provide some benefit in her college application....</p>
<p>If she set up her own project in Africa, that would a little bit of a hook, not just joining an existing one...</p>
<p>Agree with Northstarmom.</p>
<p>Whose idea is this? What lead to it?</p>
<p>Overall, if the consideration is "what looks good to an Ivy" then I'd nix the trip. My son had an invaluable experience at age 17 with a month of community service in rural Thailand... but he didn't apply to any Ivy League colleges. At most he was in search of a somewhat less boring essay topic for college apps -- his main rationale was that he had spent his whole life in the boring suburbs doing nothing more exotic than playing video games, and he wanted to travel overseas and see a different part of the world... and as long as he was there, he wanted to do something worthwhile. </p>
<p>To tell you the truth, I don't think that there is anything that a kid can do the summer after junior year that will provide an Ivy League hook... I think the Ivy's are more interested in a sustained pattern. So if this was the culmination of a project begun in 9th grade, it would help round out the application ... but a summer excursion isn't going to do it.</p>
<p>I, too, agree with Northstarmom. There are so many things to do right here that count as community service. </p>
<p>What about volunteering at a community center? Teaching vacation Bible school? Working at the public library?</p>
<p>That last one comes to mind, because our local library has a huge sign out front asking for teen volunteers. I asked my son last night if he wanted to join, and he said, "I would, but I'm too busy at work, all the ECs that have late summer and fall things going on, 5 APs with summer assignments ..." You get the picture. </p>
<p>So look first close to home. Trust me, a lot of groups could use her help.</p>
<p>If you can afford it and she wants to go to Africa, go for it! Won't be worth it as far as giving her a hook in college admissions; in some parts of the country community service in third world countries is about as unique as being a cheerleader or playing the clarinet. Most admissions officers are not wealthy and may roll their eyes at another affluent applicant spending $$$$$ to fly off to Africa to do community service (price of airfare alone might feed a small African village for a year!) when she could do so much closer to home.</p>
<p>I agree that flying off to Africa is not much of a hook, but having spent much of my childhood in Africa, I think it would be an eye-opening experience for her. My son spent the summer before his junior year at the computer center of the local senior center with some time doing freelance programming on the side. I don't think he got a big boost from that activity either, but it was part of his whole story that nearly everything he did outside school was computer related.</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone has said about the value this has as a "hook," i.e., doing something at home would be just as valuable Colleges love to see students both actively employed and actively involved in their own communities. That being said, both S1 and S2 had 3 week community service school trips to rural India during their junior year, and those trips changed their lives and perspectives at a very critical time in their lives. The value to your child could definitely transcend college admissions.</p>
<p>SJTH, thanks for the perspective. I think being exposed to different cultures, languages, and environments helps to better understand the world...</p>
<p>Yes, being exposed to different cultures helps people understand the world and themselves better. If that's why you're considering sending your D to do community service in Africa, that's a great idea.</p>
<p>If the reason, though, is what you stated in your original post -- to boost her chances at getting into top colleges -- that won't work for the reasons I've mentioned earlier.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that one learns a lot by doing community service at home, particularly if one organizes those projects and selects causes that one truly cares about.</p>
<p>One also learns a great deal about themselves and the world by working a job, particularly a real job that requires some grunt work, not the kind of internships that well connected parents line up for their kids. And, one is also much more likely to impress top colleges by doing some kind of real job involving boring, hard work than by going abroad on a trip sponsored by affluent parents.</p>
<p>Now, if the student works a job to fund their travel abroad, that would be the type of thing that would impress top colleges. For instance, I knew a high school student who loved French, so on his own researched jobs in France. He found a way to work at a resort in France, and convinced his parents to let him do that the summer after his junior year in h.s. He did get into a top college, and I think the France experience -- particularly his being willing to work to go abroad, and having the assertiveness to find the opportunity -- helped boost him into that college.</p>