<h2>I had previously posted this in the "College Admissions" forum, but everyone just told me to have fun, which is dandy. However, I honestly want an opinion on this, and I figured (hopefully rightly so) that parents would know quite a bit more:</h2>
<p>I'm a current sophomore and I am working on finishing up the plans for my summer. </p>
<p>I was planning on interning for a political campaign</p>
<p>Perhaps working at a bookstore</p>
<p>Doing the usual community service</p>
<p>Competing in a National Mock Trial Competition</p>
<p>And taking some classes at a nearby university</p>
<p>The last one is what I'm a wee bit worried about. With all of the talk of summer programs at colleges and how they don't do anything for an application/are detrimental to the application, I worry about how that will look. I was planning on taking another foreign language and maybe an introductory political science course. My high school offers limited foreign language options and I wouldn't otherwise be able to take a lot of difficult courses. There were literally no honors courses available to me freshman year, and only two sophomore year, so I was hoping that they would realize I was challenging myself and not just being another "spoiled, entitled rich kid" that spent her summer doing a college program. What do you guys think about this? My guidance counselor is no help, so I was hoping you guys had some suggestions.</p>
<h2>Also, is there anything that you would say I ought to add? I want to do things I'll enjoy while also gearing my activities toward what will look good for a college application...</h2>
<p>While I understand the idea of not doing something just for a college application, presuming it is an activity that I won't despise, there is nothing wrong with working hard toward something that you really want (admission to a great school).</p>
<p>My daughter did Latin one summer (three-week camp), Japanese one summer (30-hour community college class–non credit), and tried Chinese (came home after two weeks–long story). She was very interested in languages and took German in school. She never did anything to look good; she just did things that she was interested in and as a result, she looked good. One of her majors is Japanese in college.</p>
<p>Do what you are most interested in. Oh, and have fun.</p>
<p>If I am reading your post correctly, you don’t have to work for money full time this summer. You are very lucky. </p>
<p>Take advantage of this and do what you like. Don’t create a shopping list of what you think colleges would like to see in a well-rounded applicant. Why are you doing “the usual community service?” as you put it? Because you think admissions counselors will want to see it or because you want to do it? I’d rather see you pick one thing you really love, not six things you think college admissions officers will love, and dive into it.</p>
<p>There’s a difference between taking classes at the local university (good) and taking a pricey, no-application, no-prerequisites summer camp for high school students that happens to be hosted at a university (not so impressive). The summer camp thing isn’t really viewed as an asset on your college applications, which came as a shock to a schoolmate of geek_son’s who thought she was a shoo-in for Stanford because she’d spent every summer there. Actual college classes are a fine way to expand your academic horizons, especially when your high school’s offerings are limited in areas of interest to you.</p>
<p>The “have fun” comment you keep getting actually points to a good resume-building strategy; don’t dismiss it. Do what you love doing. Do a lot of it, and do it over time. You will find “leadership opportunities” that come from having committed yourself to those activities, and in application season you’ll have interesting things to write and talk about. You’ll be a candidate whose application shows that “passion” that’s so elusive on CC, rather than one whose application (like so many other “formula” applications) reads like a laundry list of things you think they want you to do in order to gain admission. And perhaps most importantly, in the process of doing what you love, you will make yourself attractive to colleges that value what you really want to do.</p>
<p>If “fun” sounds too frivolous, think of it this way: Forget the laundry list. Choose a couple of things that you’re really drawn to. Choose a couple of things that you would want to pursue if you’d never heard of college applications. Delve deep into those couple of things. Learn all about them, do them, share them, get someone else excited about them. Develop your expertise in them. Do it for yourself.</p>
<p>If you approach it this way, you will inevitably ALSO develop the things that colleges are looking for: passion, leadership, growth, commitment. You will have grown as a person, and made yourself into someone interesting. Colleges love interesting people.</p>
<p>agree with all the above poster…Choose one or two things that you really WANT to do. Admissions decisions are not based on a list of things you have managed to write on the tiny spaces, but on the things that you really enjoy spending your time and energy on. </p>
<p>Three of my kids attended a cc all through their highschool career. They enrolled when they were in 9th grade because there were courses that they wanted to study further. They also committed alot of time to one particular charity that has special meaning to our family. There were other things such as band and academic challenges but their applications were clearly showing that they were kids that wanted to explore and they did, at the local cc. There really is not a need to spend thousands on academic camps or programs. Just do what you want and take advantage of the opportunities that will arise as a result of your one or two chosen activities. When you do something that you enjoy and can put yourself into, it often develops into something awesome. Example My 9th grade sons ended up tutoring students on the cc campus, many were moms with kids older than them. It was a great learning experience for my sons and that grew into something else the following year.</p>
<p>Agree with all of the above-and drop “the usual community service.” Why bother? Put that time into something you care about and are interested in-or explore something new that you think might be worth doing, but aren’t sure about. </p>
<p>The one thing I dislike about the ‘pick 2-3 areas to focus’ strategy (which works, by the way as an application strategy), is that high school students should be exploring. That means trying out stuff that sometimes, after a few months proves to be less interesting than you’d hoped. The key is to move on, and don’t both adding it to your application because it makes it look like a laundry list, taking focus off the things that are important to you.</p>
<p>I recommend you worry about how it will look if:
You suddenly quit organizations
You suddenly quit community services
You are accused of a crime
You are thrown in jail.</p>
<p>It does not look bad if you take nearby college courses; it looks like you are trying to improve your mind. But I recommend you choose activities based on your interests and scholarly desires and not based on what might trick a college admissions counselor into thinking you have an interest in something that you really don’t.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys! You really are some of the most helpful parents I’ve ever met :)</p>
<p>And when I say the “usual community service” that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in it…it just means I consider it…average, I guess.</p>
<p>I will do my best to savor my adolescence this summer and enjoy the fact that I’m lucky enough to not have to find a job (not that I could easily, teen jobs are becoming ridiculously difficult to find if you don’t want to go the traditional life-guard, DQ employee route).</p>
<p>Find some “super” community service, then. There are a million possibilities, but here again, follow your heart. </p>
<p>Do you love kids? You can help at the local rec center, YMCA, Big Brothers/Sisters, a day care center or school, Sunday School, summer camp, Special Olympics, coach a team, children’s hospital, tutor a child. Love animals? The SPCA, Humane Society, local rescue organizations, the zoo, start a dog-walking or pet-sitting business. The environment? Contact your parks department or recycling center, plant a tree, highway cleanup, adopt a creek, make bird feeders or plant butterfly gardens. The elderly? Visit a senior center, help an older neighbor with chores or yardwork, make cards for nursing home residents, ask if you can bring your well-behaved cat or dog to a nursing home. Politically inclined? Volunteer at a phone bank, help with voter registration or get-out-the vote, organize a rally. Want to help those less fortunate? Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross, organize fundraisers for disasters, organize food/clothing drives for community organizations, help at a soup kitchen.</p>
<p>There’s no reason not to be totally excited by your community service. No matter what your abilities or interests, someone out there needs you. :)</p>
<p>I think LasMa’s very much on target, and I’ll go a step further - do both. Dive headfirst into things that rock your world AND take a course or two at the college this summer. Let me offer a case study from our family as an illustration.</p>
<p>Our two Ds had very successful college searches, despite graduating from a resource-poor rural public HS. Given their lack of school opportunities, they did both of these things - they each completed > 30 hours of coursework at the college a mile down the road from the HS, and they did music, theatre, and literature with a passion. The HS doesn’t offer calculus and offers only two years of a single foreign language, but D1 went through Calc II at the college and studied two languages there. D2 took four levels of Arabic there and became, no doubt, one of the few students to graduate from HS in Georgia with Arabic as their foreign language. They both studied literature at the college, and read the literature that provided background for the plays that intrigued them.</p>
<p>The good news is that it was all fun and, I’m sure, all played well in the college applications. And, it probably scored extra points that they went to these lengths despite having such limited HS curricula. But their secret was that they really hadn’t gone to great lengths at all - they weren’t doing it for the sake of college apps. They were primarily just having fun working at what they loved.</p>