rate my summer plans!!! :)

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I am a rising junior. Here are my summer plans; I am only listing things that are relevant to college admissions, self-improvement, STEM, and CS. I plan on majoring in STEM in college.

June 1 - July 14: ACT prep (taking it for the first time)
July 2 - July 12ish: iOS App Development high school summer course, taught by my high school CS teacher
July 16 - July 20: computer science and programming summer program at a top CS university
July 21 - July 26: volunteering for a STEM and computer science program for elementary school girls at a university
July 27 - August 10: selective engineering, entrepreneurship, and leadership program at aforementioned top CS university

Throughout all of summer, I plan to…

  • learn web development (JS, HTML, CSS) and iOS development (Swift, XCode)
  • learn a little bit about machine learning through online courses
  • do AP Physics I and II summer homework and extra prep to prepare for the class (I heard it's really hard)
  • plan community outreach events in STEM and computer science and do things like find sponsors, speakers, etc. currently have many ideas; after finals, I will narrow it down to a few and start to find sponsors and things like that
  • code 2 websites (one is a personal portfolio, the other is a secret project I'm working on that will help others)
  • start coding an app (since I don't have time to completely code it, I will just do as much as I can; it helps others too)
  • start an online business (I have a talent for social media advertising, have always been interested in entrepreneurship). This will be a hobby. I do not plan on being 100% serious about this. This is intended to be a learning experience to see if I'm really good at social media advertising and if I could do things like this to earn money in the future.
  • learning C++ (last of my priorities, but important for a state-wide CS competition that I want to join next year)

Of course, I will be doing typical summer things like going outside, shopping, traveling a bit, going to new places, relaxing, watching shows, biking, etc. but my summer is 90% about STEM, computer science, and self-development. I’ve slacked so far in high school, and plan to use this summer to get rid of bad habits, build new ones, improve myself, grow, and learn new things that I’ve always been interested in doing.

I also plan on doing things that are good for my mind, like going on social media less, journaling, being more present and less digital, listening to podcasts, and reading at least one book.

2

To me it sounds like a recipe for burnout by October; I’m big on using summers to recharge.

But it it works for you, great.

3

Your goals sound very ambitious and exciting! As a person with CS experience, I wouldn’t recommend trying to learn web development, mobile development, C++, and start a business at the same time. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. CS is a huge field, and it’s great that you’re trying to learn it, but keep in mind you only have one summer. Pick one area, or one language, or even one project, and give it your all. If you feel you’ve mastered it or made satisfactory progress, then move onto the next project.

Additionally, it’s great that you want to get rid of bad habits… but that’s simply not really what happens. Read up on how to build discipline and effectively change your habits, and don’t expect it to happen over night, or over a summer. One piece of advice is to make a plan and start small. Right now, what you’ve posted isn’t a plan. It’s a list of goals that you claim you plan to reach while doing a ton of other summer activities. I’d suggest creating a concrete outline of a project and setting a brief time to work on it each day. Maybe for the first few weeks, you only do twenty minutes a day. That might not sound like a lot, but consistency adds up.

Best of luck!

4

Wow, that’s a busy summer. Good luck though.

5

Personally, it sounds like you’re trying to do too much and I agree with @bjkmom
I’m all for self-development during the summer, but I think it needs to be one or two things you are really interested in.
Summer is time to take a break, have fun, and most importantly - recharge before going back to school. I am really opposed to summer being an extension of the school year because, even though I enjoy school and I love to learn, your mind does need a break from time to time.

6

I hope you have some downtime between mid-August and the start of school in the fall. Each piece sounds fine/interesting/valuable but keep in mind that life is a marathon not a sprint so be sure you don’t burn yourself out by over-schedueling.