<p>What are the best summer activities for a student who will be a senior in the fall? When is the best time to start planning (such as looking for a job)? Do the colleges care if you mainly work over the summer rather than taking courses or doing an internship? There are not many internships available in the area of interest and they mainly want college students.</p>
<p>MrsP,
I believe that my S started looking for a summer job during winter break of his junior year, although it may have been in March, but no later than that. I think that colleges think quite well of students who are gainfully employed. Those students often learn more than their comtemporaries who are doing "scut work" internships.</p>
<p>Yeah, mine actually started working summer after freshman year and second kid just got a job at the same age. My rule is that they can only work a little (one weekend day or so) during the school year....It definitely helped the older one grow up a bit....the older one also took a community college class over the summer after junior year. Really pushed up his gpa, improved his class rank, gave him some experience of what a college class is like, and looked good on college apps. I recommend it if it is practical in terms of distance...</p>
<p>Mine volunteered in a summer science program, helping kids with robotics & computer programming. It has evolved into a job doing the same thing this summer, now that he'll have a HS diploma. He's happy & gets to work with college students & teachers, doing what he enjoys & mentoring kids.
Summer after 10th grade, he took a course at local college & his HS.</p>
<p>The summer between junior and senior year is a great time to do an unpaid internship. That's when I did mine and it really gave me clarity about what major/career I wanted to do, which helps when you are making college choices. I also worked a part time job. Its pretty easy to find a summer job at the beginning of the summer, though in mid May you might not have the pick of the litter. The best plan might be to do about 15 hours a week in the evenings at a mall job or something similar, and then about 30 hours a week during the day at an unpaid internship. Internships are fairly easy to find because businesses are always wanting help they don't have to pay for! Just call around - you will be surprised.</p>
<p>S1(risng college soph) and S2(rising h.s Jr.) have both worked at big chain grocery store since age 16. It was a great experience for S1 while in h.s and they have let him continue to work while home on breaks from college. He went thru the ranks from a bagger to working "behind the desk" in Customer service with a lot of repsonsibility for a high schooler(opening/closing store by himself on weekends,cashing out all registers at night,counting tills, depositing the money in the safe,etc).
The real world experience he gained was invaluable and was an asset to him in scholarship interviews. His interviewers were impressed that he was able to handle such real world reponsibilities (25-30 hrs. a week) and maintain outstanding grades simultaneously.<br>
The point is...if your students wants to work, it doesn't have to be a job with a impressive title. He can gain worlds of experience that will help him in the future from even the most mundane of jobs. He should start looking quickly though since all the college students are returning home and looking for jobs also.</p>
<p>My son spent the summer after his junior year attending a short economics "camp" north of NY City, volunteering as a church library aide, visiting a couple of colleges, and going on a humanitarian trip to an orphanage in China. He had some miscellaneous lawn and house-sitting jobs. In between that, he relaxed with family and friends doing other activities he enjoyed.</p>
<p>I'll be assisting in neuroscience research at a local university, volunteering at that university's hospital, and possibly working as an assistant instructor at horseback riding camp at my barn.</p>