<p>My 15 years old D was offered generous scholarship as a prize for winning competition to go to one month study abroad this summer. It is not related to her future major. How would it look on her resume?</p>
<p>It would look like she’s a winner of a generous scholarship competition, so it certainly wouldn’t look BAD on her resume 
Don’t worry if the program is unrelated to her future major. It will give a nice well-rounded quality to her college app. Plus, she’s 15 - she could change her major 15 more times before she actually has to declare one. </p>
<p>15? It will look good. She’ll have great experiences, maybe get a leg up on some language skills depending on where it is. I think Americans tend to be way too insular, and any extended stay overseas will give them much needed perspective on how we look to the rest of the world.</p>
<p>It’ll certainly help, regardless of major. And if she’s interested in top engineering schools, be aware that they require a lot of liberal arts classes (CalTech, MIT, HarveyMudd stand out like that) so your daughter would avoid the tech “drone” label :)</p>
<p>OP, my 16-year-old daughter was 15 when she started her study abroad program this semester in Spain. It has been an amazing experience. I highly recommend it for your daughter! After this semester, DD will have NO trouble adjusting to college. It has made her grow up a lot. And she is SO happy. The Spanish kids and teachers have made her feel welcome, and she’s made some good friends. But it’s also made her appreciate her home life, because she said Spaniards tend to sound angry most of the time! </p>
<p>Thank you very much @katliamom @MainLonghorn @mathmom @MYOS1634. The program is mostly in Salamanca Spain and a week in Madrid. My D spent last few month looking for research opportunities this summer, but not much was available for 15 years old, so she does not have anything planned for this summer. She never been away from home so it is very scary for all of us and a big decision making factor is how much it will benefit her when she apply for engineering school.</p>
<p>The most important thing is that her GPA, test scores and AP scores are good. Winning a scholarship is great but there are lots of kids who get into top engineering schools without studying abroad in high school. Is she certain that she wants to go into engineering? Is there a possibility that she may change her mind and what she would be doing in Spain might end up being a major she would consider? I’d send her if she wants to go but not just because it “may” help for her college applications. </p>
<p>@MichiganGeorgia at this point she is planning to go into engineering . Her GPA, AP and ACT are good.</p>
<p>My daughter went to Argentina for a month summer after sophomore year. She was given a scholarship by her school so it was not an award she “won” , it was need based, and was not listed on her applications that way. It was listed as an activity. While I don’t know that it was a major factor for admissions because she had a lot of stuff, who knows. This is the kind of very positive broadening experience competitive schools like to see, regardless of major. I think schools want the whole package-- having multiple strengths doesn’t detract. For my daughter, the immersion experience was significant in improving her Spanish and especially improving her interest and enjoyment in it. She came back walking and talking and the next two years of language was seamless. The travel experience was quite enriching. I was nervous but more excited and would never have held her back from such an opportunity! Seriously, we never looked at doing things as a factor for college but for the thing itself, though it can only add a positive dimension to her resume. Congrats for your dd!</p>
<p>^Cool to hear about your daughter’s experience, BrownParent. I’m wondering what level Spanish my D should take next year, as a HS junior. She said she now has to make a conscious effort to think in ENGLISH! I emailed her Spanish teacher, who wants to get together with D this summer so she can decide where to place D in the fall. The study abroad program, CIEE, tested the kids in fluency before they left the US. They will take the same exam when they return to see how their proficiency improved. </p>
<p>Oh, I don’t think I can help with that. After an entire semester she will really have a huge leap of fluency but will the grammar and all the rest be equal to a year? I suppose it could be. This was just a month and though the 11 kids that went did do some work at a language institute they just went on to 3rd year, then AP Spanish after. What level was your daughter at before, 2nd year? Good thing the teacher is helping you with that placement. Do they have 4th year or would it have to be AP? Maybe she can do it.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn if your daughter is now thinking in Spanish, she’s probably ready for AP Spanish. </p>
<p>As for the OP’s daughter I am pretty sure that Tufts would consider her overseas experience interesting. Even outside of international relations they have a real interest in global experiences. One program they are involved in for example is Engineers without Borders <a href=“Tufts Engineers Without Borders”>http://sites.tufts.edu/ewb/</a></p>
<p>Thank you everyone. A lot of information to think about. My D dream schools are CalTech, MIT, UC Berkley and UCLA for engineering major.</p>
<p>@Mainelonghorn
Even AP may not be appropriate - perhaps AP Lit if it’s offered.
To give you an idea, the SAT Subject tests at rouhgly A2 on the CEF. AP is at B1. A large number of majors and teachers are at level B2 (some are higher, depending on the strength of the program - Middlebury for example takes its students who start from scratch to B1-B2 in 2 years, but that’s very rare). You can’t get above B2 if you don’t go abroad (and even that takes time, effort, and recognizing you may not get there.)
After a year in the country, most kids test at C1, which is the highest they can test at.
In order words, after 6 months, your daughter should be able to take college sophomore-junior level classes (depending on her critical thinking skills and other skills in English, maturity, and quality of the college program.)
You can access free testing here:
<a href=“http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/researchenterprise/dialang/about.htm”>http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/researchenterprise/dialang/about.htm</a></p>
<p>In case of engineering, UG does not matter. So, resume is not a consideration. Consideration - does sne want to go or she is scared to be by herself. Frankly, I would not let my own 15 y o to be by herself abroad. however, my own D. has traveled abroad on a very long trips at this age in a group. In addition, her Spanish was OK, at least, her friends made her to speak for them when they were in Spain. So, I would let her go only in a group under adult supervison (better be several adults) and I would completely forget about Resume for a 15 y o who is planning on Engineering major. </p>
<p>Re ML’s daughter, I’d forgotten that there are now 2 APs for a lot of languages, I was assuming AP Lit! Given that she’s coming back as a junior, she might prefer that than attending the local college even if it’s an easy A.</p>
<p>As for the OP, I don’t think the resume is the important part, I think it would be a great experience period. (Speaking as someone who spent the year I was 17 in France living with a French family - a French program, not one organized by Americans.) I think most kids are pretty resilient, and a one month stay is really not very long at all.</p>
<p>I realize that it would be a great experience, but it involves some risks and challenges for 15 years old. If it was a family vacation it would be great. But she will be alone with hosting family that I do not know in a foreign country. So with all plusses and minuses the decision maker or breaker for me at least would be how her engineering school look at this adventure.</p>
<p>There really aren’t many risks - she’ll be in a family and Spanish kids tend to be given less autonomy than American kids. I know quite a few kids who’ve done the 1-month thing and it’s scarier for the parents than for the kids. Plus, nowadays, there’s Skype, and Twitter, and Facebook, etc. You can have her open a special FB page called “My trip to Spain” and make her promise she’ll update with a picture and an update at least every day.
She shouldn’t do it for the resume-builder- but it doesn’t sound like she is. It will “look good” to the colleges obviously (the type of kids who gets selected but seeks out this type of challenge is the kind of kids they want) and you really shouldn’t worry about it.
Do you know which area she’d be going to - Costa del Sol, Costa Brava, Barcelona/ Cataluna, Castilla y Leon, Galicia? </p>
<p>@MYOS1634 He will be spending 3 weeks in Salamanca, 6 days in Santiago de Compostela and 3 days in Madrid. She will receive official Salamanca University transcript at the end of the trip. </p>
<p>Even better - the trip in itself “counts” positively, but if there’s a university transcript it’s even better since it can appear as such (university/abroad) on the CommonApp. Salamanca is one of the oldest, most prestigious universities in Spain (also one of the most conservative.) It must be a nice scholarship. :)</p>