Hi Everyone,
My son is currently a sophomore in high school, and he is intending to apply to top LACs such as Bowdoin College and Middlebury College. Does anyone have any suggestions for what he should do this summer (jobs, volunteer work, etc.)? He is a serious student, and he would appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Anything productive is fine be it work, volunteer, a summer program etc.
What he does next summer will be more important. He should look into free, competitive summer programs for the summer of junior year, like your state’s Governor School, or TASP (http://www.tellurideassociation.org/brochures/TASPAP15.pdf). Application process for those summer programs are just rigorous as college process. Applications are usually due fall of junior year, recommendation letters are required, along with essays and transcripts.
Paid summer programs are not as well regarded, but if they compliment your kid’s ECs, like dance, sports, science/math, they are fine. Paid volunteer work is out of vogue.
Go to the Summer Programs board and you’ll see threads about TASP and other summer programs. Most of the applications are due starting in early January but he’ll need to start on them in the fall (especially TASP as it has several long essays) and get recommendations. Those programs are very competitive, with admission rates like very selective colleges so he should have Plan B and C which could include summer programs at colleges, some of which (Yale, Stanford) are held in more esteem than others or a job or an internship or volunteering.
TASP and other programs like it are a long shot.
Here’s what my kids did - both got into schools of Bowdoin’s selectivity or more:
Older son (computer nerd)
summer after 9th grade - CTY fast paced Chemistry (taken to ease scheduling issues at the high school), shadowing at brother’s company (comp sci company)
summer after 10th grade - , teaching himself Linux, winning award for Civ 4 mod, working at company where he’d job shadowed the year before
summer after 11th grade- volunteering in computer lab at the senior center, working at same company
Younger son
summer after 9th grade - music camp
summer after 10th grade - CAD drawings for his mother’s architectural firm
summer after 11th grade - sold origami to a gallery, taught origami at Senior Center, also gave violin concerts and helped at lunch at senior center.
Both my kids got into top 20 schools.
My younger daughter got into some top 20 schools. To tell the truth, I don’t remember what she did in her summers, other than working at a retail job she got when she turned 16.
My older daughter was a riding instructor in training and then counselor at the horseback riding camp she first went to at age 7. Think passion, not pizzazz; the camp was not fancy or high-rent; being there as either a camper or an employee required lots of stamina and love of horses.
My daughters didn’t, strictly speaking, have to work, but they wanted to, and I’m glad they did. I think working neither interfered with school nor had a negative effect on college applications, and I know it both contributed to and illustrated their strong work ethic.
Who are you, @rangers19? On other threads you have stated both that you are a high school sophomore and senior. Here you are the parent of a sophomore.
My niece worked at the concessions stand in a movie theatre each summer from the time she could legally do so. She is going to Brown in the fall. I really don’t think it matters what you do as long as you do something.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1747593-any-comments-are-appreciated.html#latest
If you have an older son who applied to the schools in this linked thread, think about what THAT kid did in the summers. Same schools.
@thumper1 - did you mean to link to that thread? That kid doesn’t indicate what he or she did during the summer, but even if he had, he made another post in January stating he is a sophomore and then a post this month stating that he applied to colleges, so unless I didn’t read something correctly, I’m not sure anything he says is for real!
The issue is, that kid has the same username as the OP. So that kid is either the OP’s son, the OP’s sibling … or the parent of both them.
My daughter (senior at Yale) got turned down by TASP. Not getting into TASP does not mean you’re chopped liver. After sophomore year my kids did CTY/Summer Program for the Gifted on college campuses. They were kind of lightweight as far as I was concerned, but they enjoyed them well enough. After Junior year (which I agree is the important one) my DD did SSP (which is hard to get into, but not as hard as TASP); my son took courses at Cornell (which are real courses, not lightweight stuff) and did really well. He’s now at Swarthmore.
@ReadyToRoll yes…I linked to that other thread on purpose…because on THAT thread, the poster claims he had already applied to the same list of schools.
If this is a parent…then this parent should know what those schools might like…as one kid has already applied to them.
But like you…I am not sure what to believe. Sophomore? Senior? Will apply? Already applied?
Make up your mind if you are the same poster!
@donnaleighg and @sghseitz, could you please post the links to the programs? I’ve never heard of TASP and will definitely keep it as a resource and pass on the info to my friends, btw, the correct link is http://www.tellurideassociation.org/our-programs/high-school-students/summer-program-juniors-tasp/
Thanks!