<p>Background: My kid is a humanities and arts type, will probably be an English major and then maybe go on to graduate school. At the present time she thinks she might like to end up as an English professor somewhere. She works very hard in college, as her classes are very demanding and on top of that she has a lot of extracurricular activities she takes part in. She will be pretty burnt out at the end of the school year, and part of me just wants to encourage her to chill out and have a lazy, rejuvenating summer, reading books for pleasure. But the other part of me wonders if it is 'healthy' for a student at her stage to while away a whole summer 'doing nothing'. Should she be doing a job or an internship? If so, what kind of job or opportunity? And what are the best ways to get those opportunities?</p>
<p>I think she might get a little stir crazy just sitting around at home all summer, but if you are going to do a lazy lounging summer, the summer between first and second year is probably the best time to do that. </p>
<p>I spent that summer (waaay back in 2006!) interning part of the time (got the internship through a family friend) at a local political office and then working the rest of the time at the same bookstore job I had in high school. It was not what I would call a strenuous summer in the least, I got out by 6 every day and had the rest of the night to hang out with my friends, had plenty of time to go on short trips and do other stuff. Most of my friends were working too, so having a job helped keep me productive and kept me busy until we could all get off and go have some fun. </p>
<p>Maybe she could volunteer at the local library or she could look into finding a job in a bookstore if she’s an English major (though not many independent bookstores hire just for the summer). She could also volunteer as a summer tutor, or be a camp counselor (I always wanted to do that) if money is no object. </p>
<p>One piece of advice is that she may want to be thinking not just about this summer, but next summer. If she wants to get an internship in say, publishing or journalism or teaching her sophomore summer, she should try to take an internship this summer that will give her something to put on her resume and lay the groundwork for that. Doesn’t have to be exactly as good as an internship she hopes to get in the future, but just something small and not that time consuming that helps her develop skills so that she has something to build on next summer.</p>
<p>D1 had a nice relaxing summer that year. She had a part time job not related to her majors, did some tutoring, and went down to the beach a lot. It was her last relaxing summer.</p>
<p>I’m not getting involved, but, in my mind, I’m accepting the happy medium. Ds has an opportunity to work the same job he did last summer, which is a M-F gig, banker’s hours, AC with decent money, and he’d be able to live at home. But it is less than fulfilling, for sure. He has applied to be a camp counselor at the camp he attended for years. This is the first year he is eligible. The work is harder, the pay is worse, but he’s wanted to do this for years so I figured I wouldn’t put up a fuss. I don’t know whether he’ll get it. If he doesn’t he’ll do the old job all summer. As it is now, he’ll be able to do the camp job for almost a month and work the other for another month.</p>
<p>He is still earning the much-needed spending and travel money that he needs for the rest of the year, but in a job that he really wants to do. He did work-study all year long, so I figure let him work whever he wants this summer.</p>
<p>I think a part-time job is the best way to go. Earn some money, save some of it for the next school year, enjoy the rest for the summer. I think the best summer jobs are amusement parks or other outside type jobs- lots of sun and usually a relaxing atmosphere.</p>
<p>My kids worked the summer between freshman & sophmore year-
oldest was a riding instructor at a residential camp, she actually was paid pretty well ( better than a counselor anyway).</p>
<p>Her sister would have loved to continue her job as a camp counselor at the same camp, but she wanted to earn more money, so she worked retail.( she also wanted to take a summer course) However, the scheduling was very uneven, and while it was mostly full time, she couldn’t schedule anything fun much in advance because of work.</p>
<p>This summer, she ( I believe) is planning to stay in her college town, hoping to find a job & take some classes.</p>
<p>My D came back home and worked in the same job she had in high school (a chain retail clothing store.) By the end of the summer she was thoroughly sick of living “like I’m back in high school” and got creative with a job/summer classes in her college town the following year. </p>
<p>Ironically, now she’s planning to once again return home once she graduates this May. She has an exciting summer job, but plans to work/apply to graduate school, after that - all while living at home. I predict she will end the year just as frustrated/bored as she ended that first summer home from college – and thoroughly ready for the next phase of her life. </p>
<p>Secretly, I’m thrilled I’ll have her back. I missed the kiddo.</p>
<p>Mine just vegged out at home. She got home late (end of June) and had to leave for school the first of September, so she only had 2 months at home. Part time jobs were hard to get last year (and the year before), even harder for someone who was only going to be home for 2 months.</p>
<p>We got a lot of the medical, dental, optical, and shopping stuff done. Lunches out with Mom…getting her driver’s license (finally!). </p>
<p>This coming summer, she will be on campus taking classes.</p>
<p>Even when a family “has the money,” I think paid employment is good for kids. A part time job doesn’t keep a kid from having a relaxing summer after a tough academic year. AND (best yet) kid has her own money to spend (as opposed to spending yours). Amazing how frugal my ds got once the bank of mom closed to requests for discretionary income.</p>
<p>D2 spent the summer between her freshman and sophomore years working in Yellowstone National Park.</p>
<p>Her job was mindless, but not difficult. (She sold gas and Slurpees at a gas station in West Thumb.) It paid above minimum wage. Housing and meals were highly subsidized. And she got 2 back-to-back days off every week.</p>
<p>She had fabulous time. She went mountain biking, road biking, kayaking, canoeing on Teton Lake, fishing, hiking and climbing. She summitted Middle Teton. She had moose calf born less than 15 feet from her front door. Saw all sorts of wildlife–including grizzlies-- up close & sometimes too personal, experienced an earthquake. She met other college students from all over the world and made friends who she is still in contact with 2 years later.</p>
<p>S spends the summers working in wilderness at Philmont scout ranch in the southern Rockies of NM. He loves it and I feel fortunate he gets paid for doing what he loves. D would like an adventurous job but we are struggling to find one that also pays. DH wants her home but she would love to find something else.</p>
<p>WildChild took some classes both online through Penn and here locally at Vanderbilt. This was in case we weren’t spending enough on his regular tuition! The aim was to possibly graduate early (didn’t happen) or work towards a 2nd major (also didn’t happen). I’m not complaining (well, except for the $$$), because he was productive and the Vanderbilt connection wound up being beneficial when it came to his job search.</p>
<p>We let our kids decide … however we also do not pay any discretionary expenses during the school … so so far jobs have been the route taken. A great internship without paymight make us revisit this approach (at least the monetary part of it) as right now unpaid internships don’t work financially (because of our rules not our bank account).</p>
<p>D lived at home, had an internship for two months, and then spent the rest of that summer working part-time. While she enjoyed it up to a point, she never spent another summer at home - while relaxing, it was also somewhat boring.</p>
<p>You probably don’t want to hear our story (which I have posted in other threads).</p>
<p>Our older son stayed in the college town–600 miles from us–in house sublet with two friends. He had secured a part-time job the second semester and the company guaranteed they would hold it for him after his fall semester in Spain if he would work full-time all summer. He was 90 minutes from my mother’s summer cottage on the lake for weekend trips. Pay was good, work was steady, life was good.</p>
<p>Then his car caught on fire at the lake, his girlfriend got pregnant and he broke his foot while trying to “ramp” a scooter. Cancelled semester in Spain, dropped out of school, got married (wearing a boot on his foot), moved back home with us, got a job, moved out to a rental house, had a baby, got laid off, found another job after two months of unemployment.</p>
<p>All is good now. The baby turns one in a few weeks. Our son loves his current job as a ministry assistant at a church. Our daughter-in-law is in college part-time. They are awesome parents.</p>
<p>But my advice would be: keep 'em close to home where you MIGHT be able to prevent life’s little detours.</p>
<p>Son never could find a job during high school because the typical “teenage” jobs were being taken by out-of-work adults. (2008 - 10) He’ll turn 19 this year and has never held a “real” paying job. </p>
<p>For this summer after freshman year we will be insisting that he work as much as possible. He has made a personal decision that will dramatically affect our ability to afford his college, so now he must feel the same pain that we do. We also believe it’s vital for him to work because he’s unlikely to land an after-school job in September without some sort of work experience.</p>
<p>D is now a sophomore in college. She attends on the east coast; we live in the midwest.</p>
<p>Last summer she came home and 1) took a summer class at a local university; 2) worked at an unpaid internship 2 days a week; and 3) applied for every part-time job she could. She did babysitting, pet sitting, etc. Her “old” job initially wouldn’t hire her back because she wouldn’t be able to work for at least 4 months, then after a month and a half they hired her back to fill in for people on vacation with very sporadic hours (less than 20 hours for the summer). She also eventually got a job working part-time in the dining hall of a nursing home.</p>
<p>Last summer was horrible for many teens in our area to find a part-time job, unless it was a seasonal job (camp counselor, lifeguard, etc.).</p>
<p>The good news: the college class helped meet a prerequisite so she could move ahead in her studies this fall, and the experience at the unpaid internship led to her being accepted at a “next step up” internship in another city this coming summer. The nursing home job, which she disliked, was instructive as a life experience - holding an exhausting, low paying, menial job can teach you lots of things.</p>
<p>When people asked her if she had a good summer, she usually replied “it was not particularly fun, but it was productive.”</p>
<p>My D has secured an internship with a summer stock company (she is a theatre major). It provides room and board and a small stipend. She’s a little concerned about going straight from one dorm to another, but she gets about 2 weeks at home before the internship and another 1 or 2 at the end of the summer. I figure she’ll be sick of mom and dad by the end. BTW, her school seems to have a long summer break. Home on May 3 and return August 20 - plenty of time for job and laying about the house. Plus, she’s interviewing next week for a sweet campus job for next year (pays housing and decent stipend. Fingers crossed!)</p>
<p>college_query - we insisted that d1 take her lifeguard training over Christmas break this year. She had an interview with the city already in January for summer pool work. She’s going to get her WSI certification so she can make more per hour. Gotta love those seasonal jobs. Last summer, she pieced together 3 jobs in order to get (close to) full-time hours. It was nuts.</p>