What is the best summer program for a student interested in business? From the admission perspective.
Stanford summer school
MIT Business launch / Bobson business, etc.
Economics class at the local University (UC)
Several classes in economics from the local community college
Employment at the local fast food
Anything else?
What may impress admission officers at highly selective colleges?
Please, do not answer “ask your student to decide what she likes most”. If she would have had made a decision, I won’t be writing this post. Her priorities are 1) business-related and 2) going together with her boyfriend (he is a top student, they would write applications together).
Anything on yoru list is fine. Schools are looking for students to be productive in some way during the summer – it doesn’t matter if it is school or a job.
There IS no first choice. If there were a specific hierarchy everyone would flock there and it wouldn’t be a first choice anymore because it would be boring. You repeatedly want to try to get to a formula when there is none.
There is always a formula Any “survival of the fittest” comes down to a formula. Admission is not random, if it would be random, the distribution would be very different.
Sigh. Adcoms want (or believe that they want) new and different. When the first few people went on mission trips to Central America where they built toilets for the locals or whatever, that was an interesting formula THEN. As those kids got “good results,” more and more kids started going on do-gooder mission trips - and it became LESS of a hook or interest area. Once something becomes “the thing” and more people start flocking to it, it becomes less of a “thing.”
Agree…it doesn’t matter. Any of the above can impress the adcoms of the student is able to convey their passion for the program…or job.
And I know you don’t want to hear this…but most adcoms are not impressed with summer programs at all…unless they are competitive ones for admission, and the student shows some kind of real zeal for the program.
This can be done as easily working at McDonalds as going to an MIT or Stanford summer program.
My advice would be to not work at a fast food place if you’d be a standard, run-of-the-mill worker, assuming you don’t need to earn money during the summer, which it seems like you don’t since many programs/courses for which you’d need to give out money are on your list. Spend your summer learning something, which you do not need to do in a classroom setting. Get an internship, volunteer with an organization you care about (helping out with management, finance, accounting, etc. if you’re interested in business), do a business related program like the MIT one you listed, take a course, or even work at a summer camp (I imagine learning how to wrangle kids would help with managing adults, too; some of the people with strong leadership skills I know in college worked at a summer camp for many years).
I think colleges won’t care exactly what you do, as long as you do something you’re passionate about, and can see that passion somehow relfected in your application.
Actually, one thing I learned from mowing lawns (performing similar labor to working at a fast food restaurant) was that I didn’t want to do manual labor for a career, so it might serve as a nice reminder to your future self to do fast food for a summer. However, methinks, partly from hearsay, that fast food work wouldn’t be that highly regarded by colleges, unless, again, your needed to earn money during the summer to help your family or for a similar reason reflected in your app.
Again, only opinions here, so take them with a handful of salt.
Each summer, 80 of the world’s most accomplished high school students gather at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the Research Science Institute (RSI). RSI is the first cost-free to students, summer science & engineering program to combine on-campus course work in scientific theory with off-campus work in science and technology research.
All due respect- what HS kid can expect to study “business” in a rigorous way over the summer? What does that even mean? (and I have spent 30 years working for large corporations and have an MBA). You asked about competitive summer program and I named one. What exactly are you hoping to learn here- how to teach a 17 year old M&A or how to develop a supply chain algorithm for moving yogurt from the factory to the grocery store without it spoiling???
I do not know. I wish I did. My D decided that she is interested in business and would like to apply to business major (I don’t know what kind of animal is it). Next step - develop the interest and demonstrate adcoms genuine interest in this major.
How? Wish I know … I came up with 6 ideas, but I see limitations in all of them. Yes, she would like to apply for a competitive program. All summer programs claim to be competitive. How to choose?
What’s really wrong about letting the kid decide what he/she wants? I think anything can be a learning experience and working in fast food could make for a great college essay.
Anyway–Babson College’s focus is on entrepreneurship. It’s often called the “Entrepreneur’s College.” All of the professors have had experience starting and running successful business ventures. If your student is interested in this aspect of business, then Babson might be a good place to be for the summer.
californiaa- there is no logical IF[ child does X ] THEN [ child will be accepted at Y] formula for college admissions.
I know you dont want to accept that but its the truth. If you looked at the postings on various college forums on April 1 you would be not be able to discern any pattern or logic as to why one student was accepted and another wasn’t. So give up trying to “read the tea leaves”
Admissions officers can “smell” a concocted list of EC’s and activities a mile away.
If your DD wants to show a genuine interest in “business” then she should get a summer job at a real business.
What is it that makes your DD think she wants to major in “business” which is rather broad…and has a bunch of specialties. Knowing that would help,in terms of selecting her summer options.
Competitive summer programs are generally free or low cost. If the school wants $3,000 for three weeks, it is not generally considered competitive. For summer camps, I would first try a STEM related camps like Girls who Code or an intro to engineering camp designed for girls. Many of these are free or low cost, and having a STEM background, particularly math or CS, is good for business school.
Failing that, I would go for a summer job. The generic retail job will do as it will hopefully teach work habits, but if they can get a job in a field they are interested in it could give her valuable experience. For example, hotel management is a specialized field with a limited number of degree programs. Working the front desk at a local hotel might give her a leg up into acceptance into Cornell’s program, and those graduates tend to do very well. There are numerous other specialized fields that an entry level job coupled with a degree can help get someone’s foot in the door after graduation.
If she says she wants to go into business, she should have an idea of what about that is appealing and she should choose an activity that reflects that. Maybe she should start her own business. If she can’t find and choose something interesting to do related to business then I doubt she will stick with it through college. It’s not like it is difficult to find business related activities and it’s the passion she exhibits that will sell her to a college. If she has no passion, then there is no point in buying her a spot. (Sometimes it’s difficult for a student to make their own activity (microbiology say), but business is not one of those cases.)
Any “survival of the fittest” comes down to a formula. Admission is not random, if it would be random, the distribution would be very different.