<p>Is it better for the summer after junior year to be spent doing a volunteer internship or taking a community college class -- or is the answer "both"?</p>
<p>D1 has a 3.97 UW GPA and 2170 SAT, but her ECs and volunteering are not that strong -- she doesn't have a laundry list of ECs like so many kids, just dance (both the dance program at school and ballet outside of school, plus summer ballet programs every year). She has secured an internship this summer with a nonprofit whose mission is supporting LGBT youth, which is a cause D1 is very interested in. Previously, we had discussed having her take an Intro to Sociology class this summer at our local community college, but that was more because she's thinking about majoring in sociology and I thought she'd better know what it's about. Then she got this internship and I thought she'd better focus on that.</p>
<p>Her college counselor thinks she should do both the CC class and the internship because:</p>
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it shows that she is going outside the boundaries of her school to gain information and to challenge herself. This might in fact be the difference between her and her peers at [her high school] in getting into Scripps, if that remains her 1st choice school. I also like this idea because she is not doing IB baccalaureate and this gives her that extra bump.
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<p>How much does a CC class really show about a student's academic strength? I kind of feel like D1 has proved herself there already -- no, she is not doing the IB diploma, but she's taking as many IB classes as students who do get the diploma, she's just not writing the extended essay.</p>
<p>One other piece of information that's important here is that D1 suffers from anxiety and does not do well under stress, so I was kind of looking forward to a summer where she would not have any academic endeavors other than the summer reading she has to do for next year. I don't know how much reading she would have to do for this CC class -- it's 3 units, meets 8 hours/week -- but there must be papers to write, correct?</p>
<p>What does your daughter want to do ? My kids would have chosen to do both, because they have never liked a lot of down time…but with her anxiety issues, maybe it would be different for your daughter.</p>
<p>If my child was to choose just one, I would prefer the internship, because that could go on her resume toward obtaining the future internships that go toward real world jobs. Not only that, but having a work experience can help your daughter learn about what she might like/not like as she plans her career moves in the future.</p>
<p>As far as taking a sociology class? That’s one I would leave for college. Most intro to Soc classes are not that difficult at college in any event, but taking it once she gets to college might give her a good introduction to the department, etc., and what it offers.</p>
<p>If she can swing it, doing both would probably be preferable. However, if it’s just a standard sociology intro class to get a feel for the major, you can do things online like UCB’s open courses: <a href=“Webcast and Legacy Course Capture | Research, Teaching, and Learning”>Webcast and Legacy Course Capture | Research, Teaching, and Learning; or perhaps a Coursera-like class where you have to do assignments. If she does suffer from anxiety, piling too much onto her plate is probably not preferable. Better to focus heavily on the internship where she can really immerse herself. </p>
<p>ECs that she is deeply involved in and committed to is WAY more important than a laundry list. Not only for college admission purposes, but in her future career and for her future goals. </p>
<p>IMO, adding a college class just to look like she is challenging herself isn’t necessary given her already solid stats. </p>
<p>As an aside, I am a graduate student who has taken many, many soc classes at both an undergrad and graduate level. I am very seriously considering applying for my PhD in Soc this upcoming fall. If you’d like to PM me, I’d be happy to talk to you or your D about the field. I have an interest in LGBT and youth health (my focus is currently on Adolescent health who have a hard time accessing resources for a variety of reasons including gender identity and sexual orientation). </p>
<p>If she already has a very strong transcript, I don’t think a CC class in sociology will make or break her. The internship seems like a much better opportunity for her to demonstrate her uniqueness. If I were her, I would create an event as part of the internship to demonstrate leadership and initiative. Looking for ways to make the internship her own is the best way to take advantage of the opportunity.
Colleges like seeing students exceling at college-level work, but a CC class may or may not demonstrate that depending on the colleges she’s applying to. The internship is definitely a better opportunity for her to set herself apart from the pack.</p>
<p>The CC course on transcript will likely have little impact on admissions. But I like the idea of it helping her hone in a major. I like the suggestion above to do online class plus the internship. </p>
<p>Thanks for the answers! I feel validated that most of you seem to agree with me on this, so thank you! I will leave it up to D1 to decide but I wanted to get other perspectives as well.</p>
<p>@romanigypsyeyes, thank you, that is very generous of you and I will pm you.</p>
<p>@HarvardMIT, that’s a very good idea, for her to figure out a way to take the initiative in this internship.</p>
<p>I don’t know why you think your D’s ECs are not that strong. Her main EC is ballet, which takes a lot of time and dedication. Both of my kids did ballet 15+ hours/ week plus summer programs. they list ballet as their main EC.</p>
<p>Your D should focus on writing her college essays this summer and her college applications. I don’t think taking a CC course is going to do that much for her.</p>
<p>@oldfort, oh, I agree that ballet is not for the faint of heart! I guess I’m falling into the CC trap of thinking she has to have 15 different ECs and have leadership positions in all of them, as well as creating a new program for something or other and winning a bunch of academic awards.</p>
<p>I need to remember that D1 is a wonderful, smart, accomplished person already, and the college that will appreciate her and want her exactly as she is, is the college that is right for her.</p>
<p>Well, I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said (wearily, while eating dinner), “I don’t really care. Let’s just not do it.” That’s the spirit!</p>
<p>Are her classes in high school over yet? At the high schools here, this is finals week so she could just be exhausted if it isn’t her summer yet. </p>
<p>I think you should encourage her to just pick one if she’s already sounding burnt out. </p>
<p>My opinion…you don’t want your kiddo to have a laundry list of ECs. Better to have one or two that she does with more commitment and dedication, than a long list of not so important to her ECs.</p>
<p>I would have her do the internship. Doing a college course over the summer (15 weeks of work in 6? weeks) can be pretty intense and it is hard to have a job too. I think that this internship will also help her get a feel for sociology and it will help her learn how to work in an office and with the clients. She has plenty of time to take sociology in college and she can see if she likes it then.</p>
<p>Op,
First of all, it’s better to have only a few ECs or a few threads of ECs that follow along some particular theme. Ballet is a great EC. I would say that the best summer spent would be doing something ballet related (work at the studio, dance outreach to lower SES students, work at a dance clothes shop, or whatever,) But I digress…
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Between the internship and the class, it’s better to pick the one where she will learn more skills which can be applied to “future endeavors” and the one which seems “harder to get the position.” For that, I would say the internship. She would get some valuable work skills and shows interest in community service as well. The soc class with be not such a great choice. First of all, 8 hrs/wk is a college summer class that is accelerated to a pace that is 3 times the pace of a regular college class. Of course it’s going to have a ton of reading and tests. Then when she gets to her 4 yr uni, she will feel pressure to take the next higher soc class rather than starting with intro with all of the other frosh. I don’t see any benefit to it unless she took it pass/no pass just to see if she was interested in the subject, but not as a means to boost college admissions.</p>
<p>Definitely go for the internship-- and summer reading of her choice. Skip the CC course. It might even turn her off to the subject if she feels rushed or stressed to get a good grade.
She already has required summer reading? Another reason to skip the summer course. Add on some more books she’s always wanted to read and hasn’t had time for. Plan for some family time, too. Soon she’ll be away at college, and you’ll want some memories of fun times.</p>
<p>Sociology (as a major) would be a bachelor of arts degree, so you don’t have to walk into college on the first day, knowing that it’s your major. There is plenty of time in the first year to take the first (and maybe second) sociology course, get acquainted with the department, and take other things, too. </p>
<p>Nursing and engineering are good examples of the opposite – there is a tightly prescribed 8-semester list of courses, with a few little places where you get to pick between “chocolate” and “vanilla”, but basically you have to be working off their list from the first semester, or you will not finish in 8 semesters.</p>
<p>Any college semester-long course, compressed into five weeks over the summer, leaves very little time for employment. She would have to do about three weeks’ worth of reading and writing every week. You commute to the CC, take a long class (maybe two hours of class, four days a week) commute home, want to eat and decompress, and then realize that you have about six hours of reading and writing to do, before starting all over again tomorrow.</p>
<p>She could potentially AUDIT (no credit) a course at the CC. This is different from pass/fail, where she would still have to do most of the work to pass. The audit might not matter to colleges, but it seems pretty clear that she does not need summer CC sociology to impress colleges, anyway. If it’s truly for her own enjoyment and enlightenment, to find out about the subject, an audit might work. Of course, if she’s otherwise employed and not doing the reading, the class discussions might not be all that meaningful for her as an auditor.</p>