Hey!! I’m always stalking old forums so I decided to finally just make an account to start my own… I’m currently a junior in high school trying to weigh my options for what to do over the summer. For awhile I was looking at a summer program at Columbia for making web applications (I live in NY btw) but a lot of people said it was just really expensive and not helpful for college admissions. So then I considered maybe a job at a restaurant or something? and then volunteering at my local hospital. I’m not sure what would look better to colleges: a job or a college program. I’ve looked at some more competitive college programs (ex. Garcia program at SBU) but my scores definitely are not high enough (33 ACT and 4.1 GPA). Any advice? I want to hopefully major in something with medicine or engineering but I’m not quite sure which one yet. Please help haha!!!
ok twenty two people viewed this and no reply I need HELP PEOPLE!!I know u see this
id say doing the job is better and maybe on the side you can work with coding bc itll be a better experience to write about and for life in general
anyone else have any advice?
I am interested in this subject myself. Waiting to see if someone more knowledgeable can help us
I. It depends: Do you need money? If so, take a job.
II. Or it depends: Can you afford the Columbia summer program? If you’re not paying and it would look good on an app, why not?
III. The summer program may or may not help you with college apps. Just don’t imagine a summer program at Columbia will help you get accepted as an undergrad at CU: Not really. No.
But it may help you with college apps generally: Depending on what summer program you do and what relevance it has to the college program you ultimately apply to.
There are also a few (very few) med school linked undergrad programs, and for those you have to have direct hospital experience like shadowing, EMS, or other hands-on experience. So if you think that’s you, do that.
Otherwise, premed training is just a list of classes you can take anywhere; they’re the same classes everywhere, and as long as you take all of them, you can apply to med school as major in anything from Art History to the Xylophone.
But even if not that, a summer program might still help you decide against a vague idea by giving you a chance to try it.
For instance, I know someone who thought he might like to be an architect: He did an architecture summer program, and then knew for sure he hated it. That was useful knowledge for choosing an entirely different college application major, which also helped him choose where he should apply.
Either you need money and should work for $ and life experience.
Or you don’t need money and have enough to spend to learn something useful, even if it’s not very useful about any subject but you.
Thanks for the help!! I’m not sure how many programs I’m gonna apply for but I wanna try the WTP program at MIT. It seems kinda hard to get into (and also not sure that it would help my apps) but it would give me really good insight overall. If I don’t get it then I think I’ll apply for a job, tutor at my local library, and volunteer at my hospital.
adding my own two cents-
application/program development is pretty time-consuming, and can show some serious dedication to a subject. If you don’t already have an account, Github is a pretty good way to demonstrate what you’ve done to college admissions officers.
if finances are an issue, I would go for the summer job option since even the top, “useful” programs tend to be pretty pricy. if they’re not, I’d apply for a few programs, and then depending on how things are going by the time summer rolls around, you can decide to attend them or get a job instead. keeping options open is always nice.
side note though- summers are a good time for impressing colleges, but make sure you’re not prioritizing that over pursuing something you’re genuinely interested in (do both). also, since you’re currently a junior, getting a head start on college apps during the summer is a good idea.
My guidance counselor says a crummy (manual labor, construction, dishwasher, busboy) summer job is impressive. It shows humility, work ethic, and initiative to take responsibility. If you do not get into the summer program you desire, you should work that summer job with pride.
From some of the admission books I have read (no first-hand experience) I gather it is possible that admissions officers may in some cases view an array of pricey summer programs as an indication of privilege/entitlement. A summer job may in fact be more impressive to these individuals. I guess it all depends on who on the committee is reading your application and what their views are. Also, try to avoid either/or thinking. Job or program. There are many on-line resources and classes available, from Brown and many others, where you could work a job and do some kind of summer program (demonstrating your love of learning!) concurrently.
Yeah that’s true. I definitely want a job no matter what. I’m applying to two programs right now and then I’ll probably apply for a job later in the year.
Well I don’t know what’s “better”, but my kids did both. They just took a “vacation” from the summer job in order to do the school program.