<p>Ok. I'm just a lowly freshman, so stop being mean to me.</p>
<p>I was thinking of doing the summer program at Harvard, or something like that.</p>
<p>Or I could put my Asian skills to work and while vacationing in India, do volunteer work there. </p>
<p>so which should I do?</p>
<p>or better yet, what do colleges prefer?</p>
<p>The Harvard summer program is expensive. It's somewhere around $10,000 to take a course there. I applied for summer of junior year but decided against it. And frankly, it's not very selective at all. Anyone can spend 10k to sit in a classroom a couple times a week during the summer, but adcoms would probably like it more if you did something that actually required initiative.</p>
<p>The volunteer work sounds good, and it sounds like you'll be killing two birds with one stone. Traveling to India is probably less expensive than the Harvard summer program. It's also good that you want to be productive over the summer. I'm not sure if colleges even ask about summers that far back. (On the Columbia application, it asked about what I did this past summer and the summer before.)</p>
<p>If I had to guess, I would say that colleges would prefer the volunteering. But hey, if cost isn't a problem, and you'd rather take the summer course, I think you should do that. Do whichever one you prefer.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to be mean, but do what you want!</p>
<p>Don't think of college as the ultimate end goal...if you want to travel to India to help people then that is unique and awesome. But if you would rather spend your summer that Harvard and have fun in Boston then that is another option.</p>
<p>Or you could just enjoy life? Maybe?</p>
<p>Do not make all these decisions your freshman year to get into an Ivy. And that's not mean, it's good advice! And there is a reason: when you apply, they WILL absolutely be able to tell if you were gearing everything you did towards getting an Ivy acceptance. If you want to get an Ivy acceptance in a few years, you need to be using your freshman year to narrow down exactly what you are passionate about and then passionately pursing THAT. Ivys don't need clones. They need passionate, successful individuals. Of course, it is fine if you have an idea of where you want to go to college already and be looking at what they want. But for something like this, something you are doing specifically for your application, you need to be following what is passionate to you. The tone I get from your message is that you are trying to do what you think they want. ANYONE can do that, but only YOU can be unique you that applies, and they want unique. ;)</p>
<p>There is another way to put that: Colleges know what they are. Show them what you are.</p>