<p>I'm the parent of a rising high school freshman. Her interests are varied. She was intensely interested in medicine for a few years and attended a medical camp (Landry camp) last summer. She now seems to be more interested in forensics and, more recently, music. We live in Massachusetts and were considering the Explo summer program at Wellesley. Has anyone heard anything good or bad about this? Any other programs in our basic area that would be suitable and look good on a college application? This is my first post. Great forum! Thank you.</p>
<p>There are great programs around MA. The easy part is finding them, the hard part is figuring out if they are right for you. The easiest thing to do is to call the program and ask questions, any good program will let you know if its a good fit for your student. Good luck in your search!</p>
<p>Red flags go up when I read, “look good on college applications.” yeah, I am guilty of this, too. If you read interviews with admissions counselors they will tell you kids should be doing things they enjoy or are passionate about. They can see through resume grubbing. The worst offenders can be programs on college campuses. The adcoms aren’t really impressed by these, while the schools create these programs as revenue- generating machines that pander to parental fears. Not that they are not nice programs for the kids. But really, shouldn’t we let our kids be kids and enjoy their summers? How many more of them do they have before they have to live with the grind?</p>
<p>That being said, I’m sending my daughter off to Central America for a Spanish immersion/community service program. I’m not disillusioning myself that colleges will be impressed. Chances are they will just think we are wealthy liberals who want it to look good on her resume. But I still think it will be a great and challenging experience for her, as well as fun, and force her to really engage in communicating in Spanish with people different from herself, even if I don’t think she should write about it in her application essays. ps, my other kids are still going to horse camp, which they love. </p>
<p>I think the most impressive thing on a college application is a summer job. Menial is good. I wish they were easier to find.</p>