<p>Hi everyone. I have a dilemma. I am shooting for the ivy-league caliber schools, and up until recently, I had my mind set on attending the Upenn Summer program, in hopes that it would look good on my college resume. </p>
<p>And then the doubts arose. I have been relatively idle the past 2 summers, and with early decision around the corner, I desperately need someone on this site to tell me the ABSOLUTE BEST WAY TO BOOST MY CHANCES BY MEANS OF EC's, namely in the space of 2 months. </p>
<p>If it helps, I have 0 hours of community service thus far.</p>
<p>So, what is the best way to spend 2 months, in terms of increasing chances?</p>
<p>any kind of volunteering is good... maybe find a habitat for humanity project near you and spend the summer working on that...</p>
<p>but find something related to your interests/passions. you might be able to use it in your essay, but most importantly, it'll actually be rewarding to you, and even if you don't get into any ivy league schools, you still won't regret spending your summer doing it.</p>
<ol>
<li>Do not do the summer program. It won't help your chances; it simply shows that you have money.</li>
<li>Do volunteer work, e.g. at the senior center, at the hospital, at the homeless shelter.</li>
<li>This is the most important: develop a passion by doing things related to your passion over the summer. This is absolutely pertinent to get into UPenn (passion/focus, that is). For example, my passion is language and linguistics; this summer, I'm attending various conferences, conventions, and workshops on language/linguistics-related things. Would you be able to do something of this sort? Events? Over-the-summer jobs related to your passion?</li>
<li>Does your school have Link Crew? If it does, I encourage you to do that; it's a leadership position ("Link Leader" simply sounds nice), it's an EC, and it's volunteer work. If your school does not have the program, even better -- set it up yourself, which would look great for you since it shows initiative and strong leadership skills.</li>
</ol>
<p>sweet so i'll do about 200-250 hours of volunteer work. and my school does not have link crew, are there any specifics i should know with regards to setting it up?</p>
<p>i'll be honest, doing 200-250 hrs of volunteer work right before you apply won't help you much. The colleges can see that you volunteered just to beef up your resume. In 2 months, there is no EC's that you can really do that can boost your chances that much. Top colleges look for students who are consistent, reliable, and passionate, not ones that do things for resume.</p>
<p>thanks a ton kyle...one question: is it necessary to attend the training session, I would gladly do it, except that it costs $2,000. Is there any way to set up Link Crew (acquiring the necessary tools and training) without attending this session?</p>
<p>and wait, so I SHOULDNT do volunteer work? I thought I'd at least work in some medical labs to gain experience in medicine, which is the field I plan on going into.</p>
<p>Subjectively, I'd pass up the summer program and would get in as much volunteering as possible- summer is the time I end up w/ hundreds of hours (I'll volunteer 4-5 hrs per day) at either the library or hospital</p>
<p>do the medicine volunteer/ intern work most definetely... seriously</p>
<p>shows interest but not fake interest cuz you plan on going into medicine</p>
<p>also, i dont understand why people are advising AGAINST the program at UPenn... that experience would be absolutely AMAZING... screw how it would look on an APP!!! GO!!!!!!</p>
<p>Colleges don't want people who think as materialistically as you do... do things that YOU want to do. Don't do things that you think the Adcoms would want you to do... they tell us this all the time, STOP trying to impress them with fake actions!!</p>
<p>All the luck in the world to you man, and if you want to go to UPenn, I would highly recommend it... that would be an awesome experience in my opinion.</p>
<p>For serious, doctorsboy knows what he is talking about. Why would you want to spend 250+ hours over your summer volunteering for something you do not enjoy? Instead, you could get a great experience at a summer program in an area you want to learn more in. Use that as a punchline in your essay and you will go places.</p>
<p>My advice: Quit worrying. Enjoy your life. Only go the extra mile for things you are truly passionate about, not things you think will impress an admissions officer who could just as well reject you because he/she was in a bad mood at the time your file came up or the temperature in Scottsbluff, Nebraska wasn't quite right.</p>
<p>10 years from now, nobody around you will care if you graduated from the #1 school, #10 school, #100 school, or even #1000 school.</p>
<p>I still say do some volunteering (in this case, in the form of Link Crew), but more importantly something that you're passionate about.</p>
<p>You don't have to attend that Link Crew training session; they're just trying to get money out of you.</p>
<p>"I thought I'd at least work in some medical labs to gain experience in medicine, which is the field I plan on going into."</p>
<p>That would help immensely. Colleges <333 to see internships and research positions (however minor). So far, I've seen dozens of good applicants with nothing truly dazzling to them get into the top colleges like Stanford and Harvard, and it's (probably) because they did research and internships. It looks super good, and it'd probably look better than setting up Link Crew at your school.</p>
<p>hahahaha, ok so I think I'll do the internship AS WELL AS linkcrew because I found the whole concept of it highly interesting. Strangely, the website for linkcrew gives me zero information on how to set it up at my school without using the training session. Any info. would be appreciated. And thank you all for your excellent feedback</p>
<p>I have to agree you should do some volunteering. Last summer, in a hope to boost my chance (since I had pretty idle summers before as well) I sttended an Ivy summer school, volunteered in a nursing home, and volunteered in a children's program. When I had my interviews, the nursing home volunteering really stood out while the summer school thing was relatively average. Volunteering shows initiative and interest in the community, which colleges want.</p>