<p>ChickenSoup, I strongly second ur post!</p>
<p>The essays are very important. I think my essays made me stand out and I was offered "scholar" opportunities (free research funds, etc.) that are available to only about 10 people per entering classes at two very prestigious schools. Make your essay shine. Don't go with th generic, "I love helping people I hate global warming" thing. Honestly, every uninformed applicant will probably write something like that... Also, if you have an interesting background, make sure to let it shine. With so many applicants, colleges want people who are different. They have wayyyy too many 2400, violinists, tennis team captains, and debaters. Don't be another clone of another student.</p>
<p>You should do EXACTLY what terrapin7 said on page 2, "if you're looking for an internship, try calling your local chamber of commerce or congressman to see if you could help out around the office. that's pretty much what I did, and now I'm going to intern at both places.
I have a friend who really needed to save his resume, so he called a law office--they were desperate for summer help, so they took him on. he worked 15 hours a week, and i'm sure the internship was an impressive boost on his resume. in addition, he really enjoyed the job...much better than putting in 250 hours at the library or hospital."</p>
<p>If you intern at a place that reflects your passions, that'll be really good as it shows that you've taken steps already to pursue them. So if you want to get into law, work at a law office. Or if you want to go into government, contact your local Congressman or Senator. It's all about taking initiativ e.</p>
<p>Another thing I did was take some courses at a community college over the summer. If you take courses that not only intrigue you but also reflect what you want to study in the future, it only helps you. I think doing those 2 things will help you get into an Ivy-caliber school. The fact is: almost everyone volunteers at some extent. To differentiate yourself from the pack, internship and college classes over the summer will definitely help.</p>
<p>to any experts in this matter...how can i start a community service project (the basics) and how can i set up link crew without taking the 3 day informative class?</p>
<p>If you want to start a community service project, all you need to do is first figure out what your interest and goals are. Afterward, you need to network with organizations/people you think are relevant to your cause. Trust me, networking is the best thing you could possibly do when trying to start a service project. It's better to have a strong foundation and support from various sources when implementing your plans. Here are some things you might want to consider:</p>
<ol>
<li>The goals you want to accomplish with your plan.</li>
<li>Identify individuals, groups and organizations that may assist you.</li>
<li>Create a detailed timeline of your plan. (Very important -- set deadlines!)</li>
<li>Allow others to critique your plan.</li>
</ol>
<p>dont listen to people saying "ITS TOO LATE TO START". it is never too late to start. upward grade trends are sometimes looked upon in a brighter light than a consistent but good grade. going from B+s to A+s is better than always getting A-s in my opinion.</p>
<p>you have lots of choices this summer if you want to beef up your ECs. to reiterate:
1) volunteer
2_ get a job
3) get an internship
4) go to the summer program
5) do research</p>
<p>thanks for the great info everyone. I already have about 1400 in a tutoring service (employment) and have done about 50 hours of research in the lab of Temple University. Would you recommend volunteer work or an internship as the best way to have fun/look good on transcript. I plan on majoring in medicine, and my internship would deal with that.</p>
<p>Since you want to major in medicine, I would recommend seeking an internship. However, I don't know how lucky you are going to be when finding one since most internships are reserved for current undergraduate students. Is it possible to ask someone who has direct connections to someone already in the field? That would help a lot.</p>
<p>yea I have connections with a family friend. Question #2:
What's the best course of action to take?
a) Start Link Crew at my School
b) Start a community service project
c) Both, if Possible</p>
<p>
[quote]
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.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This statement is cliche and uttered all too often on this forum. To be honest, I don't agree completely. The OP has a goal: he/she wants to enter a quality university; why try to modify that goal? Nobody is truly "passionate" about studying for standardized exams or obtaining high marks in all of their classes. Instead, one is passionate about what results from these accomplishments. In order to get there, one will have to do things that he/she doesn't necessarily enjoy. In fact, life isn't always about enjoyment; there's stress, hard work, and a lot of sweat involved in striving toward a goal. Honestly, for the ambitious and self-motivated, "Quit worrying. Enjoy life" is an empty statement.</p>
<p>And regarding your second statement, of course people will care whether or not you attended a good school. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a top 50 school will have a better influence on one's intellectual and professional development than third-tier school. I don't see the point in implying that all schools are equal, even 10 years from now.</p>
<p>Oh, but I do agree that you should pursue something you're passionate about. It's difficult to succeed in a project you don't believe in. Anything for which your family has to pay extravagant amounts of money probably won't help during the admissions process. An internship is a good idea; community service is also great, especially if you can pair up with a local organization. I've found that the most rewarding aspect of my involvement has been communicating with professionals in the non-profit industry; they offer great insight, and one can really learn a lot from their experiences. </p>
<p>Try searching on <a href="http://www.volunteermatch.org%5B/url%5D">www.volunteermatch.org</a> and <a href="http://www.idealist.org%5B/url%5D">www.idealist.org</a>.</p>
<p>Those websites work best if you live in or near a metropolitan area.</p>
<p>
[quote]
10 years from now, nobody around you will care if you graduated from the #1 school, #10 school, #100 school, or even #1000 school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, that quote is simply idiotic for obvious reasons...</p>
<p>Just a thought (unrelated to OP): "...its impossible for me to be valedictorian..i was one in middle school but at my school everyone is at a different level...i go to a specialized high school in nyc so the fact tat its really hard is driving me crazy...i should have just went to a reg high school." This said by someone with his sights set on Harvard. <em>Think</em> for a second about what you're saying, and hopefully you won't be as unhappy in college as you sound like you are in high school. Just a tip.</p>
<p>To the OP:</p>
<p>I would encourage you, as others have, to pursue some volunteering/activism/service experience. Sure, (1) it looks good; (2) you might enjoy it; but (3) it's just a good experience. Depending on where you live, the options are endless (if you're near a city, it's especially helpful). Bear in mind that you're trying to make yourself stand out a LOT in a short span of time. Volunteering at a soup kitchen (random example) is a great way to spend your time and energy, but as your only service-oriented EC, it's not particularly memorable and it doesn't say a lot about your individual interests and skills. You could also: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Volunteer at a non-profit organization (most of which will happily except high schoolers). There's one for every single special interest out there...it's just a matter of finding them. Even if it's not a local group, odds are good there's something you can do...write press releases, start a local student chapter, get petitions signed, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Do campaigning work (Lord knows there's plenty of that going on right now, and there are party headquarters near you. They'll happily let you put up signs, call voters, etc., and while this isn't totally exciting, campaign experience is impressive).</p></li>
<li><p>Organize a fundraiser for a larger-scale project (a friend of mine raised money for a program that brings Belarussian children to the US for a few weeks each summer, which can add years to their lives. She raised enough to bring one boy out, and he's come back to stay with her family for five years in a row now. Another person organized an annual schoolwide fundraiser for the Heiffer Project).</p></li>
<li><p>You have tutoring experience. Try volunteer tutoring...perhaps organizing (or finding, since one is likely already in existence) a volunteer afterschool tutoring program for elementary/middle schoolers.</p></li>
<li><p>Use your own skills to make your work memorable. Play an instrument? Go play it in the rec room of a senior center. Get some friends together and put on a variety show. I was once doing regular volunteering at a senior center, but when they found out that I played the piano (not extraordinary well, I might add), that was the end of my regular work! It was all sing-alongs from there on out, and it was a million times more enjoyable for everyone.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The point is that volunteer work is important, whether or not you want to add it to your resume, but you don't have to do it just for the sake of doing it. With a bit of searching, you can find something that will reflect who YOU are, what YOU enjoy and are good at. <em>That,</em> more than any number of hours, will help set you apart from a crowd.</p>
<p>Are there already any volunteer groups at your school (if not LinkCrew, then Key Club or something of that nature)? If not, then you might use this as a selling point to attract other students, and if you act fast, you could get a lot done over the summer. Let every Friday be a project day, if that suits you. There are an endless number of ways you could go about it, depending on who's interested and what their own goals are.</p>
<p>If you are interested in medicine and have a family friend "in," then others are correct in saying it would be a great thing to pursue (not only for the resume, but also b/c it's good to have a little bit of early exposure to the field of your interest). A friend of mine worked in a chemical lab the summer after high school, based on an "in." She pretty much spent her days bottling bodily fluids, but it looked good and gave her some solid, if basic, experience. </p>
<p>So I know this is getting redundant, but here's one more chorus of <em>do something you care about.</em> A summer of community service will never hurt you, but if it doesn't somehow reflect your personality, your interests, your skills, etc., and it's pretty short-term, then it probably won't help you much, either, if only b/c it won't really cause you to stand out. 200 hours at a soup kitchen is certainly a generous use of your time, but if it's not obviously tied in with something else on your list of ECs and achievements, then it's likely to get overlooked. On the other hand, if you have pre-med interests + related volunteer work + a medical-ish internship, then they'll get "this guy really cares about medicine" DRILLED into their heads. Likewise if you have a tutoring job + volunteer tutoring hours + starting a service group to recruit other volunteer tutors. It's not so much the content or the hours that are primary, but the reflection of YOUR interests and the common thread running through your activities. Without it, you have a laundry list, which is certainly an accomplishment in itself, but not often a memorable one.</p>
<p>Good luck :-)</p>
<p>Ditto to Student615's comment. Excellent post.</p>
<p>I don't think the quote that was mentioned several posts above is "simply idiotic." Sure, it's very optimistic, but it brings up a good point about how the significance of someone's passion for a cause can go beyond where he/she decides to go for college. I don't really like how students these days are piling up so many extracurricular activities in hopes to impress colleges, rather than enlightening one's own interests. </p>
<p>But to answer SandyRun's question: Do whatever you think is interesting TO YOU. If you participate in something that is engaging to you, you will put your full energy to attaining good results. You could try to juggle a Link Crew project and community service project. In the end, you'll be making a difference in at least one student's life. Just remember to have fun, kiddo. :)</p>
<p>From a Pomona College article I read directly after my response to you: </p>
<p>"According to Poch, community service records as well as extra-curricular involvement played a major role in this year?s admissions decisions.</p>
<p>'We were very careful to read through any smoke screens,? Poch said. ?Our tendency was to select people who were real?not manufactured for the selection process.'"</p>
<p>So the best way to increase your chances? Well, for starters, do everything you can to make it NOT seem like that's all you're trying to do.</p>
<p>are there any other clubs ppl would suggest applying to or starting...or are there any med internships that are in ny? thanks</p>
<p>"Are there any other clubs ppl would suggest applying to or starting?"</p>
<p>YES. Read the thread and you'll see the same advice over and over: apply to things that interest you and/or showcase your hobbies, passions, or skills. If there aren't any clubs like this, then start them.</p>
<p>"Or are there any med internships that are in ny?"</p>
<p>You said you were in the NYC area. You should be able to find pretty much anything, and if you can't, then nobody can. Start by talking to family friends, friends' parents, neighbors, etc. who are in the medical profession. Let them know you're interested and see if you could possibly shadow them and/or if they know of any worthwhile ways to pursue your interest while in high school...either internships, jobs, or organizations. Not-for-profit organizations that have medicine or health related missions could also be very interesting.</p>
<p>The bottom line of this thread has been to do what you find interesting, not what you think looks good or what you think you should do for college.</p>
<p>Dear OP,</p>
<p>If I was in your position last year (I was) and a bunch of people on cc told me not to do summer program, I would have thought they were crazy. (I did a summer program similar to yours) and even though I had an amazing time (one of my best summers ever) I don't think it did a lot for me in terms of getting into college. Maybe it did? Who knows, i'll never know, but it wasnt like all the ivies opened the front door and said "wow...a summer program" but if your goal is strictly to get into college, do community service.</p>
<p>Dude... you should have a minimum of 20 hours of community service per year...so you should try and get at las 60 hours done before you apply to colleges.</p>
<p>hmmm... I had a grand total of 0 community service hours, and was admitted to Caltech and UC Berkeley. However I had a very solid research-oriented application. No big awards (never moved beyond the regional level) but I showed consistent commitment. I think that it's better to pursue one thing you like as deeply as you can than to try to figure out just what the admissions officers are "looking" for.</p>