Why do parents insist teens get summer jobs vs. working on academics?

Parents Forum
281

Fatal in the sense that they’re not happy with the college they have to go to. They’re great students, actually, but in retrospect they made the error of thinking they were locks to get in to Flagship U. Little extra push would have likely sealed it.

Also most pre-college programs offer SAT prep courses. And local pre-college programs or community college courses are also good. I get the vibe people think I’m a snob about Harvard. Not at all. Although I do think a boarding competent and being in a bubble of scholars helps your focus (vs being home and having pals nag you while you try to do community college or SAT prep).

282

@GMTplus7

“Why indeed should students take a pointless summer job when they could take an expensive academic enrichment program instead?”

Because driving to the A&W stand 3 days a week and boiling hotdogs doesn’t improve their SAT score or writing ability or illuminate chemistry/calc/bio.

283

Between your attitude and the comments this week from the Porceline club, my opinion of Harvard has slipped lower than my opinion of Congress this week.

284

The OP isn’t going to Harvard. Harvard summer school is not Harvard. It should be your opinion of NU that slips. As has mine.

Just wanted to add that the lifeguards at our pool rotate around posts and one is responsible for checking in the guests. There isn’t usually that much traffic, and these students are usually not playing games on their phones. They are reading books, and not trashy ones. I only personally know a few of the guards, but I can say that one of them now attends an Ivy.

285

My husband’s after-school and summer job as a paper boy to help pay the family bills led to his getting a job at the paper’s call center. That job led to his interest in communications and one of his 3 majors. That led to a rather successful career in the public sector. His brother’s dabbling in the theater in the summers led to a scholarship at one of the top theater programs at a top college and a successful career in the performing arts. My sister’s after-school and summer job at the counter at a drugstore fueled HER interest in pharmacy…even “mindless” jobs can lead somewhere, in addition to teaching life skills and how to get along with people of all walks of life-something the OP has yet to do.

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@futureNU16 [block]driving to the A&W stand 3 days a week and boiling hotdogs doesn’t improve their SAT score or writing ability or illuminate chemistry/calc/bio.[/block]

There are things in life that are important to learn and understand outside and beyond academics.

It is also valuable for individuals to develop the ability to learn independently, outside of a structured academic setting.

287

FutureNU16: As a high school teacher, I know that many colleges like to see work experience on their applications. This is something that our guidance counselors talk about with our students. Some of the scholarship applications my younger son filled out asked for references not related to school. Fortunately, he had been a youth soccer referee for several years, and his supervisor happily wrote a nice letter of recommendation that did lead to a scholarship. My oldest son spent a few summers working in a local burger place. He got into some outstanding colleges and universities as an undergrad. The money that he saved helped to pay for his service trip to Costa Rica following his freshman year. The college, impressed with what he had accomplished, paid his expenses the second year.

So summer jobs pay in more ways than putting some money in your savings account.

288

“I know you/your kid made a different choice, and I think that makes you a bit defensive on this. But a summer with a part time job scooping ice cream isn’t going to make or break a kid for a top school. And I think there are very valid reasons that have been pointed out on this thread why overall some kind of work experience sometime prior to college is a good ting.”

It is fine, as I has said repeatedly. I think it is a valuable life lesson for many kids, especially entitled ones. However, I don’t think it is given much weight with adcoms.

Still, I see it as similar to volunteer work, only paid. Many students who have jobs, got the jobs through connections, which is an issue.

I am also not a fan of expensive summer programs. We have only sent D1 to one, and it was competitive admission, and heavily subsidized by the school.

289

As a proud NU alum and parent, I would just like to note for the record I’m hereby embarrassed. My S did attend summer programs during high school but that’s simply how it worked for us, and you would never hear the OP’s opinion from him or his buddies, many of whom worked summer jobs.

290

Working and volunteering are not the same. Both have merits, but they teach different (valuable) lessons IMO.

291

I’m beginning to feel as though I need to post this on every thread that goes on and on and round and round with no end in sight:

Not one person outside of the admissions committee of any selective college or university KNOWS (or even has a clue) WHY any particular applicant was admitted or denied.

Every time any of us, parent or kid, says “X did Y, and that was why X got into Fantastic U.”… Well, we are guessing, and trying to make sense out of an obscure, opaque system. Especially in those colleges and universities that admit almost nobody, we want to believe that there is a system, and that if only we knew the absolute rules, we could guarantee future admissions or validate the reason someone was admitted or denied.

Nobody knows, though.

Maybe the OP was admitted in spite of the fact that he wasted a summer at a pricy Harvard program, but participation in that program makes it appear that his parents can afford full price, and that was the bump he needed.

Maybe the OP was in the “Eh” pile and was randomly picked up to fill a “need a kid from that area of the country and he’ll do as well as anyone else in this pile,” spot, and the summer of Harvard/job had no bearing at all on that decision.

Maybe the OP comes across much better in a highly currated application than he does in the back and forth of this thread, and he appears to be a stellar addition to NU based on the information they had.

Maybe the OP is having fun with this thread, filling some downtime after he got into his dream school and before he needs to study for finals.

Nobody knows.

I do know, however, that most of us only read what confirms our preconceived notions, and disregard everything else. Comment after comment on this thread by multiple posters confirms that.

292

Pretty please, can we kill this thread now? Nothing anyone says is going to convince OP that there is an alternative view. And nothing OP says will convince most of the rest of us that he is anything but arrogant and entitled. I do like the comment from @Pizzagirl , though. Moderators, please put us out of our misery.

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Still, I see it as similar to volunteer work, only paid. Many students who have jobs, got the jobs through connections, which is an issue.

Not sure why finding jobs through connections is “an issue”. I have been in recruiting for 21 years and MANY MANY successful adults find their jobs through connections. I am not saying they are given their jobs through connections but certainly get interviews through connections. This is NOT a bad thing.

BTW. Both of my kids have worked summer jobs since they were 14 and it has definitely helped shape them as people!!!

294

You can get a job without connections, so I don’t think the fact that some kids get them with connections devalues working. Even the kid who’s working for a store where their uncle is the manager is learning the same life lessons.

295

The kid who is filing at his dad’s law firm? Not as much.

296

Someone mentioned lifeguards reading books. The ones at our pool would be fired in a heartbeat even if there was little activity, unless they were on break.

297

As described, the lifeguard wasn’t on pool duty while reading books. It sounds similar to our pool. There are usually 2 guards watching the pool and 2 working the check in table and/or snack stand. That prevents fatigue from staring at the pool for hours on end. They rotate around periodically.

298

This thread is disturbing. There’s a child posting who will not change his perspective on much of anything until life knocks him on his a$$, and and some point it will. And I am sorry for that. I hate to see people suffer. In the meantime, let him spend this summer, having been accepted into a “great” college, doing nothing but picking fights with strangers on the Internet.

299

MODERATOR’S NOTE: I think this thread has outlived its usefulness. The OP doesn’t seem receptive to the advice being given, so I am closing the thread.