Summer job in 2015 at ice cream shop looks better than Harvard Summer School 2015 on a resume for internships?
Paying for a summer “camp” would not have done anything more for the not academically inclined friends anyway. It’s the rare school that cares about these pay type programs at all anyway. Having a basic minimum wage type job was a great thing for my upper middle class kids to learn the value of hard work, earning their own money, dealing with adults in the business world, etc. Many colleges do say that they look for paid employment so a job would almost definitely be more valuable to colleges.
I want to go on the record…there is NO SUCH THING as a pointless job. Employment gives you a little jib experience for the future, some income…but most of all some responsibility.
I think yes.
Harvard’s summer program isn’t selective, though if what was studied aligned with other interests it might have been part of the “getting into a great school” thing. (But a job could too, many colleges say they look for that).
An internship is a job and I think jobs are more valued than summer school as experience for those than a summer program.
(For the record my kid did summer programs similar to Harvard’s but she also worked).
The best activity to facilitate future internships is to join a prestigious sorority.
The best way to pay for this sorority is not to beg others for money but to work in the Summers
@futureNU16 , wow, I am quite surprised that everyone is being so civilized towards you. I will also be civilized and say that you have a lot to learn about life. Not everyone’s parents can afford to send them off to summer academic programs, which often cost thousands of dollars ( I speak from experience.) Not everyone’s parents can afford to have their kids sitting around when there are bills and mortgages to be paid. Not everyone’s parents can afford summer child care, so maybe older siblings have to look after younger ones. Not everyone’s parents want their kids sitting inside playing video games, texting, and listening to Spotify. And maybe, just maybe, kids learn something from jobs, such as being responsible for keeping a schedule, saving money, reporting to a superior, dealing with public, having particular duties and responsibilities that ensure the success of the company for which they work, and myriad other things. It may come as a shock to you, but colleges like to see kids have had jobs for all the reasons I have just mentioned. Think about those reasons the next time you assume a kid in an ice cream shop is just texting on his phone mindlessly.
@futureNU16 I’m sure you don’t intend to come across as entitled and condescending as you sound in these posts. That being said, your limited world experience filled with bored upper middle class kids is not universal truth. Other kids live in a reality where they either have to work, or find it extremely beneficial for many reasons which have already been mentioned here.
Two of my kids worked for years in a very busy ice cream parlor. They spent their tips and saved about $500 per month in wages toward spending money, traveling and whatever. They also were promoted into management positions which look great on a resume. I would say that length of employment and promotion to increased responsibility looks better on a resume than a pre college program. The owner knows that my son plans to major in accounting and has taken it upon herself to include him in meetings and information so he can learn. I can’t imagine anything better for his personal development, learning of job skills, finances and, yes, resume than working an honest job where productivity and service matter.
In a typical summer or teen-age job, you learn how do deal with people which is a great life skill that can’t be learned in a classroom. Often you’ll encounter people different than yourself, out of your bubble, and that can help you learn empathy. No doubt they can also make you realize very starkly why you’re attending college.
I hire lots of undergrads to work as research assistants. I’ve overseen several internships on various research projects at my top U.
I do not hire students for jobs or internships if they have no work experience. I just don’t. I did my first semester and the two people who I hired without work experience decided to just stop coming to work. I learned my lesson. Our project pays well and I will not waste money or time on people who haven’t proven that they can show up consistently to work.
Like so many other things- I think there is a great deal of personal choice involved. For my kid- we have chosen the experiences rather than the paying $$ in both HS and now that she is in college. Yes, she has worked, but the focus of each summer has been an enrichment activity. She attended a college program before senior year, and has done 2 other programs since. They are essentially internships where we pay for her to participate. I think they are valuable, and will help D get a better job after graduating. To each their own
Did this involve working or asking friends and family to give you money or buy things for more than their market value? Did it involve car washes and other jobs?
If I saw ‘Harvard summer program’ on a resume, I’d assume the parents paid unless something else was indicated.
This is one of my biggest regrets (and mistakes) as a parent. My daughter never worked for an hourly wage during high school. Somehow between her late birthday and summer internship requirements, this was a missed opportunity. There is a skill to finding and getting jobs as well as just gaining the experience going into work every day.
The closest D came to this type of work was find the Youth Conservation Corps at a state park one summer. She worked with 11 other girls, creating fire rings/pits at about 20 cabins. It was hard, dirty work and they had to do it rain or shine.
I worked three years for an ice cream shop. I started working as a scooper my junior year. By the summer after my high school senior year, I was a shift manager. At one point, the company started franchising and a group of us were sent to train new franchise owners and help open their stores. All before my sophomore year in college. I’d say working in an ice cream shop was will with it.
I know I’m going to make sure my 12 year old works when he is in high school.
OP…how did you “fundraise” for the cost of your summer program?
My D had no desire to do enrichment/academic activities over the summer, even if we could have paid for them. I would assume that most high school students who aren’t on CC are in the same boat. It didn’t prevent her from getting into the colleges she applied to.
I haven’t read the whole thread, but I’m throwing in my two cents (or I would if literally had two cents).
I worked by my own choice - because my parents couldn’t afford for me not to contribute. You absolutely have to think about other people’s potential hardship when making a decision that affects them.
…because learning takes place in all aspects of one’s life, and not merely in the classroom.
Your HS pals not getting into the colleges they wanted probably has a whole lot more due to your statement that they “don’t have the best academics” than to the fact that they had summer jobs.
They did make money. They spent it on things that they wanted to spend it on (what you describe as parties and pointless stuff). It wasn’t “free money”, they were there to do a job, and when there were customers, they did do their jobs (or they would have been sacked). When they are applying for their next summer job, or for a part-time job when they get to whatever college they do end up attending, you can bet they will put last summer’s jobs on their resumes!
Why?
1). Learning to fill out W-4 forms, 1040 EZ forms 540 EZ (CA), automatic deposit authorization forms (with routing numbers), learning about interest and bank fees, filling out time cards, awareness of staff time-shifts, familiarity with bank deposit and withdrawal forms, are not things that are taught directly in most HS programs. Additionally, professionalism, punctuality, cohesiveness comes from a work environment if you have good management skills.
2). Money. I aint paying for their education without some kind of in kind working commitment to put in their fair share. You needed to ask?
We NEVER insisted that our teens have summer jobs…not ever.
However, we DID make it very clear that we would not pay for any discretionary spending once they got to college.
And FYI…it’s not all or nothing. Our kids went to programs for four weeks in the summers, sometimes six. They had fabulous employers who allowed them to work when they were here.
DD worked as a lifeguard. DS worked as a bus boy in a restaurant…and worked his way up to waiter.