My kids have done some of both depending on the summer. That said, I’m quite sure the programming work my oldest did was far from pointless and he’s gainfully employed in the CS industry now. I’m sure the experience was also helpful on his application. Youngest had fewer useful skills and ended up doing a computer modelling for me one summer and other stuff around my office. It was useful to me.
Since my D wants to go to veterinary school when she finishes undergrad, her summer job with a local veterinarian is is far from pointless.
Did “fundraising” mean a kickstarter campaign, or asking your grandparents for money? Most kids would say they got a job and WORKED for the money – you seem to have an aversion to that idea, though. Really, a summer program at a prestigious college that you had to pay for is NOT very impressive on resumes. I would say it doesn’t tell colleges anything except that your family could pay for it, and honestly – that is not always a bonus in getting you into the admission pile. I don’t think internship hiring has anything to do with what you did summer in high school, unless you got some work experience related to the internship field (like a CS major might get a boost if they worked in a tech job in high school). But no HS summer program is going to impress anyone in a hiring position. They care about skills, not titles.
thumper has a very good point.
Despite working full time in summers, I was able to do a few summer programs. I had to choose short ones (like CTY) but I was still able to do them. Of course, I was extremely lucky to have employers who allowed me to take a few weeks off but it let me have the best of both worlds.
I think it all depends on the circumstances. Our city college lets high school kids take classes for free, so my daughter already plans to take a few classes the summer after 9th grade, and depending on the classes she chooses, couples with planned AP’s, that may well take semester or even up to a year of college and thus save thousands of dollars. My daughter’s intentions are not as far-looking, so I’m not sure she’d pick the “transferable credits” classes, but the opportunity is there, so bottom line is it all depends.
It’s difficult for some people (esp middle and lower class) to come up with all the money for a four year college, so if their kids want to go to college, they’ll need to help out a little bit. Also the majority of academic summer programs cost a lot of money anyway. If your parents had enough money to comfortably pay for a summer program on top of a four year college on their own, that’s great, but not everyone is in the same situation.
This thread made me register and de-lurk. I am the parent of a current sophomore who this summer will have her first job in a greenhouse a mile from our home (perfect situation since she doesn’t have her own car). She got the job through family friends who manage the place, but I told her around Christmas that she needed some kind of job this summer. Her only wish was that it not be fast-food related, and that’s okay. For a 16 year old, it’s a great first job. She has room for advancement even as a seasonal employee, and might be offered work during the school year (not sure how we will fit that in, but we are getting ahead of ourselves). This is in addition to teaching ballet during the school year, and other extra curriculars including a volunteer position at the memory care unit of our local nursing home.
She wants to be a nurse. Having a summer job is so much more than earning money (although she is expected to pitch in with college costs). It’s about, as others have said, being around people who are not like yourself. As a nurse, she will have to work with and help people from all walks of life. While she has some of that experience through teaching and her volunteer job, this is a position where she will truly deal with the public (as she would in an ER, a doctor’s office, etc). Not everyone will be nice. But she will learn to treat everyone with respect - she already does, but through the job she will learn to do it on a daily basis even when she doesn’t want to.
My summers scooping ice cream and working at Burger King led to several paid internships in college in my chosen field. Employers want to see people who can work and hold down a job. Academic enrichment is wonderful, and in a perfect world every student can do both. But a paid job is the real world, and what will ultimately lead to other, better, jobs.
My parents actually discouraged me from getting a “real life” job, instead supporting “enriching” experiences. So while I did have paid work experience in high school and college, it was stuff like being an usher at a prestigious music festival in town, nominally paid internships in my field or positions as a research assistant - which is just not like the real world. I always had a vague notion I was missing some crucial life skills and boy did I realize when I had my first real job out of university. It did not affect my college or job search, but it really affected my stress level the first few months in my real job when getting stuff done, correctly and fast, really counted. I wish my parents had insisted I leave my comfort zone rather than discouraging me, or that I had struck out on my own.
Though depending on what kind of fundraising you did in order to challenge yourself academically over the summer, it might make a compelling story, too. It just won’t make you learn the same life skills you learn from working hard at a a real job ( and hanging out with your friends at a dead ice cream parlour isn’t that either, I’ll give you that. There is a middle ground here - real life hard work for a few weeks, and some enriching or recreational experience for the rest of the time, maybe?)
My husband worked at a cheese factory one summer, where they were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. It left him with horrific food poisoning and a life long abhorrence of processed cheese, but it did pay very well. 
Some parents, even if they can afford the summer enrichment, insist their kids work because that’s how they learn real life experiences. My kids had summer jobs all through high school and college. They learned how to FIND those jobs, interview, show up for work every day, do things they weren’t thrilled to be doing, manage their money and appreciate buying stuff on their own. They still managed to get into very good colleges and then grad school. Pretty sure their real life experiences helped way more than a summer enrichment camp.
Today they have great jobs and wonderful families they can support well with their work ethic and didn’t for a second miss the summer enrichment.
My kids attended summer educational enrichment programs, but had jobs during the school year. One fixed computers (and made a lot of $) and the other worked in fast food and in a supermarket. Actually come to think of it he started working in one summer and continued during the school year. Work teaches kids responsibility, customer service/diplomacy skills and exposes them to what they DON’T want to do for the rest of their lives. That was an incentive for younger son!
My oldest worked part time as a barista year round for several years after he turned 16.
He also played varsity sports and was in jazz band.
He learned a great many valuable life skills that have served him well in the nearly ten years since then.
Fall of his senior year in high school he was at an interview with an admissions counselor at a CTCL LAC, and guess what the admissions counselor wanted to talk about? The lowly paid job as a barista. He mentioned how much they like seeing those lowly paid jobs on college application resumes because the skills kids learn in those jobs have correlations with college success.
Showing up on time, showing up on days when you’d rather be doing something else, time management, dealing with people you may have nothing in common with, working as part of a team (again, with people you may have nothing in comon with), working with a boss who does not care about why you’d like next Saturday off, negotiating with other people to cover your shift, the list goes on and on.
OP, I am very interested in how you fundraised the $11,300 to attend Harvard Summer School, and that’s not including travel costs or books. Will you share?
My kids never worked during high school, although they volunteered many hours. Instead, they both did some academc programs. Both summer job and academic program have their own values, although, if money is not an issue, academic program should be of more help for college application. That’s the whole purpose of CC, isn’t it?
My 16 year old D is scooping ice cream a short walk from our house, and she has a blister and sore wrist to prove it! She would be amused to hear of people sitting around an ice cream parlor on their phones, waiting for bored friends to patronize.
This D insisted on getting a job; I’m completely fine with my kids not working while in high school. But, I can see that she’s already learning so much because of it, even though she just started a few weeks ago: time management (academics and other activities, including intense involvement in a year-round sport, plus social time), interviewing, working with challenging and lovely people, being a team member, customer service… She’s enjoying it, and it’s helping her grow. Plus, they already have her pegged for a leadership position in the future, which will obviously be nice if it pans out.
Fortunately, she’ll also be able to fit in at least 2 vacations and a short academic experience this summer.
Summer academic programs might be of great value for low-performing students to help them catch up. I don’t think evidence has ever been presented that summer academics are more important than other summer activities for college admissions.
my D worked as a grocery story cashier the summer before college. it was a great experience for her, she loved it, and it boosted her self-confidence by allowing her to demonstrate she could be a reliable and productive employee. oh and she made a good chunk of money too.
Working while in high school is a saving grace for my DS1 . He fixes computers, teaches programming courses through a local nonprofit, and builds websites, all for $$. Our pressure cooker school district is highly competitive and the narrow academic path consisting of AP/honors courses just didn’t suit my kid. He’s happy as a clam with his part time jobs and knows what he wants to study in college. As many have mentioned here already, there are many benefits to working. For the non-academic type kid, high school work can help to make a difference between focus and maturity versus simply drifting through a non-productive school and college experience.
“Both summer job and academic program have their own values, although, if money is not an issue, academic program should be of more help for college application. That’s the whole purpose of CC, isn’t it?”
Why “should” academic programs be of more help? Jobs have value too. It’s not a uniform ranking of one being better than the other. It’s all in the context of that particular kid.
Many parents encourage their to get summer jobs because they want them to not only earn money that the family needs, but also to provide first-hand experience on what its like out there in the working world.
“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”
This has got to be one of the silliest comments ever on CC, and that’s saying a lot.