OP - question for you. Did you list this summer program among your many activities and ECs on the college applications?
I ask because my husband and I are wondering if this type of program, along with things like travel abroad, will not eventually be looked at as a socioeconomic brag, in this age when the colleges are seeking to bridge the socio-gap in their communities.
@cobrat: Guess you got there first. BTW, I also clerked, though throughout HS. Did a bit time in a factory with immigrant women for a co-op, as well. What an eye opening experience that was!
Okay, you did this your way. You got into college. What are you going to do this summer? Are you going to work or are you going to argue that you need to rest up for college?
Most of my colleagues in that store over the years I worked part-time there were neighbors or fresh immigrants who never graduated HS or sometimes weren’t able to finish elementary/middle school in their home countries(Countries ranged from Central/South America to East/SE Asia) due to circumstances ranging from poor academic performance due to aggressive tracking to having their education disrupted by wars.
One perk from working there was having free access to the newspapers there to satisfy my current events/news fix and colleagues to discuss them when we had the rare downtime. It also gave me early insight into how some newspapers like the NY Post had lower journalistic standards than others like the NYT.
It certainly was an eyeopening experience…though there are some aspects I still haven’t told my parents/relatives to avoid unduly alarming them*.
I.e. An angry customer threatening violence with baseball bat, another angry customer threatening to sue the store because there was a line of customers before him which caused his car to get ticketed, a fight outside the store caused substantial damage to the store exterior, a young adult who were caught shoplifting attempted to assault a colleague with a knife before being disarmed by another colleague, etc.
@intparent "Well, sorry, but you are missing my point if you think I agree with you. Working for a prof on campus isn’t “real world work” (my kids have done that, too).
@intparent "I still think at some point before going to college, it is best if kids work for money in a non-academic environment, whether for a summer or part time job. "
She did four years of volunteer work for the county court dealing with juvenile crime, and the local food pantry. She also volunteered as a swim coach, and a math tutor, and for a STEM educational outreach initiative that helps underprivileged girls. Does that count? It sounds like “real world work,” but she did not get paid for it.
Working a summer job is also valuable for how you regard others. You see it frequently from those who’ve never worked a minimum wage job: the snobby condescending tone for those who are “beneath” us doing menial jobs.
My family is upper class and I worked since freshman year of high school. It wasn’t an issue of necessity but an issue of principle. It’s all too easy for the “elite” of society (the well educated, wealthy, college grads) to be caught in a bubble of privilege. It brings you down to earth pretty quick to be standing on your feet all day, interacting with rude customers, and yes even working for a boss who may be “less intelligent” than you (side note: welcome to the real world, where test scores mean nothing and work experience is what matters). Of course, summer jobs don’t mean you can’t take a few weeks off to do a camp or something you’re interested in. They’re not mutually exclusive.
Adcoms know that those summer camps are really just ways for parents to pay money to add a brand-name experience to their kid’s resume. You’ll probably learn something, of course, but a little high-school academic knowledge is not the same as a job. Don’t let fancy names fool you, it’s really just an easy way for colleges to make way too much money off high school parents in the summers. I go to one of these “elite” schools that offers fancy name summer camps and it’s well known that money is what gets you into most of the camps.
Employers, even for internships in college, like to see work experience more than an extra SAT course.
Would love to hear how you fundraised all that money. I’m sure many families would be glad to know how to afford such an expensive summer trip.
I actually took a leap of faith to work full-time in a gap year. Even though I had a scholarship to college that paid all my educational expenses, I wanted to do something other than academics to decompress. Personally, I believe everyone should start out in the food industry or something similar to really know what it is like to start at the bottom rung of the ladder and work your way up. Working such jobs help you appreciate not only the value of working and being a reliable employee but gaining empathy to those whose circumstances make it difficult to get out of such jobs well into their lives…whether it be because they lack education, financial abilities, etc. It makes you more appreciative of school when you see what a lack of education does…When you work these types of jobs, you get to relate with individuals you never may have because you are better off. You realize they are humans too and want to pursue dreams and a better life someday. They have interests, hobbies, and humor that goes beyond just socio-economic status: you work with them and all that matters is the job at hand so being able to work as a team that helps one another is the key to success. The most important thing I learned from my gap year was being able to respect people more from all backgrounds and not see people or things as beneath me. It puts skin on you when you have your former peers and teachers stare at you in confusion while you make them your food on the grill but know that it’s for something more than just a low rung job: you are there to work hard now in order to have it just a little easier later.
The nice thing of working to save money for living expenses for college was I ended up using some of my savings to explore life a little and try out new things. On my days off I got to use my hard earned money to travel around my state and feel accomplished knowing I didn’t have to ask my parents for money. I was able to afford a gym membership, video games, movies, and going out with friends because I was putting in the effort to do so. At some point in my gap year I figured I wanted–since I had the time and money–to learn to shoot. Since my family is as liberal as it gets, having them fund this interest of mine was ideological heresy. I worked extra hard for a month to save for my first 22 and because I worked hard for what I wanted, my parents were ok with me learning how to shoot responsibly. Few months later of training and I can safely say I know how to treat a gun with respect and how to use it properly. I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate this opportunity if I didn’t work for what I wanted in my gap year.
In the end I can say I do not regret my gap year one bit, even at one point where I sliced open my thumb with a meat knife at work and had to get stitches…I persevered and didn’t quit when it got tough. Looking back a year and I can say working a job for that long has made me a lot more tough, respective, and appreciative of life. You learn what it means to have heard the stories of your parents working 2 jobs to afford tuition “back in the day” and relate to it. When I return back to school this fall, I will go in feeling more confident than I did a year ago, when I was just another senior suffering from academic angst and the new responsibilities of being an adult. I will always be appreciative of my opportunity to work in my year off school and to have a family that supported my pursuit to explore life a different way. End of rant
“Summer job in 2015 at ice cream shop looks better than Harvard Summer School 2015 on a resume for internships?” - I’d say Yes.
OP - It’s great that you got into your dream college. But most likely you had stellar qualifications w/o the summer program.
From what I’ve read, usually admission boost from comes from free/prestigious competitive programs… not the ones that “money can buy”. My kids did not have summer jobs because they are hard to get around here if you won’t stick around for the school year. I think that’s too bad. The one kid that took a detour after a year of college and worked in Walmart will have lifetime empathy for the working class.
As @romanigypsyeyes said, you don’t know that you got into your “dream school” because of your summer program… You got in, that’s all you know. And congratulations for that.
BTW, my daughter did a summer program after her freshman and sophomore years–a program she started in middle school. If she had been able to continue in it for another year, she would have. So I am not opposed to summer programs. But she has also worked p/t since late in her sophomore year. I don’t assume that she got into her first choice school because of her summer program. Or because of her job… Although her essay was somewhat related to her job, FWIW. I don’t know why she got in–obviously I think she’s great, and I’m glad they admissions folks agreed.
In the long run her work experience will help her with getting a job in college or afterwards, and she has had experience in managing her money. I also think she has enjoyed the independence of getting a paycheck, as her brother did, and the experience of having something other than academics to focus on for a few hours a week.
Honestly i don’t think colleges care about summer jobs unless the position converges with another aspect of the canidates application. For example, a strong english student with summer job involving tutoring or temping at PR firm. Bio kids working at nursing home. Swimmers lifeguarding. Sports kids working at related sports camp.
If you are applying to a UC and have an Asain sounding name, do not list a job working at your parent’s store. Sure fire way to get rejected.
There’s just no reasoning with some people. But since OP is fond of anecdotal evidence, here’s some.
I worked part-time for three years. My SAT prep consisted of two PSAT sittings and a few practice tests from the Blue Book in the week preceding my one and only sitting. My grades and scores were good enough to “tick those boxes” everywhere, so summer jobs weren’t the academic death knell OP seems to believe.
Incidentally, I did take part in a summer program between 10th and 11th grade, because the subject matter dovetailed with my chief academic interest. Did it boost my grades or my test scores? My 10th-grade PSAT and 11th-grade PSAT produced exactly the same score. My 10th-grade GPA and 11th-grade GPA were identical (and yes, there was some room for grades and scores to increase). You be the judge.
Careful when you get to Northwestern @futureNU16 . Don’t want to mingle with any riff raff that might have worked in an ice cream shop one summer. Of course, there might also be a former lifeguard or two. Heck, maybe one of your future class mates even worked in McDonalds! The horror! BTW, you might want to have a word with Adcoms once your tutition is paid. Their CDS says work experience is considered in the application process, but it doesn’t say anything about arrogance and elitism.
I have been biting my tongue so hard throughout this thread. It’s obvious to me now that the OP isn’t listening to any opinions counter to his/her own, but I’ll just add this:
I have two family members who have worked (or who still work) in college admissions at elite universities. These family members report that their institutions much prefer seeing summer jobs over summer academic programs on an application, when given a choice between the two.
The only summer academic programs that garner real interest are highly competitive programs, not the $10,000/summer, my-family-has-a-lot-of-money-to-spend-on-me programs.
But, hey, what do I know? I only have an N of two, compared to futureNU16’s …what?
And please, how DID you raise all that money for your summer program??
I at least skimmed through each post in this thread so far. My S will probably only be able to list “self employed musician” as his paid work before college - giving lessons, and performing shows. And shows are sometimes weekly for a stretch and sometimes only monthly. For those who especially regard high school employmeny history, does this “count”?
FutureNU, I’m an NU alum, married to another, and a parent (class of 2015). I daresay I know a heck of a lot more people affiliated with the school than you do at this point. Heck, I was there on Saturday. I guarantee you that there are plenty of students who had paid jobs in hs and/or summer (not related to an academic interest). And I’m telling you because I care - a) lay off the superior attitude re academic camps vs jobs and b) stop caring what high school friends you probably won’t ever see much of again did and didn’t do - and certainly don’t extrapolate from them.
When my kids got to college (or planned to get there for the HS senior), they were hoping to become employable after graduation because we are not leisure class wealthy folks. Therefore, they hoped for jobs/internships/volunteer opportunities during college in order to have the skills, recommenders, and resumes to be hired after college. It’s been our experience and we’ve heard the same from college and hiring professionals, that getting that first internship or departmental job in college can be easier if the student already has a resume with professional recommendations, lists of skills and experience before they get on campus from that high school job.
My one daughter brought a resume of high school jobs and skills to campus with her and a job was posted in her department the first week. She had the resume and work experience, so she got the job. After four years, she was promoted up several times to a truly professional position with her name on the departmental website for that position, and the progression to a supervisory, and highly skilled position was a very big boon after four years when she applied to grad school. She is finishing that this year and applying to Big Girl Jobs and some are very nice (God willing she gets one), and every single interview has touched on being able to work in an office and knowing how to do basic office things, because apparently it’s common for young professionals with fancy degrees to not know how to do those basic things and employers don’t like that so much.
Whatever you do, good luck to you, OP. Wishing you all the best of success, and the strength and patience to handle the inevitable humbling experiences that come to all of us.
in our sleepy midwestern neighborhood, summer academic programs are rare for kids. I think that’s because they are expensive, and working even magnifies the price difference.
i know two kids who attended some programs; one at carleton (FREE) and she’s going there next year through questbridge. Another kid did a selective standford program, but did not get in. (he’s now at a HYP school). My daughter’s friend worked at a nursing home and on her small alpaca farm; and she’s going to stanford next year; she did not do academic summer programs.
had our kids been interested in attending TOP schools, and had we the funds to entertain top schools, perhaps we might have looked more at summer programs to boost their scores and etc. But we did not see the point, and we’re glad our kids have worked during summers. It’s been good all the way around. (New friends, experiences, some earnings, and interesting skills learned.)
