School’s out for summer!
Print Edition
WHEN I was in school, I would always look forward to summer because it was the time of the year when I could daydream, pursue my interests, and hang out with my friends. Nowadays, kids don’t have it so easy: The college crunch begins early and doesn’t let off until after students graduate. In spite of this, I think it is still important for kids to enjoy their summer while doing something that can help them when it comes time to apply for college.
Therefore, instead of going to a full-time summer school or enrichment program, pursue one out-of-the box opportunity the whole summer.
First, think about getting an internship! Not only will this help you build your resume, it is fun to meet people outside of school and work on real-life projects. I always recommend internships at startups for high school students because they will be more likely to work on exciting projects and feel more involved than at a more established company. My friends at Blueprint Consulting, an SAT/ACT prep school in Shanghai, regularly place their students with some of Shanghai’s most innovative companies and hottest startups.
Or, if you’d like to be more independent, come up with a project you can work on over the summer. Set goals and make sure you can measure these and have a way of verifying your accomplishments. When you apply to colleges, schools will be very impressed by your independence and creativity. Most importantly, stay away from summer enrichment programs at big name universities. While you may like seeing Stanford or Harvard on your resume, admissions officers are not impressed by these programs because they don’t show initiative or creativity. Most kids with wealthy parents participate in these programs, and it is a very common “resume-stuffer.” From an admissions perspective, the kid who makes his/her own opportunities is much more impressive than one who enrolls in a pre-designed program.
Above all, indulge in your hobbies, hang out with your friends and more importantly, spend time by yourself: think, daydream, read and build your capacity for self-reflection. It will pay off in dividends later in life.
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