My D’s val had a paid summer STEM internship in HS. It wasn’t a golden ticket for college admission. And that was back in '18 which feels like a lifetime ago in terms of college admission. For the OP, this student had highest rigor, perfect GPA, 36 ACT in one sitting, varsity athlete, Eagle Scout, all kinds of leadership, etc… He went to an OOS flagship that is strong in engineering.
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Private school in a low cost of living area. Common for families to have doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors. A fair portion of the school getting some need-based aid. Not really massive wealth like you might find in, say, Silicon Valley. We also have the strongest public high school in the area close by, and the top students there have similar achievements.
I can’t say that research & real STEM (or Poly Sci or other areas) paid internships & elite summer programs are common. But they are around and they differentiate. Top resources I used - first was looking at grads from our high school… were they in school news posts for accomplishments, ISEF, etc. Second was looking at award & scholarship winners in our city & state… Short Bios often posted in places like Coke Scholars or USSYP or a couple local STEM scholarship. LinkedIn is easy to search. Third was r/collegeresults (requires filtering & skepticism but some posts good) and “Inside Stanford Admissions”.
Why?
One of my kids interviewed with a highly rejective school. She was asked to tell which one of her accomplishments she was most proud of. She stated she was proud of something that she recently learned about herself…and she went on to tell the story.
The interviewer told her that she is not allowed to say this, but she knocked that answer out of the ball park (that was just her opinion, others might not agree). She said most students talk about grades, awards, leadership positions, etc.
Btw she was waitlisted to this particular school.
Where is your HS student getting paid STEM internships? Both of mine worked at camp and babysat.
As far as running for student government…that is not something I would push. My kid was school president, but that decision was 100% on them, not me. As far as being good for admissions….eh…I think it’s really about who they are and less about the title.
Some of the most impressive students that my kid met….attended Pitt honors. Another really impressive student had his pilot’s license and was also a chef. He flew meals to food pantries all over the country.
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My older kid won a couple (modest) scholarships and one of the cool parts was meeting other recipients at the ceremonies. The person you described was similar to another scholarship winner who had their pilot’s license already and was heading to Purdue for aerospace engineering
Bold part is the key here.
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I sure hope you are including your student in all this legwork - which really they should be doing. You can teach them to fish but shouldn’t be doing the fishing.
After all, you won’t be doing their college homework or job duties at work.
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Just wanted to jump in with my app reader hat on. I’ve read plenty of apps from seniors who have/have had paid internships. A shocking amount (at least to me) in federal government.
Even more students with unpaid internships (remember there are high schools, including some publics, where an internship is a graduation requirement.) Many of these internships are research focused…of course the school has a system for helping students procure internships, but we don’t see that experience as ‘lesser.’ We highly value research as an activity. We also highly value paid work that’s not an internship, you know, Chik-Fil-A jobs and the like.
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My older kid landed their first non-camp job after their senior year in high school. Materials Science research. The science was interesting but between the windowless lab and 10-step glass cleaning they figured out that wasn’t for them. Has since had two paid Machine Learning internships during college. Looking for an adjacent area next summer (robotics and/or data science)
Younger kid is expecting their previous unpaid internship will transition to a paid internship next summer - environmental/civil engineering with the government.
Re: “Why?” - kids need parents. Some kids need basic stuff like “don’t flunk your math class” or “eat your broccoli” or “get off your phone.” Mine needed some suggestions on branching out to try new things. SciOly didn’t work - but no regrets for trying it. Student government has been very rewarding - they have taken good initiative on several campus issues and learned a lot.
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My kid didn’t have a research activity and they got one through a summer program that admitted with a more holistic review (versus say RSI which practically requires previous research or things like Promys/Ross/ISEF/etc). So I believe for my kid there is a causative relationship with any T10 acceptances
There is nothing wrong with making suggestions about branching out and trying new things. I agree that that’s what parents do.
However….the “top 6 things I did” for my younger kid’s chances is what I was referring to.
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I was hands off with my older kid.
Looking back, that was almost a guarantee they weren’t getting into T10/HYPSM
Civil and environmental engineering are likely to be among the fields where college prestige matters less than most others. Why the focus on HYPSM?
Note that P and S have ABET-accredited civil engineering, and M has its civil engineering (course 1-ENG) ABET-accredited under the ABET category of “Engineering, General Engineering, Engineering Physics, and Engineering Science”. H and Y do not have ABET-accredited civil or environmental engineering (Y has a non-ABET-accredited environmental engineering major).
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And if they don’t, so what ? What’s the obsession ? People succeed and don’t succeed from all sorts of schools, Ivy included.
Will the family consider them failures?
Are you going to also go on your kids job interviews and help them at work ?
That’s what you are creating.
Did you take their SAT too ?
Not trying to be mean but this singular focus on Ivy/top 10 assures literally nothing in life.
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I am not surprised in the recent past, but this year or the next few years? not so sure it will be as common from what I am hearing from college kids, at least in stem.
Federal govt is probably now all paid for equity purposes (or was…) most nonprofits in liberal east coast are paid now too - for same reason IME.
If the older kid didn’t get into their top choice school, I doubt that it was due to you not completing the “Top 6 things I did list.”
If the younger kid does get into his top choice school, I doubt that it was due to you completing the “Top 6 things I did list.”
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Running for student government, and the personal growth that comes from that, is fantastic.
In terms of admissions for highly rejective schools, though, I doubt it moves the needle. There are something like 35,000 student body presidents out there; add in VPs, treasurer and secretaries, and the applicant is in a pool of 100,000 others.
I believe it is better to think outside the box and not to follow a very well worn path if you are angling for an admissions boost.
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Certainly the Student Government didn’t have “unique” as the main calling card. But my kid volunteered for the environmental-related issues which was/is personally interesting and linked nicely to their major. The work involved a recommender which helped establish a good relationship. And it created USSYP eligibility
Good discussion. There’s no definitive answer but I would still highly recommend parents providing some support to find strong summer programs (internship/meaningful job, research, personal project) as that will never be a negative.
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Stanford is the kid’s top pick after touring colleges. Loved Doerr school of sustainability, music professor & instrument collection, ability to change majors, campus/weather, and they have some family in the SF Bay Area. Yale, JHU/Peabody & Case Western also are favorites. UChicago had a great tour and awesome review from a friend, but the focus is so much on ED. Kid isn’t especially concerned with rank/prestige so those schools simply impressed. State school is an OK backup.
Kid talked to engineers about the accreditation process during their internship - seemed common to have a BS Civil Engineering and MS Environmental Engineering
As a general approach, didn’t apply to a single out-of-state public school. Pretty clear kid is better suited for medium-to-small size (spouse is a Cal alum and did not recommend it for kid)
If this is the list of colleges that your kid applied to, I would make sure your kid shows a ton of interest at Case Western. Additionally, how would your kid feel if they attend the in-state flagship, particularly since you said,
Unless you’re in a state like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, or one of the Dakotas, your state flagship is unlikely to fit that bill.
But if you’re looking for medium-to-small schools with ABET engineering, then what about U. of Miami, which has an extremely well-reputed music program as well? Or perhaps Santa Clara in the Bay Area, or Loyola Marymount? Your family seems a bit daunted at the idea of winters of Rochester, but U. of Rochester would be a solid school to consider. These are all schools that I would consider either a toss-up or maybe even a likely for someone who is competitive for a SHYMP school. SUNY Environmental Science & Forestry would be pretty much a lock for admissions and would provide a small school, but with access to all the resources of neighboring Syracuse.
I would just hate for your kid to finish in the spring with only the state flagship as an option, which doesn’t sound like the best fit, from what you’ve mentioned. Even if they end up deciding that the flagship is their ideal place, it’s always wonderful when a choice can be made rather than it being the only option.
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