How do colleges know what you have done over summer? How important are freshman summer activities?

Pre-College Topics High School Cafe
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<p>I know that summer activities can be very important when it comes to college admissions because it allows colleges to see what your interests are and what steps you take to further develop it outside of school.</p>

<p>Last year at the end of ninth grade, I was planning on getting a job with a program that I signed up for but I didn’t get chosen in the lottery so I was stuck with no plans this summer. Therefore, I ended up not really doing much. I did, however, go help out at several Chinese restaurants [one where my mom works, one that my brother-in-law’s family owns, and the other where my cousin works]. I basically just packaged take-out orders and took them to the front desk for a work day of about 9 hours. </p>

<p>I didn’t originally think that helping out at restaurants was too important so I thought that it can’t go onto my college resume. But I was thinking about it and I realized that it was actually quite an eye-opening experience because my parents both work in Chinese restaurants making minimum wage for 8-10 hours a day and by helping out, I learned just how hard they work to support our family. I was stuck in a tiny kitchen and had to stand for the entire day. I only got to rest during meal time and even then, we only get to eat leftovers or anything cheap in the restaurant. This is what my mom and dad go through all the time and they’re both getting old and have backaches now too. </p>

<p>I want to somehow write this down in my college resume as summer activities for freshman year but I don’t know if I can put it in because I didn’t really volunteer or work at the restaurants. I just tagged along with my mom and cousin and helped out at the restaurant and so I don’t really have any paperwork to prove that I helped out. </p>

<p>Is it possible for me to say that I helped out at the Chinese restaurants on my college resume? Or do they require some type of proof? Also, in the case that I can’t put that down as my summer activity, then I really didn’t do anything else this summer. How important is the summer of freshman year anyways? Do colleges necessarily care too much or do they mainly focus on the summers of sophomore and junior year?</p>

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<p>You can do so in the additional information page on the common app. Most freshmen summers are spent relaxing since for the majority of students the transition from grade school to high-school is rough(at least I did).</p>

<p>Sophomore/Junior summers are more for getting a job, internship, research etc etc. </p>

<p>And no you will not need some kind of ‘proof’, colleges go by the honor system. Unless you claim that you cured cancer, they’ll take your word.</p>

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Your extracurriculars don’t need to be verifiable. </p>

<p>You can put this down as one of your ECs on the Common App if you want (you’ll be able list up to ten activities you did during or after the summer before ninth grade), but you’ll probably have a lot of other stuff to put down by the beginning of your senior year and it might end up working better as an essay topic. </p>

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<p>I’d put it as an EC or even consider it as an essay topic.</p>