Lack of Activities in the Summer

[CS1211]

I will be going back to China over the summer both this year and the next year due to personal family issues. Due to this, I won’t be able to stay in America and participate in camps over the summer, or do the community service that I had originally planned for myself. I understand that colleges, especially ivy leagues such as Harvard, enjoy seeing students who devote their time over the summer to meaningful programs and activities. I’m afraid that my lack of activities will be viewed as laziness by colleges, and I also hate that I won’t be able to complete the amount of community service hours that I had originally set as a goal for myself. Is there any way I can make up for the time I would lose over the summer? I’m currently in my freshman year, and will become a sophomore come mid-August.

[bodangles]

You can’t find something to do in China?

[CS1211]

bodangles It’d be a bit difficult… So I’d like to do whatever I can to keep the activities in America. I don’t really want to add to the stress my parents are already experiencing.

[CheddarcheeseMN]

Community service can involve tutoring poor kids, helping coach at a summer youth sports or arts program in the community, or helping to organize volunteers to pick up litter in the neighborhood… It doesn’t need to be full time. US college applicants would love to be able to say they did community service in China. I’m sorry your parents are having difficulties, but you haven’t really explained why they need you around 24 hours a day.

[gibby]

College’s don’t care what student’s do over the summer, but expect student’s to be doing something more than watching TV and playing computer games. http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/work/

A key word that admissions directors use when referring to summer activities is “engagement.” Admissions officers say they may be more inclined to accept students who are doing something with their summer other than wasting away on a couch.

So, will you have any time this summer to do something other than family obligations? That seems to be the ‘key’ question.

FWIW: My daughter (Harvard) and son (Yale) had summer jobs during high school – bus boy, waiter, camp counselor. Neither of them did community service, programs or activities.

http://www.businessinsider.com/pre-college-summer-programs-are-a-waste-2014-4

Could putting ‘Harvard’ on your resume actually harm you?

Possibly. The Ivy’s $11,000 two-course, pre-college program is considered just smoke and mirrors for college admissions, according to some experts.

“The reality of these programs is that they’re opportunities for families who can afford them. They’re not going to magically make sure you get into an Ivy League college,”

“An admissions officer would be even more impressed with a student who decided that they wanted to explore a particular discipline or take a course and found a way to do it that was free,” said Morgan. “That kind of self directed work is going to be much more impressive to an admissions officer.”

[CS1211]

Thank you both for your suggestions. I just asked my dad if he could find some volunteering programs in China near where I will be living for me to participate in. I never considered all the possibilities before I posted, but now that I have, more opportunities seem to open up.