Research vs construction job vs other options -- does one look better?

Parents Forum
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My high school junior, who wants to be an engineer, is thinking about applying to some summer programs whose applications are open now. It seems crazy that we’re thinking about summer 2027, but I guess we are.

Last summer he worked half time in a paid position in a private biomedical lab, and enjoyed it and must have done well because they have asked him to come back next summer. But at this point he thinks he might want to be a civil engineer, so he’s hoping for a summer experience that will help him sort that out, before he chooses where to apply for college.

A close family friend has offered to set him up with a summer job in construction. He really likes that idea, and thinks it would give him insight into civil engineering. He’s also found some selective civil engineering internships and research opportunities, both paid, free, and precollege programs we’d pay for, that he is thinking about applying for.

Money is going to be an important part of his decision, and he’d like to increase his chances for either a school that meets full need, or a large merit award, so he’s asking how the various experiences will look for college. To be clear, he’s also thinking about lots of other factors, and won’t simply make the decision based on how it looks to colleges, but that’s the factor I’m asking about here.

He could also possibly split his time between the lab and the construction job, or like he did last summer between one of them and a coaching job. Or he could split the summer between a precollege program, and a job in the lab or construction.

At this point, he’s just figuring out where to apply, so he wants to rule out things he wouldn’t choose over the lab. I’ll come back if he ends up with offers to choose between.

Also, if anyone are suggestions for summer programs in civil engineering to look at, those would be appreciated.

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Paging @OctoberKate who I believe has a child who is studying construction management but may have some insight about the experience of working in construction.

The engineers in my family would all tell your son to take the construction job. It’s the equivalent of someone wanting to work in engineering manufacturing taking a job on a production line. The experience of getting in the trenches, working with a diverse group of people, and getting your hands dirty is invaluable in applying for Civil internships and jobs down the road. It will also help with “why this major” essays.

That said I’m not sure a summer job is going to move the needle for merit money or admission. That’s usually based on gpa and test scores.

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Check to see if your flagship state U offers a summer “Taste of Engineering” type program. Ours had a one week program where the kids spent one day with each department’s presentations and tours. My friend’s son came out of it saying that he realized that he was definitely a mechanical engineer; after that he had a mech E internship at a nearby manufacturing facility. Maybe your son could do that sort of one week program, and the construction job. He’s lucky to get that opportunity!

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Do this program but think have to apply now. If you have it in your local Home - ACE Mentor Program of America Home - ACE Mentor Program of America

My son did it and in Chicago is next level and fun. Worked with a world wide company that will write a referral letter.

But I also agree with the construction job. Students need to also do what they enjoy and NOT what you think looks good on an application. This is kinda more real and to me says a lot about the applicant. Plus lots of construction jobs you need to work in or with groups. That is engineering. Problem solving together.

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You said he had some possible paid internships with civil engineers? I think I would suggest that. That way, he will actually see and work with civil engineers and see what they do.

Construction would be my second choice. But if he is building, he will be working on the structure…and perhaps that might relate more to structural engineering.

Civil engineering, from what I understand, deals with what’s underground and the potential to build in sites, and what it will take to do so.

Really, any of his choices are good…but I would avoid the pay to play if he has other options.

And agree…he should do something he will enjoy doing…not something he thinks will move the needle for merit awards, because summer programs seldom do that.

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My gut reaction was “figure out how to spend meaningful time doing construction.” There is so much to be learned - engineering, working with a diverse group of people and problems, practical skills.

It’s always hard to say what will catch an AO’s eye, but construction is a chance to learn some really valuable lessons/skills. Those can definitely differentiate an application.

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I have read many college essays featuring research in a lab. I think the construction job experience will set him apart more. However this is just speculation on my part!

I have read that precollege summer programs don’t help as much as people think, but I cannot cite or verify. The construction job has many advantages, that you and others have mentioned. It could help clarify academic and career focus but would also involve working with a variety of people. It pays well, and might appeal to schools that honor actual jobs, and to meet-full-need schools that are assembling a diverse class.

Most importantly, though, what would he find most fulfilling when college admissions are not a consideration. I know you posted with college admissions in mind and acknowledged there were other factors. Without knowing what those are, I would just say doing what he most wants to do makes the most sense.

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My two cents is I would definitely do the construction job at least. Sounds like a great experience, and I agree it is most likely to actually stand out to colleges.

But if he wants to split that with something involving engineering directly (internship or summer program), that sounds great too.

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I’m not sure if the construction job will “show him” about civil engineering per se but he’ll get to experience at least, what labor is doing. In other words - my son works on planes. He works in a plant but he’ll be the first to say, he’s not on the line, etc.

But working - no matter where - is always good. So the paid research lab job is also fine although as @gardenstategal notes, construction is definitely different.

I think - this depends on stats. For the second part of this (large merit award), and I don’t know his budget, but his GPA and SAT/ACT are going to be what matters here, not ECs. So if his SAT/ACT aren’t top shelf, I’d maybe invest in getting it to be so.

If your budget is $35K or less, there can be options at great schools - but next Summer’s activity / employment at those assured to hit schools won’t matter. The GPA/test will be - to find assured options - assuming the budget is able to be hit by those auto merit schools.

I might also suggest, if you can find a free and short one, supplementing the job with learning more about engineering via a quick session - doens’t have to be civil as often the first years will look similar/identical to other engineering disciplines - similar to what @parentologist says. You can likely do both.

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“Summer job in construction” could mean many things - will he be framing walls for a house or working in an office for a large infrastructure project? Completely different experiences, but still superior to the (now cliche) research work.

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This sounds perfect. He likes the idea.

I think “research” for high schoolers is fine, but probably 90% of it is not impactful. It shows a student kept busy, and not much else. Your child is interested in the construction job and that is what matters. Most kids are not going to have construction work on their summer actvivites list, whereas these days, research has become very common.

Most kids should spent their teenage years doing things that are of interest. They should enjoy being teens and not worry about what looks best on a college application.

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Civil Engineer here. For a high school junior, I would lean toward the construction job, especially since he really likes the idea. For a lot of civil engineers, the office/computer work is the easy part. Getting along with the contractors and gaining their respect and trust can be trickier. Seeing the industry from that side can be highly benefical, and I think it would be better to do this early on. And he would have more “street cred” later. Once you are taking engineering classes, you’d want that engineering internship. I can’t see a 16-17 year old with no engineering background doing much more than shadowing or simple grunt work.

But note that construction is HARD! Especially in the summer if you’re working outdoors. It should give him an appreciation for what those guys do and why it seems like there are 6 people standing around a ditch with 1 person actually working, lol…

I’ll also mention that I work for a small local government. I am essentially a project team of 1. For a lot of my career, someone else would do the specs/contract documents and manage the construction aspect. He would take my plans and look at them from a contactor’s point of view and would ask a lot of good questions and have good suggestions. It really helped. Unfortunately he retired 8 years ago (after 50 years!), so now I have nobody! I hate the construction management part myself. I wish I had had some experience in the trenches when I was young, though for a 16 year old girl back in the 80s… probably wouldn’t have happened. Nor did I expect to be a civil engineer. I was thinking aerospace back then.

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add my 2 cents to this to make 4

I think this for both admissions purposes AND for learning.

(I would add don’t to a program you pay for since he has other options… paid programs are lest helpful for admissions…many advise don’t even putting them on apps at all unless one of a few very very competitive ones).

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Civil engineering has lots of subareas, including building and construction as well as geotechnical:

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Random aside but with a point–I think in professions where kids at least have heard something about them in HS, so doctors, lawyers, engineers, and so on, there is a very common pattern of such kids then favoring specialties that seem particularly cool on the surface: neurosurgeons, environmental law, aerospace engineering, and so on.

Which is fine, but then much later, people will discover their interests and talents lead them to specialties that may sound boring to a typical HS kid, but actually end up very fulfilling to them. Like lots of the happiest attorneys I know are tax attorneys, that sort of thing.

I don’t in general see this as a problem, like the US higher education system is set up so kids don’t need to know about all these options as juniors in HS. But I do think it is cool that a HS kid is already thinking seriously about Civil. It just speaks to me of a kid who has the maturity to realize what a fulfilling engineering career might really look like for them.

So big picture, I think this kid doing even more to reinforce that vision of a kid with an unusually mature and practical approach to exploring their possible educational and career paths is going to be quite helpful.

And that just reinforces to me that since this kid wants to do the construction job for that very purpose–fantastic, great way of thinking by that kid, and an attitude I would see as very worth supporting.

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Young guy I know is a civil engineer with a big global construction firm that focuses on infrastructure- deep water ports, airports, that kind of thing.

He is now in their environmental remediation group and is working on canals of all things (You think of them as 17th century innovations but as he’s explained, they may become a VERY important 21st century solution to a lot of environmental problems.) I love hearing about what he does-- and he wishes he’d had more hands on experience in actual construction at every stage of his education (including undergrad and master’s). The math, the physics, the modeling, the algorithms-- he was well trained. The interface with the folks who have to make the magic- that’s been a steep learning curve.

I vote for construction this summer!

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Oooh! I’ll play! I have two boys with potentially relevant experience. Older son, S1, graduated college in the spring with double majors in civil and mechanical engineering. Second son, S2, is a current sophomore majoring in construction management.

S1 worked a summer in college for a large nationwide firm as a “field engineer”. It wasn’t really engineering, but they were looking for either a CivE or Construction Mgmt intern. basically he spent the summer working with the “craft” workers organizing schedules, dealing with delivery problems, going to different sites to bring things, helping figure out how much (and what kind) of cement to order each day etc. Your son is too young for a job like this next summer, but it could potentially be interesting and a good way to work with a team ground level up in the future. My S1 said it taught him a lot about the different sub specialties and he gained a huge appreciation and understanding of some of the work done by the workers - it wasn’t just physically demanding, but required serious skill. I think that appreciation for line workers came through in his later job interviews and was well received - he had more than one interviewer comment about how much they valued his field experience and how it made him unique.

S2 is a construction management major. The summer after his senior year in HS and before college he worked for a local excavation company. Basically he put up those silt fences that you see surrounding new home construction and then he helped with any site work needed - which basically meant if the diggers couldn’t get through he dug trenches by hand or he picked up trash on the site or, when the rocks in a silt fence were so caked with mud that water couldn’t get through, he’d clean off the rocks. Yes. My kid spent more than one day picking up and washing rocks. It was super hot and sweaty work but the pay was decent. He was the only person in his crew who spoke English as his native language and that meant sometimes he ended up having to be the spokesperson if some kind of official or client showed up… which was as good a learning experience for him as the hard work. He pocketed a pretty good pay check that summer then, when the school held their civil engineering and construction management job fair in September (for summer jobs the next summer) he was the only freshman to get an offer. When he talked with the recruiting people later they told him how impressed they were with the fact that he could talk about the needs of the laborers and how the actions of site managers affect their ability to be successful.

That job was with a large construction firm and he spent last summer working in their headquarters doing estimating. A lot of the estimating job was calling potential subcontractors for bids, sourcing products and costs, and making phone calls then filling out spreadsheets or forms.

I could see your son doing either of these - the basic laborer job (and it wouldn’t be a glamorous one because you likely need to have more of a background in the skilled trades to be doing the more intricate work) or having an office job that is a lot of phone calling and data entry, which is a surprisingly (to me) large part of successful construction business.

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The big merit award that he knows the most about is Banneker Key at UMD. He has top scores and grades and rigor, but he knows other kids with similar profiles who have gotten lower levels of merit instead. Similarly, he knows other high stats kids who have tried for “full need/no loan” schools and been rejected. So, they must be looking at something besides scores, GPA, and rigor.

I do know that there are schools like UT Dallas, or Alabama where merit is automatic, but that’s not all schools.

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This made me smile, because while I do think he’s a pretty mature kid now, he’s told people he wanted build bridges or airports or skyscrapers since he was a lego obsessed toddler. I still have a copy of an essay he wrote in elementary school about his dream of being a “sivil engineer”. So, at least in his case, the interest came before the maturity.

In high school, he’s tried some other things. He loves his robotics team, so he’s thought about mechanical engineering, and he liked the biomedical lab experience a lot, but he keeps coming back to civil engineering.

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He’d be an apprentice to a master tradesman, doing “helper” type tasks. Our state has limits on what someone under 18 can do, but he would be on the construction site doing physical labor most of the day. The friend who would arrange this says he can also spend some time shadowing the superintendent or engineer, but mostly it would be labor.

He worked for another construction company the summer after freshman year but at that point he was under 16 so he was pretty limited in what they would allow. He mostly did things like loading supplies onto trucks, and landscaping tasks that didn’t involved power tools like spreading mulch.

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