What are the best things a highschool Sophmore can do to improve his acceptance in top schools? Said student has perfect GPA, nearly perfect SAT/PSAT and not sure about college majors or future career.
Student should volunteer at something he has interest in - and do it because it he/she has interest in it and it might be satisfying and expose them to possible college majors or future careers - do it for that and put it on the resume but don’t it TO put it on the resume.
Also, spend a good part of the summer being a 15/16 year old kid - which means sleeping in, spending time with friends, helping around the house, reading for enjoyment, spending time outside and eating ice cream. 
Seriously.
How about a summer job? Could be anything - fast food, ice cream, grocery store, retail, or life guard for those qualified. There are help wanted signs everywhere around here.
Good advice! Keep it coming.
Any recommendations for good summer programs?
There is a whole section of this forum on summer programs. Look here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/
Babysit, mow lawns, do some sort of work to earn a few $ for movies and ice cream.
It’s one of the last times in his life where he can be a kid. Sleep. Read wonderful books. Maybe find a part-time job or volunteer somewhere. Sleep. Eat. Read. Repeat. Turn 50 years later and look back fondly on your youth where you actually had a real summer.
No need to go,to summer programs. Your child can get a job, babysit, volunteer someplace, pet sit, weed gardens.
What does your kiddo like to do? She should do something related to that.
He likes to read, sing, draw, act,volunteer, sleep, watch movies. This kid has high IQ, perfect GPA and tests exceptionally well but according to his parents he is not very motivated to do much, that’s why they are thinking of some summer program to help him find his passion.
What about JHCTY, Duke, Stanford and other fancy summer programs? Worth it? It seems that all peers with similar performance are busy all the time with resume building activities.
Research is an option. Have him send out emails to professors at nearby universities. I thoroughly enjoyed research, although all 2 months I hated it, and think it was one of the most maturing and humbling experiences of my 18 year old life.
Parents were very keen on him doing research or hospital volunteership but he isn’t interested.
He is interested in corporate internships but he is only 14 and a half, legal requirement is to be 16 years or up.
He is 14. Why can’t he just be a 14 year old? 14 year olds don’t need to have passions- they need to be kids.
I like the ideas to volunteer. Volunteering is a much better way to find a “passion” than an intense academic program IMO.
Sorry, 15 1/2. Issue is that he does want to goof around in summer but not whole summer. He wants to get accepted into top colleges but he doesn’t want to do all resume building that other kids at his performance level are doing.
I told his parents to let him be. If it’s meant to be then he’ll get in without the typical Ivy aspirant boot camp.