Summer, summer, summertime

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
21

My two older kids never did any summer internships or academic programs, and both got into great colleges (one Ivy League, and one top 10 national university – neither with any legacy or other hook). My daughter went to camp in the summer (just regular camp-camp, nothing fancy). My son did some biking and wilderness type programs, but not designed to impress anyone, just because he likes hiking and camping, etc.

I think the reality is that no college admissions officer is impressed by the fancy-sounding internship that a high school kid gets because his uncle is friends with someone or whatever, and the job doesn’t really involve much more than watching what people are doing or stapling papers. As for academic programs, I think they could make a difference for a kid who goes to a significantly under-performing or rural public school and needs a way of showing academic interest/rigor. But for kids already going to challenging private schools, it really doesn’t add anything to the mix.

22

I wanted my kids to get jobs, but they didn’t have driver’s licenses or cars, and they couldn’t get jobs within walking distance because they were filled by locals before my kids came home from boarding school. My daughter did have a part-time job at an art camp for a couple of years, and she attended a writing program one summer. Otherwise both kids mainly did volunteer work. Each also spent a month abroad one summer. They got into good colleges and had jobs last summer, after freshman year. For this coming summer, they are stressing about internships…
I just remembered that my daughter wrote an article on this topic for her school paper. She worked as a teaching assistant and RA for a pricey summer program at her school and wrote an opinion piece on how “pre-college programs won’t get you accepted.”