Just a foreword, please do not say something like “do what you love, thats the most valuable!” I love everything science and i also love making the best future (college) for myself. So i love this but id also love something else
My school has a summer program where high school kids are brought in alongside teachers to teach classes and run programs for kids. Theres “extracurriculars” such as biomedical, computer science etc that the kids can take. Its a month long. I was asked to help out, specifically to teach biomed, and i wanted some input on whether it would be worth it for T50s or if I should just apply for something else
Pros:
-I have a way there and back from my school
-80+ community service hours
-Not “pay-to-play”
-I said it before but i do like teaching and talking about what i love
-I would be able to do this while also taking online classes for myself
-It fits in well with my community service with biomedical stuff profile
Cons:
-Not prestigious under any means, lol
-Less time to do other stuff such as work, projects etc
-Only 1 month of summer
You are asking if this activity is “worth it” for top 50 colleges. I am going to give you the answer that you specifically said you do not want to hear, but it is the truth.
This is a perfectly good, valuable summer activity for a HS student. If you enjoy it, then do it!
And…you said that you like teaching and talking about what you love. This is great! I have no doubt that your students will pick up on your enthusiasm and will tell their families how much they love the program.
My daughter did some teaching and training ECs when she was in high school and REALLY enjoyed the experience. She loves teaching and working with younger kids. She also gained valuable skills - as a freshmen in college this year she and another student designed and taught a 1 credit semester long class to other undergrads (her university has a program that allows undergrads to teach classes). Her previous experience teaching really helped her be able to do that. So for her teaching/training experience was definitely a positive high school EC.
The nice thing about this type of work is that if you show initiative- you’ll get more responsibility. So not just working one on one with kids, or demonstrating a particular technique or problem. But helping the actual teachers with the lesson plan, trouble-shooting when you see that a chunk of the class isn’t understanding the material, finding a more vivid or compelling way to get the material into logical chunks.
Thank you! I have a long history with teaching included special ed mentoring, after school classes, coaching, and more. Its such a good experience, just wanted to make sure it wasn’t looked down upon or anything
Congrats to your daughter, thanks a very special and meaningful thing to do that probably took hours of planning. Would she have any advice for setting up something similar?
Teaching at college? As I said, her university has a program that allows undergrads to do this. You need to connect with a professor who serves as both the instructor of record and the mentor. The professor reviews the curriculum plans and provides feedback on design - so the key is working with someone who will take the time to provide thoughtful feedback. A well-designed course is key. Right now she is learning about calculating and assigning course grades (the students will only receive pass or no pass for the course, but she has to calculate the actual grade/percentage before she can upload the P/NP- the first time she has had to assign grades for something she has taught.)
You have requested that we do not say “do what you love”. I would instead say “do what is right for you, and do it well”. This may sound like almost the same thing, but it is not quite the same thing. You might love eating chocolates and sitting and watching TV. That does not necessarily mean that eating chocolates and watching TV are the right things for you. Doing something constructive and worthwhile will take more effort, but is likely to make a person happier in the end.
Teaching kids science sounds very worthwhile to me.
In terms of your “Cons”, prestige does not matter. Doing something constructive and worthwhile does matter. Helping other people matters. Anything that you do will leave less time for other activities. To me this looks like something that will take enough effort (for both you and your students) that doing it for more than a month might be tough, or might eventually drag on a bit. One month is plenty and is enough time to make a difference. On the other hand, your “Pros” all look valid to me.
And you might want to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. A quick Google search should find it. The same approach of “do what is right for you and do it well” has worked for us at other “top 50” universities and not just MIT.
And whether you want to do this is really your call. If you decide that you want to do it, then to me it looks like a very good activity for a month in the summer.
Any EC and no EC “is worth it for T-50s”. My nephew was accepted to UCLA with band and one summer internship in a lab.
Most “T-50” colleges just want to see that you engaged in some worthwhile activity during your non-academic time.
Define “prestige”. My kid’s main ECs were a school-based club, a school-based dance company, and dance. My kid was nominated for, and received, a very prestigious full-tuition scholarship at a top school based mostly on the activity at that school-based club.
Do you want to do this EC? Will it interfere with another EC which you want to do more (I mean an actual EC that you are planning, not one that you perhaps may do)?
If the answers are Yes and No. It’s worthwhile. If the answers are No and No, it still may be worthwhile, since it’s short and could be a good experience. In the case of any other combination, it is not worthwhile.