With many students just finishing their AP exams and junior year of HS, while it’s a good time to relax a bit and smell the flowers, it’s also an excellent time, over the summer months, to get that first common app essay completed. It’s amazing how comforting that is to students to have that done before they start their college apps and senior year. Here are the prompts. https://www.commonapp.org/blog/announcing-2026-2027-common-app-essay-prompts
What are some other ideas for rising HS seniors to do over the summer months?
Volunteer your time someplace. There are many places that would welcome a helping hand.
Spend some time vetting your college application list. Look for the schools that check many of your boxes, and have the potential to be affordable. I would suggest spending a dedicated amount of time per week on this.
Re: essays. Something my kids did…they opened a word doc and started a number of essay ideas. They went back and reviewed and edited these, and found the one(s) that rose to the top.
My kids found time to work, start their common app essay, and relax with friends and family. Their college application lists were pretty much set (one or two adjustments) by the summer and they were done with the SAT.
You probably should have specified “good, productive ideas” in order to eliminate the pointless ones - at least from an admissions standpoint.
The pointless ones include:
“Pay-to-Play” Pre-College Programs
International Service Trips
Passive Research Internships
Self-Studying
Starting a non-profit
I will also second/third the suggestion of starting on application essays. Students (and first-time-through-the-process parents) always underestimate the time suck this will be.
In fairness, if a student wants to do a service trip for the right reasons (because they want to help others) and NOT because they think it will look good on their app, I can be ok with that. If they are doing it to help the less fortunate and not to just get a free overseas trip (parents could have just donated the money for the cost of the trip to a worthwhile organization) that can be ok too.
Similarly, if a student can get into, for eg, the MIT MITES summer program, that has lots of potential pluses (well, its free so not officially “pay” to play). Again, it may be the reason a student takes a “pay to play” program that is worth considering. If a student takes a STEM summer program (well probably should be done before summer after junior year) to see if they really like the field, and/or if they are the kind of student who needs to see if they are comfortable living on campus away from home (some aren’t), there can be reasons to consider one. But again ,if it is because they think it will look good on their application, that’s a no.
I agree that “pay-to-play” programs are pointless from an admissions perspective. If, however, the family can afford it, such programs can help a student determine whether or not that major/school would be a good fit.
Second semester high school juniors should verify that they are track to graduate and that they will be able to take the courses they need. If there are discrepancies, get that ironed out while summer courses are still a possibility.
I would say that all your “pointless” ones might be right for any student to do if they are doing it out of genuine interest/exploration rather than because they think “this will look good on a college application”. The “admissions standpoint” is also a qualifier on what I saw as a more general question in the first post - teenagers, even rising seniors, do not have to frame their lives around college applications.
My kids did what might be considered a “pay-to-play” (School of the New York Times), and it was actually pretty life-changing for them as student journalists. Admittedly, this was less true for my D23, who had to do it virtually in 2021 (at a steep discount), but even she got a lot out of the workshops and mentoring. My S26, who actually got to go to New York, got an enormous benefit from it – he took the workshops seriously and produced some good pieces that he later used in competitive journalism portfolios, he valued the instruction from working journalists, and he grew a lot as a person from the chance to explore Manhattan by himself during his free time. So, yes, technically pay-to-play (the program says it’s selective, but I think it’s less selective than advertised) and definitely a financial investment, but this was something they did for real enrichment, not to check off a box on an application.
And, come to think of it, the pre-college program in marine biology that D23 did before her senior year (in-person, fortunately!) was equally worthwhile. She got to live in a marine research center in facilities that grad students usually occupy and do lab research. Was it the most selective program? No. But totally worth it for her, since it allowed her to explore interests in conservation biology in ways that she couldn’t at home.
(And yes, they both also volunteered, worked on their college apps at home, etc.)
My kid did Boston University Tanglewood Institute for two summers. Yes, he had to pay (received a small scholarship both years), but he also had to audition on his instrument to be accepted. So…this was sort of pay to play…but with a competitive twist.
I think we can all agree that it is fine to pay (assuming affordability) for a summer program that truly fits and nutures a student’s interests, talents, etc.
I also think we can agree that what does not make sense is paying for a program and pushing a student to attend solely because a parent believes it will have a meaningful positive impact on admissions.
There is nobody in the music world who doesn’t understand that Tanglewood is far from a “Pay to Play” experience. There are kids who DO pay full freight, there are kids who pay nothing, but the mentoring by some of the top musicians in the world is a unique experience, even when compared to other summer music programs.
Kudos to your kid and to you guys for encouraging his love of music!
Mine did stuff that interested them (including camp counselor and an intensive 4-week paid, non-selective pre-college program that they loved doing, confirmed their interest in their major and provided great material for their supplemental essays), just as they had for the prior summers and for their after-school ECs. We weren’t following a “themed plan” for college apps but when they sat down and listed it for the common app we could see that it resolved into a clear story for the application readers.
Paywalled WSJ article but this from their social media summary…(I’ve left the link in in case someone can gift it?) … as somewhat of a counterpoint to our let kids be kids thinking.
The country’s most ambitious high-schoolers now have one more thing to fret over: crafting their “summer story.”
Overachieving teenagers have long pursued a smorgasbord of résumé-polishing summer activities. But a range of impressive summer pursuits is no longer enough, some college advisers say. Students now feel pressure to specialize—as early as their freshman summer—in interests they want to pursue in college.
Andra Campos, a freshman at Stanford University planning to major in science and technology, says she never had a free summer after her freshman year of high school.
She filled her schedule with a healthcare internship, a research program at New York University, volunteering at a local hospital and running a nonprofit organization—activities that aligned with her interests in biology and computer science.
“If the activities you’re doing during your summer aren’t really tying together to this cohesive narrative, or you’re not really planning your summer strategically, it’s really almost the same as not doing much at all,” Campos said.
I always tell my students to make friends with students 2 years ahead of them, from whom they can get quite some firsthand experiences and information. The rising seniors would be hearing about colleges from those who just finished their freshmen year in college.
Read more: