“What should I do this summer?” This is a question that I hear often. Students and parents want to know about the best camps, the best volunteer opportunities, the best jobs for the summer. Really what they’re asking though is, “what is the best way to pad my resume”. My response is generally the same- don’t. I’m not saying that you should sit at home all summer, eat cereal out of the box, and do nothing productive. Instead, I’m saying you should spend your summer pursuing your passion. After all, what colleges really want are people who genuinely care, who will be active on campus, who will achieve great new things. You’re not going to do any of that if you are filling your free time with things you think will look good that you don’t really care about.
A second danger in not following your passion during your free time is that you’ll be showing colleges a false picture of yourself. If you spend every free moment volunteering (but really aren’t that into it) you may get into that college that values community service. Then, you’ll spend four years there, surrounded by people who are really into something that you don’t really care about. Your passions reflect who you are and they’ll help you get into a school where you fit in- but only if you’re honest.
Another concern that students have is about working over the summer or during the school year. They’re worried that having a job that takes up most of their time will make their applications look empty. Students should always include any job they’ve had on applications. Schools understand that many students need to work in order to help their families, or to provide spending, saving, and car money for themselves. Being able to have a job while balancing school and family as well as anything else shows colleges that students are responsible, dependable, and hard- working. Putting necessity before passion does not harm your application. Admission reps are humans; they understand.
In short, stop thinking so much about what you should do to get into college. Instead, do what you want to do or what you have to do. In doing so you’ll be able to show colleges the true you and if they don’t accept the true you then maybe you wouldn’t have been that happy at that college anyway.