Summer Essential for College Applications

It’s been widely reported that acceptance rates at highly selective colleges dropped lower than ever before in 2021. So what to make of advice that teens might need a “break” this summer?

While parents and teens are anxious for young people to make up lost ground from 2020’s canceled summer programs, test prep, travel plans and volunteer roles, there’s a strong case for taking a more balanced approach with the warm months ahead.

As psychologist and adolescent expert Lisa Damour posits in her recent NY Times piece “Why Teens Need a Break This Summer” teens are, indeed, ending this year of unprecedented academic, social, and emotional challenge with a deep need to process, recover and restore before hitting the fall semester revived and ready to learn.

From the college advising perspective, we encourage young people and their parents to have honest conversations about summer expectations this year more than ever. There’s room for balancing time to just ‘be’ with engaging the world around them in ways that will further their growth, spark connection, and cultivate their interests.

Here’s how:

Instead of doing it all, support high school students at every grade level in focusing on one or two purposeful summer plans.

In terms of college planning, the goal is to have summer engagement that contributes to the broader story of who a young person is:

Community Engagement & Volunteering are great:

Rather than checking a box or racking up a certain number of service hours, focus on identifying an opportunity that aligns to the student’s curiosity, interest, or passions.

• Not only will a young person have the opportunity to develop their interests, skills, & relationships, this will be far more powerful in their resume than a random smattering of service hours that lack connection to a bigger sense of purpose.
• Any volunteer engagement that can be continued in an ongoing way over the academic year adds even deeper value.

Hone Intellectual Curiosity:

While it may be tempting to cram in SAT prep or get a jump on AP calculus studies for the year ahead, choosing curiosity over raw performance gains will always be more appealing in the admissions process.

• Engage an opportunity in an academic field or activity of high interest: A student might pursue a meaningful internship, write for a blog or local publication, share a passion with younger students through a local club or summer program, take a free online course on a topic of interest that isn’t offered at their high school, or launch a self-directed project and identify a way to share it with their community.

College Applications have a place:

Yes, rising seniors should absolutely use the summer to start applications, complete a college essay, and make good progress on the deadlines that the fall will hold. Investing in this work in the summer ensures students have the best quality essays and applications & reduces fall stress.

• However, this cannot be done at the expense of engaging in some meaningful way(s). “Applied to college” does not earn a spot on the application Activities List.

Work Counts:

It’s easy for parents and teens to think that having a job is not as important as attending a high cost summer program or traveling to do service internationally. The truth is, admissions officers are increasingly skeptical of high cost summer opportunities that are only available to some applicants. More value is placed on engagement that cultivates a young person’s skills, strengths, relationships, and values.

• Holding down a job and being able to speak meaningfully to their growth and contribution through that work is an appealing part of a student’s story.

Most simply, resist the impulse to pack a young person’s schedule. Replacing “all the things” with focused, meaningful engagement that contributes another chapter to the story of who they are becoming will create the conditions for a summer well spent.

Families from the USA and All Over The World – Sign up for a FREE 20-minute phone call or online video meeting now so we can learn about your family’s college admissions needs and how we can provide support.