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Featured Resources
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Summer success
How often have you heard a comment like this: “This girl I know with terrific grades, perfect SAT scores, captain of field hockey and president of student council got rejected from her first-choice schools.”
There is good reason to wonder why students with outstanding grades and test scores and impressive extracurricular activities are not getting into their first or second choice col-leges. Surely they are capable of top academic performances. But what used to help students stand out does not always work these days.
The well-rounded student is becoming an outdated concept, say today’s private admissions consultants. Some counselors say that, for highly selective colleges, it might be more relevant to demonstrate a profound or narrow passion. With a concentrated interest, you might match a school’s particular needs, such as for a college looking for a talented harp player or shortstop.
Some important criteria in the admissions process are: what type of activity you pursue when not at school and how do you spend your free time. It doesn’t matter whether you intern with a local politician, attend an arts enrichment program, volunteer in a nearby hospital or take care of a sick relative. All these options enrich your mind and enhance your high school record.
So does attending a summer program. And it’s focused activity like that that can give you a leg up in the admission process.
Many colleges and universities throughout the country offer academic, art, and sports summer programs for high school students. If you’re interested in writing, check out the residential creative writing program at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. You’ll attend readings and evenings with published authors and get to work on your own creative genius, too.
If it’s college credit you’re looking for, try UCLA’s summer sessions, taught by regular UCLA and distinguished visiting faculty. You’ll receive an official UCLA transcript for the coursework you complete.
Students will find week-long residential courses in astronomy, art and design, creative writing and entrepreneurial leadership at Alfred University. Or, try an intensive language or music camp.
You can find many summer camp resources on the Internet, in the library and book stores. And sometimes, right in your high school counseling office.
Attending any summer program, whether they offer college credit or not, demonstrates to a college that a student is spending free time improving or perfecting a skill, studying an academic subject or exploring a totally new field. The colleges are particularly impressed with the student who shows a sustained interest in one particular field, but even attending a five-day enrichment program for only one summer is well worth it. Your choice may not necessarily enhance your high school record, but it could be the beginning of a new life-long interest. It could provide you with a rare opportunity to experience a new field that you might take up again in college or later on in your life.
Summer programs offer many benefits besides making yourself look good on paper. Living on a college campus can give you a glimpse into what college life is like without the pressures you’ll experience as a college freshman. If you have an interest in a particular college or university, call and ask if they offer any summer programs for high school students. Attending an academic summer program where
you are applying to college just might attract the attention of an admissions officer.
A student with an average record and test scores will not be admitted to a college simply because he or she attended a six-week academic summer program. However, all things being equal, students who choose to chal-lenge themselves over the summer and develop potential in any field can become more attractive candidates to a college of their choice.
Carole Warsawer is publisher of SummerOnCampus.com, a directory of hundreds of sports, arts and academic summer programs. Article provided by 
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