Summer is Coming - What’s Your Child’s Plan?
As I stare out the window on this chilly 62॰ Los Angeles winter day, I am thinking about summer for my students. Though it’s only February, application deadlines for many programs are coming soon. That means you need to have a family discussion about your child’s summer goals sooner rather than later. Once you understand the possibilities, making the necessary trade-offs becomes easier.
Summer Goal #1: SAT or ACT Prep
Whether your child is taking the SAT or the ACT, he or she should plan to have taken it twice by the end of junior year. Many test prep experts, including our very own Phil Sung, suggest taking the SAT or ACT for the first time in fall of junior year. That way, if the score is good, your child is done, and if a retake is necessary, which is likely, he or she already has a strong test prep foundation.
Should your child spend a portion of the summer after sophomore year prepping for the SAT or ACT? If you plan it right, your child should be able to do test prep and something else during the summer. Consider the time commitment of various test prep options. Boot camps or group classes are cheaper than one-on-one tutoring, but also more time-consuming. If your child was struggling to finish sophomore year with strong grades, using the summer for test prep and then moving right into a challenging junior year might lead to burnout. But if your child has managed sophomore classes fairly easily, then spending the summer on test prep is more feasible. At the same time, even though summer test prep might be a struggle, it can make sense if your child’s junior year course load will leave little time for test prep during the year. This can be hard to figure out, especially with your first child, so talk to other parents at your school who have already gone through junior year and see what they say. As you discuss test prep with your child, make sure to emphasize that successful test prep means classes plus homework, since there’s little value in summer test prep if your child doesn’t do the homework.
If your child is saying “No” to test prep, you’ll have to think carefully about what your child’s “No” actually means. It could be: “No way, not ever, and I’m not changing my mind;” “No, I don’t want to, but I will if I have to;” or “No, but I’m a procrastinator and there’s even less chance I’ll do homework if we postpone test prep.” Even if you’re fairly confident in your decision, there will always be some uncertainty, but that’s the nature of parenting.
Summer Goal #2: High School Courses
If your child takes a summer high school course, he or she won’t have to take it during the school year. Whether this makes sense depends, in part, on what your child will do with the open slot in the schedule. Consider a student who takes US History before junior year. If the student uses that extra spot in the schedule to take another academic course, such as AP Psychology, that’s great because it shows academic rigor, which colleges value as much as GPA and SAT/ACT scores. Yet if the student uses the extra spot in the schedule to take a non-academic course such as ceramics to create a free period, that’s a less clear-cut case. Sure, if taking the summer course during the year would cause your child’s grades in other classes to suffer, it makes sense. You have to keep in mind what your child can handle, and that depends not only on the classes, but the reputation of the teachers for those classes.
Summer Goal #3: College Courses
Another flavor of summer school is a college course. One option is a community college course for which your child receives a grade. This can be as easy as registering for a course at a local community college. For example, if your child is interested in psychology but will be unable to work that class into his or her high school schedule, then he or she could sign up for an Intro to Psychology course at a community college. If your child takes a community college course, though, he or she should be ready for the challenge; whatever grade is earned will need to be reported on college applications, so this isn’t the time to mess around and get a C. But a solid grade in a community college course shows academic rigor, and it occasionally provides college credit that can allow your child to test out of prerequisites later.
Another college course option is through a program offered on a college campus. Read the fine print. Just because a program is set on a college campus does not mean it offers college credit, and often the credit earned is not transferable to other institutions. If you’re not sure, ask. These programs typically range from two to six weeks, and they are often quite expensive. If this type of program isn’t in your budget, don’t worry -- you are not short-changing your child just because you will not spend thousands of dollars on a collegiate experience. No pricey summer program, in and of itself, confers an admissions advantage.
Summer Goal #4: Pre-College / Enrichment Programs
Enrichment programs on college campuses do not offer college credit, but they can allow students to explore an academic interest. Beware of marketing gimmicks that make you feel like you are denying your child some special opportunity by not paying for the program. These gimmicks might include saying your child has been “invited,” “selected,” or “nominated” to imply that the program is competitive rather than just a money-making scheme (looking at you, National Student Leadership Conference).
Students whose families can afford these often expensive programs enjoy them. What high school student wouldn’t enjoy spending a couple weeks with other high school students far from parents’ prying eyes? Beyond fun, one small benefit of these enrichment programs is that they can allow students to write a better “Why College X?” essay that explains why a particular college is a good academic fit. Students who are taking five or more academic courses during the school year have little freedom to explore other academic interests, and enrichment programs can provide that opportunity. For example, it’s more convincing for a student applying as a business major if he or she has taken some kind of Intro to Business course.
Another benefit of an on-campus enrichment program -- even if it doesn’t offer college credit -- is that it allows your child to get to know that college better by virtue of spending so much time there. That includes the chance to stroll over to the admissions office and get to know an admissions officer, and the potential chance to get to know a professor; these encounters create anecdotes that can be injected into “Why College X?” essays. Getting to know a college better is especially appealing if your child is considering applying somewhere binding Early Decision or Early Decision II; as we continue to see acceptance rates at the super-elite schools (think about U.S. News and World Report’s “Top 10”) shrink, applying Early Decision to a school ranked 11-25 continues to be the best chance for children to fulfill this ambition.
Summer Goal #5: Internships and Activities
Not many of us can survive year-round drudgery, so I think it is important to think carefully about how much work -- either through test prep or academic opportunities -- your child can handle over the summer while still returning to school in the fall recharged. If you have a more academic kid on your hands, then the academic options might feel like fun rather than work, in which case the decision is much easier. But if your kid is burned out, or if he or she just isn’t inclined toward the academic programs, then it makes sense to focus on developing leadership and service experiences.
For example, if your child has been volunteering somewhere, maybe he or she can continue to do so over the summer, whether through that same organization or a different one with a similar mission. The most credible applicants are those who have a long-term commitment to a particular interest or cause. Sure, showing a spike in interest by volunteering for the summer is better than nothing, but finding a summer activity that fits in with the student’s goals is even better. For example, if a student has devoted hundreds of hours to working with children, then volunteering at a summer camp, where he or she can build relationships with younger kids, makes complete sense. As Phil mentioned to me, finding a summer option that leads to a long-term project is especially useful for biology, since it takes a month for a student to learn how to do the basic experiments the students will need to collect data.
For many students, summer is a time for club sports, which can be tremendously time-consuming and might not allow for a structured weeks-long academic opportunity away for home. That’s fine. When a student loves sports, though, I always ask him or her to consider whether there is a way to volunteer and share that love of sports with younger kids. Similarly, a musician can play an instrument at an elder care facility. These are examples of easy ways to ensure that your child has something to write about when he or she encounters an application essay prompt that asks about how the student has contributed to his or her community.
If your child wants a change of pace, internships at a business or non-profit organization are another option. So is a summer job. One summer, I worked at a hardware store for $4.75 an hour, made myself a name tag that said “Seamus,” and learned how to make keys. Or instead of working for another business, your child might start his or her own. Maybe your child’s impulses are more creative, and he or she wants to spend the summer working on an art portfolio, starting a blog, or creating an app. Your child might consider an absolutely crazy idea: making a list of 20 books he or she wants to read and then reading them. For students with highly structured schedules, reading can provide a great avenue to explore an area of interest. Online classes at EdX or Coursera are flexible ways to gain exposure to new ideas, especially those not covered in high school courses.
I love the idea of a less structured summer so students can explore their interests independently, but as with all aspects of the college planning process, you have to know your child. Specifically, you have to assess accurately the likelihood that your child will actually follow through on a plan that requires independence. I will tell you that while I have seen students who are already interested in an area use the summer to explore that area further, I have not yet seen an adrift student spontaneously develop an interest and spend the whole summer pursuing it independently.
Making the Decision
How you make the trade-offs among test prep, academic opportunities, and non-academic opportunities depends on what year your child is in high school, your child’s interest level, and your child’s temperament. As I mentioned before, this is a parenting question. You might have in your head that a certain course of action is obviously optimal, but unless your child buys in, too, you’re in for a rough ride.
Don’t worry, though; I’m going to help you prioritize.
If your child is a rising junior who isn’t sure what to do, do test prep. The SAT or ACT is still such an important admission factor that improving test scores can actually change the quality of your child’s Target and Safety schools.
At the very least, make sure your child does something -- no later than summer before senior year, and hopefully the prior summer as well -- to identify a specific area of academic interest. That will improve the quality of your child’s “Why College X?” essay, which for many schools, is the only supplemental essay required.
The important idea is to start the conversation. Ask questions. Listen. Help your child see the trade-offs, and then, as a family, you will help your child come to a decision that makes sense.