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Parent-Teen is a publication of: Parents' Press 1454 Sixth St. Berkeley, CA 94710 Phone: (510) 524-1602 Fax: (510) 524-0912 e-mail: ParentsPrs@aol.com Site contents © copyright 1997-2000 by Parents' Press You are welcome to make a single (1) copy of any article for your personal, non-commercial use as long as all rights & copyright information remains intact. Please contact us if you are interested in reprinting any material from this site.	College Prep What you do this summer can help you get into college. Here are 7 paths to summer success. © Copyright 1998 by Parents' Press Photo by Skjold Photographs, all rights reserved By Dave Peterson How you spend your summer can make a world of difference for the rest of your life. Colleges know this too, and look at your summer growth results seriously - the Ivies say your out-of-class life can be as important as your academic record. But summer presents two challenges:  You must create some structure for yourself from among countless enticing options (unlike school, where the structure is imposed and you simply walk their treadmill).  You must plan in advance for any summer activities where competition plays a role. The earlier you firm up plans, the better your options and chances. With three whole months to play with, you'll have time to pursue several options during each of your four high school summers. Here are seven options that colleges take seriously:  Get better at the 3 Rs. Developing your mental muscles can pay off big for your future. As you read, focus on topics that relate to your academic, cultural, or career interests. No fair counting those escapes in sci-fi, mysteries, westerns, romance, or best sellers! Don't forget a daily hour with the front news section of a big-city newspaper. Writing growth needs daily workouts as well. Try correspondence, a journal, personal essays. Trade efforts with a buddy doing the same thing so you can share ways of getting ideas across well. Math? Grab a copy of next year's math textbook before you leave school and see how much you can dope out on your own.  Classrooms for fun. College campuses, even local ones, offer lots of enrichment options. Check out Sherley Levin's great book, "Summer on Campus" (in guidance or any bookstore) for the total run-down.  Design your own course. Here's how it can work: You develop an interest in a certain area of study, take your ideas to a trusted teacher or nearby college professor in that field, construct a syllabus and a reading - writing - research schedule, spend the summer doing the project, ask the teacher for an exam (or a summer report effort), submit it for grading and comment, and do well enough to earn your mentor's respect and hopefully a nice reference letter. Complicated? You'll be surprised how eagerly your show of initiative will be received and accommodated. And down the road, colletges relush this show of intellectual dedication.  Get a job. Ideally, this might be with a professional person, maybe in an academic or laboratory setting. Doing a great job and showing flawless work habirtswill earn you a valuable reference as well as great experience. If you must settle for a more routine summer job, do it well enough to assume some leadership and responsibility, generating a reference letter from the boss along with that weekly paycheck.  Polish your talents. The woods (literally) are full of chances to work on perfecting skills while enjoying other people who are doing the same. Specialized camps can help you make your good aptitudes - athletic, musical, artistic, leadership - better. Younger teens seeking leadership and service experiences might look for CIT (counselor-in-training) programs.  Hit the road! The family trip to the Grand Canyon may be fun but it's not much of an academic plus. Spending meaningful time in one location that's dramatically different from Back Home can been much more rewarding, whether it's a family homestay or kibbutz overseas, or Habitat for Humanity elsewhere in the U.S.  Do something for nothing. The world needs your help. This is summer, with enough time to get truly involved, so don't dabble just a couple of hours, a week here and there. Either find several volunteer settings, or get deeply involved with just one or two. But strive to make a difference. The difference in you will be striking! Did we say seven options? There are hundreds more ways of using your summer time productively - these are just a few of the major ones that have high prospects of being rewarding for you and to you. Your growth and development, in whatever positive way suits your value system, automatically will be seen as evidence that you are a thoughtful, organized, maturing potential college citizen. You can't go wrong!	COLLEGE PREP Dave Peterson's unique guide to choosing the college that's best for you, and optimizing your chances of getting admitted. Dave Peterson is a college counselor, a former college admissions officer and a consultant to the College Board. He used to run the "old" America Online/College Board college admissions message boards under the screen name of CBD Dave. Look for a new article each month. And here's a link to past College Prep articles. Bullets courtesy of
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