High School Freshman — What should they do this summer?? Aspire to going to competitive college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Purely practical suggestion: If her school requires physical education sophomore year of high school (my DC's did -- they had to do PE freshman and sophomore years, it was not required of juniors and seniors):

If there is any option to take "summer PE" and get that credit out of the way, have her do it. In our case (FCPS), a lot of kids take summer PE the summer after freshman year so that the free up that class slot during sophomore year and can take another class in that slot, rather than a year of PE/health classes.

Summer PE in FCPS was self-directed. They met at one school to pick up heart monitors and get instructions, then did online health classes in summer and had to do a certain amount of physical activity. Some activities they already do (like certain sports and in DC's case, extensive daily dance classes) can be counted toward the physical activity requirements (but you have to obtain permissions for that).

Even if you're not in FCPS (and I have not read this whole thread), see if your kid is required to take sophomore PE and if so, how to get that out of the way the summer before sophomore year. Freeing up that class slot for other courses of vastly more interest is a FAR better use of that time. Not just for building up the GPA or taking tough classes, OP -- but because, frankly, it's such a bore for many kids to have to do PE in school. Get it over and done with even if your kid isn't enthusiastic. They'll be so glad they did.

And an added bonus: keeps your kids away from troublemaker students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is a high school freshman, all As, does some sports but not very well, more into debate and model UN. What would be a good use of her summer?

We are looking at academic programs like CTY and Duke, spouse is thinking they should get a job or internship — but I can’t find many internships for 15 year old high school freshman.

We talked to counselors at high school but they just point us to the county volunteer website.

As the mother of a high performing senior, here is my advice to you. Follow your kid’s interests and lead. You are not going to craft her into someone she is not and if you let your high achieving kid become who she should be, I promise you it will pay dividends for both you and your kid. My DD has applied to some reach schools. She may get in. But regardless, I am so amazed by the woman she has become. She will change the world no matter where she goes to school. And this person would not have emerged if we had tried to curate her activities.

+1 You can't go wrong asking your kid what they would most love to do and then helping them figure out what the options are. It would be interesting to know how many future superstars in each field have been either delayed or thwarted due to efforts to game the college admission system.

[Anonymous]

As the mother of a high performing senior, here is my advice to you. Follow your kid’s interests and lead. You are not going to craft her into someone she is not and if you let your high achieving kid become who she should be, I promise you it will pay dividends for both you and your kid. My DD has applied to some reach schools. She may get in. But regardless, I am so amazed by the woman she has become. She will change the world no matter where she goes to school. And this person would not have emerged if we had tried to curate her activities.

10000% this. My DS has lots of ECs, but they are all due to his organic interests and his application reads that way, instead of having signed up for a million unrelated activities in hopes of improving his college admissions profile.

[Anonymous]

You don’t understand. SHE is the one driving the bus here. We would prefer she get a local job and volunteer over the summer, she wants to live somewhere else and learn/do something more novel.

The problem is you framed her desire in the context of wanting to improve her chance of getting into a selective university, instead of just pursuing something she is actually interested in. There is a big difference and it lies in authenticity.

[Anonymous]

Summer college programs are a scam. They make the families think they have a shot at the school. The school rents out their empty facilities to a separate unaffiliated company and hire the professors as paid consultants. It all has the veneer of being a college experience.
Paid internships are BS. A real job speaks more about real experiences than an artificial "job" paid for by mommy and daddy.

+1
Do not send your kid to one of these college-based summer programs expecting it will help them get into college. It won't. There may be good reasons to attend such a camp, but an admissions boost is absolutely not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You don’t understand. SHE is the one driving the bus here. We would prefer she get a local job and volunteer over the summer, she wants to live somewhere else and learn/do something more novel.

The problem is you framed her desire in the context of wanting to improve her chance of getting into a selective university, instead of just pursuing something she is actually interested in. There is a big difference and it lies in authenticity.

\

No need to do this kind of finger-wagging at the OP. She explained the post further and you chose to snark rather than just take her at her word. Not everyone formulates an ideal post with perfect explanations the first time around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Purely practical suggestion: If her school requires physical education sophomore year of high school (my DC's did -- they had to do PE freshman and sophomore years, it was not required of juniors and seniors):

If there is any option to take "summer PE" and get that credit out of the way, have her do it. In our case (FCPS), a lot of kids take summer PE the summer after freshman year so that the free up that class slot during sophomore year and can take another class in that slot, rather than a year of PE/health classes.

Summer PE in FCPS was self-directed. They met at one school to pick up heart monitors and get instructions, then did online health classes in summer and had to do a certain amount of physical activity. Some activities they already do (like certain sports and in DC's case, extensive daily dance classes) can be counted toward the physical activity requirements (but you have to obtain permissions for that).

Even if you're not in FCPS (and I have not read this whole thread), see if your kid is required to take sophomore PE and if so, how to get that out of the way the summer before sophomore year. Freeing up that class slot for other courses of vastly more interest is a FAR better use of that time. Not just for building up the GPA or taking tough classes, OP -- but because, frankly, it's such a bore for many kids to have to do PE in school. Get it over and done with even if your kid isn't enthusiastic. They'll be so glad they did.

And an added bonus: keeps your kids away from troublemaker students

I wrote the post about knocking PE out over the summer and freeing up a class slot the next school year. I never indicated nor do I think that PE is where there are "troublemaker students" but if you think that way, it tells us a lot about your biased assumptions....In our school ALL students (troublelmakers or not) had to take sophomore PE unless they got it done the preceding summer. Summer PE had nothing to do wtih keeping anyone awy from anyone else. It has everything to do with being able to take a more useful/interesting class in the time period that would be eaten up by PE and health that year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

As the mother of a high performing senior, here is my advice to you. Follow your kid’s interests and lead. You are not going to craft her into someone she is not and if you let your high achieving kid become who she should be, I promise you it will pay dividends for both you and your kid. My DD has applied to some reach schools. She may get in. But regardless, I am so amazed by the woman she has become. She will change the world no matter where she goes to school. And this person would not have emerged if we had tried to curate her activities.

10000% this. My DS has lots of ECs, but they are all due to his organic interests and his application reads that way, instead of having signed up for a million unrelated activities in hopes of improving his college admissions profile.

+1 My DSs’ summers followed their interests, which helped provide a very natural set of topics for essays at competitive schools.