Why high school summers are crucial to winning college admissions

Don’t overlook how important each summer can be to your chances of going to a dream college.

Most students flip burgers and work at Gap, but the best students – the ones who get into Harvard and Stanford – fill their summers with extracurricular activities, impressive jobs, and international travel.

Here’s what you need to know about summer activities to impress colleges:

1) Keep yourself busy – this is the bare minimum

2) Travel if you can, ideally to international places. This is good personally and for admissions committees. It opens your eyes, and will give you lots to talk about in your college admissions essays

3) Do work in foreign countries. This is not easy as a high school student, but get your parents help to make this happen. Whether its a corporate job or volunteer and nonprofit work, it will help your college application

4) Avoid hourly wage jobs like flipping burgers. If money is important, do what you must. But if money isn’t important, focus instead on interesting jobs that build on your passions. As I discuss in my article on the biggest secret to get into Harvard, it all builds up to telling a great story. So think about what your passions are and go explore them!

5) Make the last summer before senior year count!