Summer Planning for College Admissions

When students think about summer planning, they often jump straight to one question: “What will look good on my college application?”

Here’s the truth: the best summer plans don’t start with impressing colleges, they start with discovering yourself.

Colleges aren’t looking for a checklist of flashy programs. They’re looking for students who show curiosity, initiative, and growth over time. Your summer is a powerful opportunity to explore interests, test ideas, and build momentum toward who you’re becoming.

Step One: Use Summer to Discover What You’re Interested In

If you’re not sure what you want to study (or even if you think you are) summer is the perfect time to explore.

Discovery activities might include:

• Taking a part-time job in a new environment

• Volunteering with different age groups or organizations

• Shadowing a professional in a field you’re curious about

• Learning a skill independently (coding, design, writing, baking, mechanics, music, etc.)

• Taking a class at a community college or online (not for prestige, but for exposure)

These experiences don’t need to be impressive. They need to be informative. The goal is to walk away saying “I want more of this,” or “I’m glad I tried that and now I know it’s not for me.”

Both outcomes are wins.

Step Two: Go Deeper Once You Find a Spark

Once you’ve discovered something that genuinely interests you, the next step is depth.

Colleges love to see students who don’t just sample an interest but commit to it over time.

Depth-building activities might look like:

• Taking on more responsibility at a job or volunteer site

• Starting a personal project related to your interest

• Conducting independent research or building something tangible

• Returning to the same organization in a more advanced role

• Combining interests (for example: art + community service, science + environmental advocacy)

Depth shows maturity, motivation, and self-direction. Colleges value these qualities far more than participation in a one-week program.

Work Experience Counts (A Lot!)

A summer job is one of the most underrated activities in college admissions.

Work demonstrates responsibility, time management, communication skills, reliability and real-world experience. It doesn’t matter if you’re working in retail, food service, childcare, landscaping, or an office. What matters is what you learn and how you grow. Colleges know that work is work, and they respect it.

Volunteering Can Be Meaningful (If It’s Real)

Volunteering is most powerful when it’s consistent and authentic.

Strong volunteer experiences address a real need, involve ongoing commitment, allow you to build relationships and skills and connect to your values or interests.

Volunteering just to “check a box” often reads that way. Volunteering because you care—or because you want to understand a problem better—shows up clearly in applications.

A Word of Caution About Pay-to-Play Programs

Be thoughtful about expensive summer programs, especially those that promise to “boost” your application. Pay-to-play programs typically offer limited selectivity, provide little personal impact and will carry less weight in admissions than families expect.

This doesn’t mean all paid programs are bad but cost alone does not equal value. Colleges care far more about what you did, what you learned, and how it connects to your story than where you went or how much it cost.

If a program doesn’t offer meaningful engagement, growth, or follow-through, your time (and money) may be better spent elsewhere.

The Only Wrong Summer Plan

There’s really only one summer choice that hurts students in the admissions process: doing nothing.

Rest is important. Downtime is healthy. But completely disengaging without work, learning, volunteering, or exploration, misses a major opportunity for growth.

Your summer doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be intentional.

Final Thoughts

The best college applications aren’t built in a single summer, but summers often set the direction. Let your experiences help you understand yourself better, and let that understanding guide what comes next.

If you plan your summer with curiosity instead of pressure, your college applications will reflect something far more compelling than a résumé: a real student with a developing sense of purpose.

And remember, if you’re looking for a way to be productive this summer or weighing various summer options, we’re here to help! 

Grab a copy of our summer planning worksheet here:

Intentional Summer Planning Worksheet.pdf