For ambitious parents and their students, high school summers present a challenge: what should students do to enhance their appeal to prospective colleges? Many fall into the trap of believing that enrolling in a prestigious university’s summer program is a guaranteed solution. While this notion may seem attractive, it is more myth than reality. For students already excelling academically, most summer programs do little to improve their profiles or increase their chances. Although some programs can be beneficial, most do not. There are numerous non-academic options, formal or otherwise, for spending the summer that can have a greater impact; however, these also come with pitfalls that are important to avoid.
The Illusion Of Prestigious Summer Programs
Parents and students often assume that participation in a summer program at an elite university indicates academic competitiveness equivalent to being accepted by that institution. They believe that excelling in such a program demonstrates their suitability for the university. This assumption is fundamentally flawed. Summer sessions at elite universities rarely reflect their regular academic rigor or environment. These programs typically employ temporary instructors- sometimes adjuncts or graduate students- and at other times, simply individuals from the extended community, rather than the university’s regular, tenure-track faculty. Additionally, the fellow participants in the program are rarely regularly enrolled undergraduates who set admissions benchmarks; instead, they are often other high school students attracted mainly by the university’s brand name and who are also operating under the same misconceptions.
In truth, elite summer programs primarily exist to generate revenue for universities by filling dorms that would otherwise remain empty during the summer months. University admissions committees are aware of this, so success in these summer programs rarely impresses them or offers meaningful insights into a student’s readiness for college-level challenges. Moreover, these programs may inadvertently send a negative signal, as admissions officers might question the imagination or intellectual curiosity of a student whose only idea of summer is spending yet more time inside a traditional classroom.
Worse still, many programs hosted on the campuses of elite universities are only loosely connected to the institutions, being entirely operated by third-party organizations that simply lease space on campus. Even if these programs list a faculty sponsor, this arrangement does not imply that the faculty member is actively involved; rather, the faculty member is present merely to satisfy a university requirement to avoid complications with the IRS concerning unrelated business income tax—an issue that arises because the summer program falls outside the university’s not-for-profit status mission.
As Anne Kim, vice president of domestic policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, has written: “When it comes to getting into college, the benefits of most pre-college programs are negligible. The big winners, rather, are the schools themselves, who use pre-college programs to generate millions of dollars in revenue.”
Summer Programs That Can Actually Help
For students who attend less prominent high schools, or who are coming from international locations with non-standard transcripts, university academic summer programs can be a valuable way to show capability.
For this to happen several things must be true.
- The course must be taught by regular, tenure-track, university faculty.
- The course must be taught with the same rigor and expectations that it is taught to regular undergraduates.
- The university must award credit for the course on their regular transcript, without any limitations to how that credit can be used.
The fourth, and perhaps most important, requirement is that the university clearly communicates that in light of points 1-3, the university will factor this success positively in their own admissions process. Unless the university is willing to do this, and admissions officers are willing to put it in writing, then it is likely not going to provide any real value to the students. After all, if a university is not going to treat its own course as a strong signal, why should any other university do so?
Programs meeting the above criteria will result in a student’s having a readily understandable transcript and a chance to cultivate a relationship with a professor who is a recognized expert, something that will help with any application.
Summer Programs Outside The Classroom
If most summer programs at universities will not significantly enhance a student’s college application, what will? What can students do during the summer to signal to colleges that they are individuals worthy of attention? The key lies in engaging in activities that they cannot typically pursue during the school year. Summer should be a time for students to explore new interests, deepen existing ones, investigate potential careers, and experience personal growth in ways that traditional school environments cannot replicate. Internships, entrepreneurial ventures, community service, and self-directed creative projects are not only personally enriching but also send clearer, more compelling messages to colleges about a student’s readiness and ambition. These experiences demonstrate to admissions officers critical attributes such as leadership, curiosity, perseverance, and an authentic drive to engage with the world, showcasing that the student is proactive, adaptable, and prepared to contribute meaningfully in college beyond.
This type of summer activity transforms a student’s profile from that of a passive learner into someone who actively engages with the world. Rather than signaling academic stamina alone, these meaningful experiences illustrate maturity, purpose, and a student’s potential for significant contributions to college communities. The primary purpose of higher education isn’t to produce professional students but to prepare young people to make meaningful contributions to society. Those who have already demonstrated their ability to go beyond traditional academics to engage with the world exhibit exactly the kind of dynamism and maturity that admissions teams seek.
Choosing The Right Summer Programs
So what should parents and students do if they want to send a strong signal to colleges and universities? First, determine whether an academic program is the best approach. For students who have already demonstrated academic strength in a competitive high school, enrolling in another classroom-based summer program is unlikely to meaningfully enhance their college application. For students coming from less well-known schools or from international contexts, academic summer programs that meet the four criteria listed above can be transformative. For everyone else, encourage your child to use their summer in ways that genuinely foster personal growth, intellectual curiosity, and practical skills. The strongest signal comes from demonstrating authentic engagement, meaningful growth, and readiness to embrace and contribute to the world beyond school.
One important caveat: for these non-academic summer programs to be impactful, they must require genuine initiative from the student and should not merely result from a parent calling a friend or writing a check. When students arrive at university, to succeed, they need to be independent actors capable of achieving objectives without relying on mom or dad to do the hard work for them. Admissions officers recognize that an accomplishment that may seem less prestigious on the surface can convey more about a student’s true capability than a high-profile experience that was purchased or that did not require the student to step outside their room.