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PHOTO: Getty Images |
Lazy Summers Get Crazy
By Lindsay Ellis, Newton, Mass. The lazy days of summer are becoming a hazy memory for high school students. As elite colleges become increasingly selective, more students are using their summer vacations to beef up their applications by enrolling in camps, community-service projects, college tours, test-preparation courses and internships. And for some, the quest begins as early as eighth grade.
"The last time I had a stress-free summer was the summer before high school," says Elizabeth Garai, a senior from Newton, Mass. "It seems like a really long time ago." Garai spent four weeks this summer in Brussels, interning in the European Parliament. She also volunteered for two weeks at Tenacity, a program that teaches literacy and tennis skills, completed her college applications and prepared for the ACT. "It's not just hang-out-by-the-pool" anymore, says Jen Graham, associate director of college counseling at the Winsor School in Boston. "It's hard for them to relax, and I don't blame them for that. There's a lot of constant focus on college all over the place." RELAX? NO THANKS. "The idea that a ninth grader is thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, I should do something this summer that would look good for college,' unfortunately, shifted in the last 10 years," he said. Anne Meeker, a junior from Hiram, Ohio, said she started thinking about her record in ninth grade, when she befriended 11th-graders who were in the middle of the college process. "There was a sudden influx of fantastically intelligent people," she said. "I realized there would be competition for the things I wanted." Meeker said she backpacked through southeastern Ireland and Scotland with her father for two weeks this past summer. After the trip, she interned for a biology professor at Hiram College. She also volunteered at Hattie Larlham, a home for developmentally disabled children. She did relax in N.C. for one week. "I think it's the internship that's going to jump out at an admissions officer first," she says. "Since I'm no longer planning on going into biology, the internship was a more valuable experience in terms of deciding what I'm going to do with my life than in terms of getting me into a dream college." Meeker says administrators emphasized the college application process before she reached high school. "One of the deans of the middle school tried very hard to impress upon the lot of us that eighth grade was the year colleges start looking at when they go over your transcript," she says. Amy Kalinowski, a senior from Greenville, N.C., also felt pressure to start preparing early. "I have an older sister who made me realize that everything I do in high school plays a role," she says. This past summer, Kalinowski spent one week at Tar Heel Girls State, a mock state government, and took a two-week medical anthropology class at Summer@Brown, a pre-college summer program. She also toured three college campuses and volunteered for a local homeless center and food bank. "The programs I experienced will definitely boost my application," she says. 'A CRAZY INDUSTRY' Sheffres attributed the steady enrollment to the anxiety among high school students' parents. This concern, she says, often trickles down to the students. "As the level of competition goes up and kids fight for these spots at schools, it's becoming a crazy industry." Sheffres says more students prepared for the PSAT and more 11th- graders took the SAT last fall than when she started working at Chyten three years ago. This trend will increase Chyten's summer business, she says. Garai, the former intern in Brussels, started preparing for the SAT in October of 10th grade--a year before the test. She prepared for the ACT throughout the summer, working with a tutor for four hours a week in addition to taking practice tests and doing homework. "The SAT and the ACT have sort of been my worst nightmare because I have crazy test anxiety," she says. While taking the SAT for the first time, Garai felt dizzy and nauseated. "I got a little delirious and couldn't read any of the writing on the page." She canceled that first test score and then took the SAT twice more that academic year. Since October, Garai has taken one practice ACT per week. She will take the ACT for the third time in September. Though she would be "bored out of my mind" without summer activities, Garai says she would be skeptical of a student who chose to solely relax over the summer. "If you take the whole summer off, you're losing a good opportunity. I don't think it looks good on a college application. It would look like you were wasting your summer." Some college and guidance counselors think there is enough time to relax and be productive over the summer. "Reading a book is rejuvenating, traveling can be rejuvenating, visiting colleges can be fun, so you can fit relaxation in," says Boshoven, the counselor in Michigan. "If you want to veg two hours a day in front of the [TV], that's fine, but give yourself a schedule so that two hours doesn't become four hours." Kalinowski says achieving such balance is difficult with college pressures looming. "I have carefree moments during the summer" she says, "but my future is always in the back of my mind."
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