With the school year winding down, many students & parents are still in that age old conversation –what will you do with your summer break?
In our continued effort to demystify and provide encouragement to students & families looking to make summer count we want to tackle a question that often comes up this time of year: What about job shadowing?
Much is made of the need for students to engage their academic and career interests through the ways they spend their time outside of school.
If this has you thinking: shouldn’t job shadowing a professional in a field of interest be the perfect addition to a student’s summer plans, think again.
Read on for our take on why a good old-fashioned summer job or volunteer commitment is a much better way for students to spend their summer days–
While admissions officers do look to see evidence that students have been engaging their intellectual and professional interests through their activities, there is something even more important on an admissions reader’s mind as they review an applicant’s activity list: Impact.
Perhaps the most important thing a student can communicate through the ways they spend their time is that they are positively and meaningfully impacting the lives of others.
This type of impact can take many shapes and forms:
Working a summer job:
Family Responsibilities:
Community Engagement:
The reason job-shadows are quickly breezed over by many admissions readers, is that they serve only the student.
An admissions reader would much rather see a student engage their interests in ways that bring them in contact with a broader community, build meaningful relationships, reflect on their role within the community, and grapple with the systems at work. Particularly for students who will be perceived as coming from privileged communities and upbringings, admissions readers are eager to see young people developing understanding of this privilege and demonstrating that they will be thoughtful, engaged, and active community members on the campus they seek to join.
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