While summer vacation offers a great break from schoolwork, the activities your child chooses to participate in can actually help with college admissions. How an applicant spends his or her time during break can tell admission officers a lot about the student’s interests, ambition, and personality. Your child should consider activities that set him or her apart from other applicants; after all, it is important that your child come across as interesting and different – since there are so many other applicants vying for the same spot.

Suggest the following activities to your child to ensure a productive, interesting, and fun summer break.

•    Blog. There are many popular sites that make blogging easy, such as WordPress, Tumblr, Blogspot and Xanga. Before starting a blog, your child should think of a theme for posts. A themed blog will target a specific audience, while a general blog might have more widespread appeal. Writing impresses admissions officers – it shows creativity and independence of thought, but it’s also interactive and fun.

•    Backpacking. Backpacking is an exhilarating experience which will show college admissions counselors that an applicant is active and in touch with the environment. Your child also will come across as independent, not to mention it’ll keep him or her in shape this summer.

•    Create a website. Creating a website teaches your budding programmer how to use HTML, the backbone to web design language. Domain names usually have nominal annual costs, but there are also free hosting sites. Your son or daughter might even make a bit of spending money if website design becomes a business!

•    Volunteer. Volunteering time to a worthy cause is not only impressive to admissions counselors, but also can be one of the most rewarding activities this summer. Your child can choose an organization or cause she is genuinely interested in.

•    Learn a new language. Learning a second language promotes educational development, enhances communication and thinking abilities, and allows students to fully understand and appreciate their world. A student who learns another language on his or her own will always impress admissions officers.

•    Recycle. Recycling benefits both the economy and environment. Students can do a little research to find out the steps their town takes to go green, and to find out if there is a recycling plant nearby. They can even make money from recycling! Your child should record how much money he makes or how many hours he spends recycling, and include this information in college applications.

•    Find a pen pal. A pen pal can expose high school students to different cultures, while interacting with a pen pal hones reading and writing skills.

•    Read at the public library. If your child loves to read, get a public library card and use it often. The public library is a free resource, and being well-read makes him or her a more interesting, in-depth candidate when applying to college. Applicants should even include “reading for pleasure” as one of their summer activities.

These are simply suggestions for your child to make the most of summer; your child can try any of these, or think of others that might make for a fun and interesting summer experience. Some activities might lead to lifelong passions or even academic majors!

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