Summer counts for college acceptance

Learn about: Summer counts for college acceptance from Danny Ruderman,...
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Summer counts for college acceptance

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Summer time is a time for a break. Students should be teenagers and have some fun. Having said that, the one thing you probably don't want to do is just sit around and play Xbox all summer. Colleges want to see that you are engaged and active, I would say in 1 of 4 categories. Number 1: You can get a job. Number 2: You can get an internship, which a lot of families think is impossible for teenagers, but honestly, if a teenager goes into a company, or a business, and says, " I want to donate my time for free." You'd be amazed at how many teenagers can get internships. 3: you can study abroad. You can take a trip somewhere to do something that exposes you to new ideas. The 4th thing, is to take a class. Now taking a class can be taking a class like AP U.S. History so that you free up a time the next year to take something else. Or you can take something that you couldn't take in high school. So, I had a student, for example, who's only major extra-curricular was soccer, but he was really interested in psychology. So, what he did was he took a community college class in psychology 1 over the summer before his senior year, and he got a job working as a pool boy at a local hotel. In his essay, he actually wrote about an experience he had while working as a pool boy, in which he used some of those psychology things that he learned about in class. So, it's not what you do in summer, it's that you do something, and hopefully, you're doing something that you're interested in, because that's going to help you down the road.

Learn about: Summer counts for college acceptance from Danny Ruderman,...

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Danny Ruderman

Independent College Counselor

Danny Ruderman is a nationally recognized college counselor whose mission is to help as many families as possible navigate the admissions process.  

The Fontana High School and Stanford grad is the author of The Ultimate College Acceptance System and creator of college counseling programs used by school districts across the U.S. and Fortune 500 companies. He is known for his huge forehead and helping students get into schools that really match their interests. His newest book, Top 100 Answers to Your College Admissions Questions will be released in March 2013.

Danny graduated with Honors from Stanford University and holds a BA in Human Biology with an emphasis in Education. He was named a Merit Teacher for his work at Campbell Hall School in Los Angeles and worked as an educational therapist for K&M Associates in Los Angeles. He is also a member of the Western Association of College Admissions Counselors (WACAC). He has been featured on NPR’s Marketplace, Fox News, The Los Angeles Times, Between the Lines on PBS, College Bound Magazine, The Bill Handel Show, and Powernomics. Danny is also a regular contributor to Money 101 on KFWB in Los Angeles.

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