How to Get Ahead in College Admissions This Summer
Dr. Nick Strohl, a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Yale University, did us the honor of being the featured speaker for our most recent webinar, “How to Get Ahead This Summer? A Former Admissions Officer’s Guide to Summer 2025 Planning”. This hour-long conversation was filled with priceless insight that offered high school students real-world guidance from an academic expert as they navigate extracurricular planning and the tedious, increasingly competitive landscape of college admissions.
Specifically, our latest webinar touched on a few key topics:
What top schools want to see reflected in summer activities
How high school students can strategically plan extracurriculars by focusing on their individual interests
Real case studies showing how Scholar Launch alumni have garnered success in college admissions
This was an excellent opportunity for eager students to get insider tips about earning acceptance letters from their dream schools. Here’s a brief recap of what they learned.
What Top Colleges Look for In Summer Extracurricular Activities
We kicked off our discussion with some relieving news. “While highly selective summer programs can offer a valuable experience,” said Dr. Strohl, “they are only one of many ways to distinguish yourself as an applicant during the summer months.” The truth is, colleges and universities aren’t necessarily looking for students who’ve participated in the most expensive or prestigious extracurriculars. They aren’t even looking for students who spend all their free time working, volunteering, or studying.
Schools just want to see that applicants are proactive and know how to spend their time wisely. Summer break is an ideal time to work on boosting academic profiles in addition to having fun. During the summer, high school students can explore new interests, work on hobbies and passion projects, or research advanced subjects that they don’t have time to learn during the school year.
Dr. Strohl encourages students to do all these things, emphasizing that top schools don’t want to admit undergraduates who were unproductive during their summer breaks. So, what exactly are colleges and universities looking for in summer activities?
Demonstrated Passion and Intellectual Curiosity
Top schools prefer students who are genuinely interested in the endeavors they choose, as opposed to those who are just lightly involved. Resumé padding won’t work. “As a former admissions officer at Yale,” said Dr. Strohl, “it becomes evident, I think, when reading an application, how much a student is invested and passionate about their activities.”
Skill Development and Academic Rigor
Universities are also seeking applicants whose summer activities resulted in them developing a new skill or engaging in challenging academic courses or programs. Those who spend their time away from school conducting research, participating in a college-level or online course, or learning new painting techniques, languages, or computer skills, like coding, can showcase their commitment to academic excellence.
Initiative, Independence, and Leadership
Another great way to excel in the admissions process is by highlighting extracurriculars that reveal a propensity for leadership, initiative, and independence. Selective schools love self-starters who don’t just wait for opportunities to arise, but create them. So, high school students can use the summer months to generate clear evidence for schools of maturity, courage, and a sense of purpose by:
Starting a podcast or blog
Reaching out to a teacher to pursue an independent research project
Launching a fundraiser or workshop
Unique Contributions and Standout Experiences
Colleges and universities also keep their eyes open for applications that can demonstrate unique experiences that highlight personality, strong values, and community involvement. If you’re a college applicant reading this, think about what makes you different from the thousands of other young people who want the same things you want. Are you blending your interests in a creative way through some interdisciplinary project? Are you making a positive impact in your neighborhood or city? Can you pull together a narrative about something original in your life that reflects your voice, values, or identity?
For instance, many students are interested in becoming doctors, so they plan to study biology and eventually pursue a pre-med track. A worthy goal, of course. But how can applicants who dream of one day being a doctor stand out among their peers, all of whom are pursuing a medical career? Dr. Strohl recalled an interesting admissions approach one of his former students took when strategically planning her summer extracurricular activities.
“I’ve worked with a student who was interested in biology and medicine, but also loved to dance,” he remembered. “So [during the summer] she organized and taught a dance movement class at a nearby senior home…The classes that she organized were a kind of movement therapy for older adults and seniors in this assisted living home. And to me, it was a really interesting way of her combining her interest in dance with her interest in healthcare and helping others.”
How to Strategically Plan Your Summer Based on Your Interests
For the rest of the webinar, our featured speaker called on his years of experience not only as a former admissions officer but also as a professor and scholar to give event attendees actionable advice on how to make the most of their upcoming summer break. He encouraged students who don’t know where to start to explore general interests by starting clubs, visiting colleges, and leading volunteer initiatives. For those who know what they want to study, Dr. Strohl categorized his insider tips by STEM (volunteer at a hospital or code and publish your own app), the humanities (write a novel or make a documentary), and business (apply for an internship at a consulting firm or attend talks by industry leaders). And he even had plenty to say to students who struggle to narrow down their activities because their passions combine many different disciplines.
The latest Scholar Launch webinar was immensely helpful for our students, who are doing all they can to ensure they spend their time wisely in summer 2025. To hear more of what Dr. Nick Strohl had to say about how to impress college admissions officers and make the most of your summer months, watch the webinar replay. And to demonstrate skill development, academic rigor, and intellectual curiosity in your college applications, apply for a Scholar Launch research program today.