Summer Planning

Americans and Taiwanese typically spend their summers in very different ways. This discrepancy can have a negative impact on admissions chances at top American universities. In this post, we will summarize the differences and how you can bridge the cultural gap this summer by creating or finding a unique summer opportunity to develop your skills, personality, and interests.

In America, summers are designed for exploring interests

Students can’t wait for summer vacation, and rightfully so. After working hard for two semesters, they deserve an opportunity to determine their own schedule instead of following the daily rhythms of school life. Whereas America encourages autonomy for summer scheduling that helps students develop a sense of responsibility and control over their own lives and their own time, Taiwan’s university admissions system encourages students to constantly prepare for academics, because test scores are the only factors that matter in admissions. 

Even though American universities require testing like the Xuece （學測）, the SAT/ACT by itself only provides around 33% weight in university admissions and serves as a minimum standard for most competitive universities. As we will soon clarify, summer is typically best spent focusing on the leadership and personal aspects of your Triangle of Talent, which serve as tiebreakers for applicants with equally high academic capabilities.

America’s admissions system allows for and even encourages students to explore other meaningful activities. In fact, this is a key component of think STEP’s Triangle of Talent formula for university admissions strategy. Let’s take a look at the chart below to see how many Americans spend their summers.

           Summer Jobs                 

A most common summer activity that shows responsibility and maturity (Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, worked at McDonalds before attending Princeton). The most ambitious students could start their own business!

Athletic Programs

  If you have the potential to compete on the university team, then you should definitely refine your athletic skills. In fact, athletes have a huge advantage in the admissions process.

 Internships

Learn about a career path before you decide to major in a related field. ThinkSTEP can help you create an internship proposal, as well as prepare for an internship interview.

Community Service     

Help the world in a way that fits your individual values and career goals. Community service projects can focus on your school, your neighborhood, or a specific community (such as the elderly, disabled, youth, etc.). You can read an example of an impactful community service project here.

Travel/College Visits 

ThinkSTEP recommends visiting a small, medium, and large-sized school to understand how each community is different. On the other hand, some students visit schools based upon geography (California, Texas, etc.). To make the most of your travel, combine your trip with another factor (such as academics or community service).

School & Test Prep

We understand that summer is a great time to prep for SAT, but just don’t let it consume your entire summer. That’s neither beneficial for you, nor is it a great advantage in the admissions process if you sacrifice your summer for testing.

Other Examples

Planning your summer is just as personal as any other decision about your high school years. If you want to study aerospace engineering at university, you could spend the summer getting your pilot’s license or joining a model airplane club to learn about airplane design. If you are fascinated by geology, spending a summer in the mountains studying rock samples or the biodiversity of that mountain range would be a unique opportunity that few other applicants could replicate or compete against. To find out more about how some students spent their summers, check out our case study blog posts here.

Start the summer planning process early

To create the best plan for your summer with the most options, start planning well in advance. Typically, summer activity fairs are held in January and February, with application deadlines. Just like with university applications, you cannot afford to miss a deadline for a competitive summer opportunity. If you apply late, you will either be automatically rejected or considered at the very end. Don’t take that risk!

Creating an opportunity is frequently better than using a pre-existing opportunity

Proactiveness is a prerequisite for leadership, and universities will notice whenever you create your own summer opportunity.  An internship is a perfect example—if you have a company or industry in mind, prepare an internship proposal that the company can accept or modify. If you create an internship opportunity that you want, you can customize it to fit your Triangle of Talent and thus increase your admissions odds.

Competitions matter most when they are international in scope

The most prestigious summer opportunities concern global competitions in academic and non-academic fields. Such competitions typically require year-round preparation and should be relevant to a core aspect of your Triangle of Talent. Competitions can be in any topic but must distinctively be global in scale. Although 1st in Taiwan is very impressive, 5th in Asia or the world is much more so. Click here to see our list of the most famous competitions and summer programs for middle and high schoolers.

Research is impressive if you can connect it to your interests

Research is a core aspect of a university’s responsibility–to investigate the unknown and discover new ideas that can help move society forward. Much of this research may lead to lucrative patents for the university), so schools are always looking for effective researchers at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

If you decide to spend your summer researching, seek out programs that accept high schoolers, and make sure that you have a specific research question that you can feasibly investigate. The more specific your goals, the more persuasive your application for the research program can be. If you can receive college credit for this summer research program, even better! See a sample case study related to research here.

No matter what you do over the summer, work on developing your leadership skills and build your network

Leadership is so important, because success is much easier to achieve when you have the social skills to gather, persuade, and encourage a team to achieve your goals. Even if you are more reserved, summer programs are fantastic opportunities to become a leader. Here’s why:

You and your classmates begin with a clean slate

Just like the first semester of your freshman university experience, nobody knows each other, which means that a natural power vacuum exists. If you take charge early, people will assume that you are a natural leader and won’t question your authority.

Build your friendship and professional networks

You never know how a new friend or connection will positively impact your future. Keep an open mind, say hello to as many people as you can, and be genuinely interested in them.

Finally, keep your English skills polished. Read a book!

Your high school most likely provides an optional or required summer reading list. And for good reason! Don’t let your reading and literary skills go rusty for a couple of months, because your first couple of months back at high school this Fall will be very painful! If your high school does not maintain a list, check out your preferred university’s bookstore website to see which books the school is promoting this year.

ThinkSTEP can help you plan out your summer objectives to maximize university admissions success

Helping students from Taiwan, Asia, and the United States, ThinkSTEP has developed an expertise for helping students explore, discover, plan, and execute their future goals. Contact us today to begin your journey to university admissions and life success!