Are you worried about your college application? Are you aware that high SAT scores, stellar grades and glowing recommendations aren’t necessarily enough to earn you admission into a top college? However, meaningful activities that you’ve dedicated substantial time and effort to can give you an edge over other students. The underlying question: How do you select activities to help you garner admission to the best college for you?

A lingering worry for high school students is the SAT. There are summer programs, which you can enroll in now through the springtime, that teach SAT preparation. While some of these programs are exclusively for SAT preparation, most academic camps offer an SAT preparedness component.

Academic camps maintain your focus on education and keep your brain working during the summertime. If you neglect to use cognitive skills over the summer, it becomes increasingly difficult to adjust to school in the fall. In addition, attending academic camps demonstrates maturity, desire, intelligence and readiness for college to admissions officials.

Many academic camps take place on college campuses. University professors and college or testing experts generally teach the classes, and students are grouped with other high school students rather than with college students. These particular camps grant high schoolers a preview of college life. They give students a chance to see how colleges are set up and how certain college courses are taught. They also enable high schoolers to experience the infamous dorm food and socialize with other prospective college students. At academic camps, the college course assignments typically require deeper thought and analysis than high school courses. Likewise, enrolling in academic camps helps you prepare for the adjustments required for college courses. Both sleepaway and day academic programs abound, and some colleges offer online courses.

Academic Study Associates (ASA) summer programs have several locations and programs for different age groups. ASA summer programs consist of academic courses, college counseling, cultural activities, sports, excursions, language immersion and SAT preparation. Some locations for ASA include UC Berkeley, UMass, Barcelona, Columbia, Tufts, Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge.

High school students who have finished grades 9 through 12 are able to attend workshops by Academic Study Associates, and ASA contracts Princeton Review to provide SAT preparation courses. ASA considers teacher recommendations, school transcripts and telephone interviews when admitting teens into the program. To reach ASA, call (212)796-8340 or check out www.asaprograms.com.

Other popular college preparation programs for teens are Barnard Pre-College Programs, which occur on an urban campus in New York City. The Barnard Pre-College Programs have three sub-program options that include the Young Women’s Leadership Institute, the four-week program in Manhattan and the one-week program in Manhattan. Professors from leading institutions teach the courses, and students enrolled attend one course in the morning and one course in the afternoon. In the evenings and on the weekends, students flock to activities in the city, from visiting art galleries and museums, to frequenting poetry slams, summer concerts in Central Park and Broadway shows. In the young women’s leadership program, students engage in seminars about women’s activities and women’s rights. Students are also assigned mentors.

At Barnard, as at other resident programs, many high school students gain responsibility, an important asset for college. Students need to get up in the morning for class, live with a roommate, follow a syllabus and remain organized in order to complete assignments on time. Barnard Pre-College students also experience New York and can determine whether or not they want to go to school in the city. In addition, because the instructors are college professors, high school students learn how college instructors teach. The work assigned is often challenging— sometimes grueling— and students feel proud upon finishing the program. Explore www.barnard.edu/pcp for further information.

Are you a student who is looking for a more open-ended summer than taking a specific course load? Consider a college’s research program, where high school students design personal research projects in conjunction with university professors and researchers. University research is a way for students to flex their creative muscles and take part in an engaging project. Students exchange ideas with college students and university professors, and may even be able to enter their research into competitions, which can help them gain entry into college.

Some colleges offering research programs for high schoolers are Stony Brook University, Rockefeller University, Columbia University and New York University. The application process varies from school to school. Fields of study available include biochemistry, physics, engineering, earth and space science and biochemistry. The Stony Brook research program allows students to become active members of research teams, learn from renowned faculty, do original research and comprehend laboratory techniques. Sometimes students are given Simons Fellowships and receive a stipend for their research while at other times students’ laboratory work is voluntary. Many students who have engaged in summer research have gone on to become Intel semifinalists, using summer research to build an Intel project. Students frequently continue working with the professors throughout the school year, and discover how labs work and how professors raise funds for research.

Students may also want to consider community service. Community service demonstrates a spirit of volunteerism and shows maturity. Venues for volunteering and community service include nonprofit organizations, places of worship, hospitals, schools and government agencies. If students are unable to find community service openings, then they should think about creating their own initiatives and projects. Lori Lucky, a Cornell graduate who has interviewed applicants for the university, says that community service involvement encouraged her to favor some applicants over others. According to Lucky, service demonstrates that students are well-rounded and good citizens. It also indicates that students will likely be productive members of the university community.

You may also want to get involved in a political cause. If interested in a political endeavor, consider signing on with a political party and tackling volunteer activities. Involvement in a political cause demonstrates a strong sense of self and conviction. Dorthea Damaskos, who will be attending Wellesley in the fall, volunteered through Amnesty International, an organization committed to international peace. Damaskos gained a sense of pride and dedication from participating in the political effort. Internships with nonprofit organizations, political organizations, senators and people in congress are valuable learning experiences, though students should accept the fact that they may have to first serve as a gopher before making valuable connections and enjoying perks.

Simply having a laundry list of memberships on sports teams, school clubs and extracurricular activities probably won’t bolster your chances of admission into college. Instead of a breadth of activities, colleges are looking for a deep commitment to a token few activities. Devoted involvement attracts college officials to you, along with leadership roles.
This summer, choose activities you anticipate enjoying that are suited to your interests and abilities— and you’ll be on the right track to defining your goals and expectations for college.

Esther Forrester received her master’s degree in higher education and her bachelor’s in linguistics. She worked for two years in student activities at UMass-Amherst, advising student groups and creating leadership and development programs for undergraduate students. She also completed an internship at Barnard College, where she delivered a group workshop on college admissions. After her stint in the university setting, Forrester branched into college admissions coaching. For the past three years, she has helped students devise strategies for getting into college, assisting many in gaining admittance to their first-choice school. Learn more at www.apluscollegetips.com.

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