• A summer program admitting you does not determine your worth as a person.
• A summer program rejecting you does not determine your worth as a person. 
• Your worth as a person is actually not up for debate. 
• You are a hard-working, goal-oriented individual. 
• You can learn new skills this summer and engage research or a project independently. 
• It is always difficult to receive news that you were not selected. This goes for job applications in the future, too. A college rejection letter is hard to face but totally manageable.
• Success is within reach and takes many forms. 
• You are enough. You’ll be fine.
• Better than fine, actually. You’ll do great. We just know it.
• You don’t have to do it alone. Call us to learn more about how Empowerly.
• College counseling can help you process a rejection letter and plan your next steps.
• If you feel depressed for longer than a week about the news, think about seeing a therapist short-term to help you get through the disappointment and bounce back. 
• Therapy is confidential and healthy. Ask for help if you need it so you can continue to thrive. 

Growth Mindset

Check out Growth Mindset, a learning theory developed by Carol Dweck. Growth mindset is all about believing that intelligence can be developed. Learners with a growth mindset have mastered that they can gain success through hard work, implementing good study strategies, and by seeking help when needed. The opposite is fixed mindset: the belief that you’re either born with brains or not. That’s a deterministic way to see the world that makes sharp students with immense potential give up at the first sign of obstacle or rejection. Adopting a growth mindset predicts more success in school, and way less stress! College counseling can help. 

What can I do this summer instead of attending a summer program? 

If not admitted to a summer program, you can try to simulate the experience and participate in similar programming on your own to parallel summer program benefits– bonus points for independent initiative, resilience, and growth mindset!

Independent research conducted with a college professor or grad students is incredibly valuable for STEM-bound or other research-bound applicants. Research that results in a published journal paper where the student is mentioned as a co-author or credited as a research assistant is a huge achievement and a major credit to an admissions boost for aspiring STEM major candidates and humanities major candidates with research ambitions.

Beyond research in a lab setting, coding a working program to completion or building and documenting a physical prototype also set apart a college applicant. 

Aim to pursue a research topic that will match up with the field that you plan to pursue as a college major. You may need to cold email several professors and/or lab directors at universities before you get a response that your research assistance is needed. Cast a wide net and don’t be disheartened.

Create and use a free digital bulletin board to keep track of emails you’ve sent, and set deadlines within your board to track follow-up emails. You can also escalate your follow-up by calling the university’s academic department and leaving a message with the department secretary.

Research you develop can be used to enter prestigious academic science competitions:

• INTEL ISEF
• Google Science Fair 
• Science Olympiad
• Chemistry Olympiad
• Biolympiad 
• Mathcounts
• USAMO United States of America Mathematical Olympiad

Placing in the top 5 at a regional level or higher offers further improved college admissions odds, furthering the rolling impact of your summer research initiative toward a competitive college admission profile. 

Also consider joining national STEM club TSA – the Technology Student Association, offering competitive events and interest-based events. Holding school leadership or higher ranking organizational leadership holds great college admissions extracurricular value. National Science Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta Math Honors Society also offer valuable membership for a STEM college admission academic profile. 

For more tips on building your extracurricular success, chat with one of our enrollment team today.

Present your research at an academic conference 

Apply to present your research process and conclusions at an academic conference relevant to your research field. For STEM research, you can bookmark the IEMS conference which is held annually in March in Clearwater, Florida, accepting presenting high school students in the fields of Industry, Engineering, Management Systems, and related STEM fields. IEMS hosts professors and scholars in Industrial Engineering, and branches out into related applied fields and industries. The conference directors uniquely believe in preparing and empowering high school students to share their innovations and network with other academics– leading them to add a rare high school and undergraduate student presenting track! The call for papers opens each winter and usually runs through early January. Preparing your research topic pitch this summer can set you up for participation next spring. 

Track fields include but are not limited to: Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing and more!), Automation and Modeling, Business Analytics, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Corporate Governance, Data Analytics, Engineering Innovations, Healthcare Systems, Human Factors & Cognitive Engineering, Leadership & Diversity, Quality Planning & Process Improvement, Supply Chain Management, etc. See a full list of tracks in the Call for Papers.