Podcast Summary: "Making the Most of Summer with Your College Application in Mind"
College Bound Mentor | November 20, 2025
Hosts: Lisa Bleich, Abby Power, Stefanie Forman
Overview
In this practical and inspiring episode, Lisa, Abby, and Stefanie dive into strategies for leveraging summer experiences to boost college applications. Drawing on over 30 years of mentoring expertise, the trio covers the wide spectrum of meaningful summer activities—from classic sleepaway camp and community service to jobs, academic enrichment, and self-driven projects. Using real student case studies, they show how summer can become a time not just for résumé-building, but self-discovery and growth that resonates in college essays and life beyond high school.
Main Discussion Points & Insights
The Value of Summer Camp
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Building Independence: Attending camp fosters self-reliance and confidence, especially for younger students experiencing time away from home for the first time.
"The fact that at such a young age that you're away from your parents or guardians and you are responsible for yourself... that level of independence leads to so much—confidence, doing things on your own, being outside your comfort zone."
—Stefanie (01:32) -
Developing Friendships & Leadership: Camp offers friendships outside of school and unplugged environments that cultivate real connection and leadership opportunities (as counselors or CITs).
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Parent Concerns: There’s a common worry that multiple years as a camp CIT or counselor might not look “productive” to colleges; the counselors argue that if camp fuels your growth and happiness, it’s entirely valid.
"If this is your kid's happy place, I don't know how you... you don't let them do it."
—Abby (05:24) -
Camp-Inspired Essays: Unique experiences—even those at camp—can lead to strong essay topics when students genuinely reflect on what they learned.
"[A student] developed... the color war game at camp... The essay was about how he was constantly using numbers to figure out how he was going to make color war [work]."
—Lisa (03:36)
Academic & Intellectual Pursuits
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Online Courses: Free or affordable options like Coursera and edX enable students to pursue college-level subjects at their own pace. These help show initiative and intellectual curiosity.
"It's about what you learn and what you take away... You can do [online classes] asynchronously, at your own pace."
—Abby (07:10) -
Research & Internships: Persistence, rather than connections, often leads to research opportunities. Authentic, passionate outreach emails are key.
"I've had students who've had a lot of luck just... being very specific and genuine in their outreach... When their passion is in that email, and they're persistent, I've had a lot of students be successful."
—Stefanie (08:29) -
Internship Outreach Email Tips: Brief introduction, relevant interests/experience, authentic motivation for contacting, and a humble willingness to contribute (09:40).
Special Talents and Athletics
- Portfolio Development: For artists/athletes, summer is prime time to prepare for college applications (portfolios, showcases).
"Do a program at a school where you think you want to apply... you're taking classes with professors who will be reviewing [your work]."
—Lisa (11:12) - Sports Leadership: Many student-athletes coach, ref, or umpire—volunteering their skills for younger students, boosting both community and leadership experience.
Community Service & Giving Back
- Tie your passions and talents to give back (e.g., athletes running clinics, musicians teaching, etc.).
"It's always good to share your talent. So whatever that talent happens to be, if you could share it with the community, that's a really good way to think about how you want to spend your time doing community service and building leadership."
—Lisa (12:47)
Academic Boosting & Test Prep
- Use summer to shore up academics or get ahead (e.g., taking extra math to meet future prerequisites, prepping for SAT/ACT).
"If you know the type of college experience you want... it's also a really smart use of time over the summer."
—Stefanie (13:52)
Work Experience
- Jobs = Life Skills: Traditional jobs (waiting tables, beach club, bagel store) are valuable; they teach responsibility, initiative, time management, and can spark new directions (e.g., social media management, business interest).
"Sometimes if you don't do a lot of stuff in school... work is the place where students really come alive."
—Lisa (14:38) - Unexpected Growth: Work can become a transformative anchor—sometimes even sparking college essay themes and long-term career direction (like the yoga instructor who parlayed summer jobs into strategy roles at a major company).
Broadening Experiences & Rest
- Emphasize connecting with family, travel, and downtime; these often provide rich material for reflection and application essays.
"Sometimes you just need to do nothing. And that's perfectly fine."
—Lisa (20:23)
Memorable Quotes & Moments
- On Camp Essays:
“If it makes sense, absolutely... I’ve had some really good essays come out of summer camp.”
—Lisa (04:48) - On Initiative and Outreach:
“It’s almost refreshing when you have that gritty kid that just keeps going after what they want.”
—Stefanie (08:29) - On Jobs:
“Just the fact that you have a job in high school, whatever that job is, it helps you get the next job... they see that you’re responsible.”
—Lisa (19:03) - On Business Experience:
"It doesn't always have to be business related... I had a student who worked at an ice cream store.. moved up to manager, saw operations and economic inequity..."
—Lisa (36:10) - Advice on Application Timelines:
"Some competitive programs have deadlines as early as January 1st, sometimes even earlier... so it's good to get started now."
—Lisa (40:25)
Case Studies ("The Stories That Stick")
[21:10] Arun: The Curious Geography-Fanatic Tennis Volunteer
- Interests: Geography (self-created YouTube channel, club participation), varsity tennis captain (doubles), local tennis coaching.
- Growth: Initially lacked volunteer experience, sparked to give back via tennis by working with autistic students through “Acing Autism” and Love Serving Autism, then taught tennis in Newark’s underserved communities.
- Continuity: Now doing "Acing Autism" at college.
- Takeaway: “You should be doing service to your community because this is a part of who we are as people.” —Stefanie (24:55)
[25:55] Alex: The Renaissance Engineer
- Interests: Guitar, engineering, philosophy.
- Summers: Research, prototyping lab (invented an LED guitar teaching tool), music program at Berklee, sustainable engineering internship, consistent work teaching refugee children culminating in leadership.
- College: Attends Michigan for engineering.
- Takeaway: "He was strategic in using his summers to show all the different sides of him." —Lisa (28:55)
[29:46] Future Business Leaders
- Case 1: Student passionate about entrepreneurship and social impact—community service trips, jewelry business, Georgetown summer entrepreneurship program (with social impact focus), reached out to book authors, ended up at Georgetown Business.
- Case 2: Students taking relevant MOOCs (Yale’s 'Financial Markets', Penn’s ‘Intro to Corporate Finance’ on Coursera), building actual products (e.g., golf device with friends), earning spots at Notre Dame, Wharton, etc.
- Case 3: Student learning business skills in nontraditional settings: ice cream shop manager during COVID-19, then Cornell Hotel School, seeing business as operations, service, human resources.
"Putting the name of an investment company on your resume means nothing if you have nothing to talk about... It's not going to impress anybody that you ran errands."
—Abby (35:40)
Actionable Advice & Final Takeaways
- Start Planning Now (November/December!): Applications for competitive summer programs can open well before spring break and often require essays or counselor nominations (some as early as December).
“This is the time to look at programs that open up... have those thoughtful conversations now.”
—Stefanie (40:02) - Meaning Over Name: The prestige of a program matters less than how you engage and what you learn.
- Reflect in Essays: The best application stories reveal self-knowledge, growth, and authentic engagement—whatever the activity.
- Balance: It’s okay to mix different experiences (camp, work, academics, service, rest)—it’s about deliberate choices and reflection.
Key Timestamps
- 01:32 – Independence & growth via camp
- 05:24 – Parental pressure vs. student “happy place”
- 09:40 – How to email for research/shadowing
- 12:47 – Sharing talents in community service
- 14:38 – Work's underrated value
- 21:10–29:46 – Case studies: Arun, Alex, and business students
- 35:40–39:40 – Nontraditional business prepping and the value of every experience
- 40:02–41:22 – Planning early for deadlines and writing-intensive programs
Conclusion
If you want your summer to matter for college (and yourself!), start thinking now about what excites, challenges, and fulfills you. Whether it’s at camp, in the lab, at work, or giving back, choose something meaningful—and be ready to reflect on what you learned. That’s what makes applicants stand out.
Listen to more guidance from College Bound Mentor at collegeboundmentor.com.