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The Best Activities for the Summer After Sophomore Year of High School

You’re officially *in* high school now. You’re a rising junior, which means that next year is going to be your most intense yet. Your summer should reflect that. Hopefully this year you’ve done some work exploring and solidifying your interests within the context of your extracurricular activities, outside-of-school efforts, and your reading and online courses. We know ·É±đ’v±đ said this before, but it’s important to reiterate: colleges look at how you spend your free time. Summer is a big chunk of free time that is yours for the taking (or wasting).

And this summer is particularly important. We suggest that rising juniors choose programs and projects that are a bit more specific and intensive. Your summers should tell a story about you continuing to challenge yourself in your area(s) of interest. You should also be preparing to rise up to and take on some higher leadership positions in your extracurricular activities, so this summer can help prepare you for refining your expertise. A lot of the programs that we suggest require an application and some essays—think of them as practice for college applications, not a chore. It all builds! 

Here are some great programs for 10th grade summers/rising junior summers, split up by area of interest. This is definitely not an exhaustive list, and be sure to check out the other lists ·É±đ’v±đ put together on this topic:

STEM/Engineering

English/Writing

  • (University of Georgia, Louisiana State University)

  • (Yale)

Math

  • (Stanford)

  • (University of Georgia)

  • (Ohio Dominican University)

Economics & Psychology

  • (Duke, Georgia Tech)

  • Academy (UPenn)

  • (Georgia Tech)

Law/Government

  • (Yale, Georgetown)

  • (Oxford)

  • (Rice University)

Film/Acting

  • (NYU)

  • Design and create your own film project – nothing says “ambitious” more than creating and executing an independent project with a deliverable (like a film!).

if you’re struggling to find a program in your area of interest. We love doing research and would love to help you find the next step in your pursuits. We want to encourage rising juniors to take a step outside of their comfort zone and to challenge themselves. We know you’re up to the challenge.