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2 years ago
Admissions Advice

Semester vs Summer Page?

So I applied to be a summer page. The senators office recently emailed me and asked if I would like to instead go to the Spring session and basically offered to sponsor me for that session.

I am conflicted as to wether or not it is worth it. I am involved in a lot of organizations so going for a semester would disrupt a lot of that work. Also, academics would get interrupted and I would go second semester into classes where everyone is at a different difficulty level.

What should I do? I am very passionate about politics and think its a great opportunity but am conflicted about leaving my EC commitments more than anything else.

From an AO perspective, would going for a semester seem much more meaningful and impressive than going for 3/4 weeks in the summer. Do they care?

Kind of wanted to do other programs so that would open that up…

summer-program
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2 answers

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2 years ago[edited]

You might never have an opportunity like this again so I would seriously consider it. It makes your application far more interesting than those who only do it for a few weeks in the summer.

If the Washington DC political scene is where you want to be, what could be better.

On the other hand, if you are trying to check off as many unique and interesting ECs as possible because you think that's the path forward to getting into your dream college, I would caution you that being a "jack or jill of all trades" is not very interesting.

This life you are living right now is your own movie that you star in. If you were a Hollywood actor and someone said you need to take a semester off to make a feature film, would you hesitate? Would you be concerned with all the other plates you have spinning in the air at the same time? No one on CollegeVine can make that decision for you. You have to decide what risks and challenges you are willing to take in your life.

Good luck either way.

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2 years ago

Hi @Llamarama , this is a great question! This opportunity is definitely rare and at least worth considering, and it's clear that the senator's office was impressed with you—otherwise, they wouldn't be offering you the chance to be a page in the Spring session (and sponsor you to do so). Additionally, if this is the sort of work and experience that aligns with your interests, you might not want to pass up on this opportunity.

As far as unique and interesting ECs go, I would say this opportunity definitely would rank high on that list, at least from my perspective. I suppose one thing to ask yourself is, are you involved in numerous other ECs? If so, are there some less commitment-heavy ones that you could scale back on in order to devote time to being a semester page? You definitely do want to have a hook, or "spike" to your application, rather than being a complete generalist, or "jack of all trades".

As for the AO perspective, I doubt any admissions committee member will look on your being a semester page as being less meaningful and impressive than being a Summer page—after all, being a semester page requires balancing this involvement with your academics and extracurriculars, which in itself is a challenge that likely doesn't apply to being a Summer page.

Also, taking this opportunity during the Spring semester would free up a Summer to do other meaningful or impressive activities, so there's that to consider as well.

Overall, I personally think you should strongly consider taking this opportunity; however, like @CameronBameron said, CollegeVine can't make this decision for you. You'll need to consider this opportunity's rarity, what you can do to shift the balance of involvements in your life in order to accommodate it, and, ultimately, whether this is the sort of opportunity that you are drawn to and interested in.

I hope this is helpful, and good luck -- you got this!

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