Okay, freshmen, we hear you: you’re looking at the summer after ninth grade, and you can taste your freedom but it’s not exactly limitless. Let’s be honest — you have a curfew, you have chores, and most of you don’t have your driver’s permit. Heck, for all we know, you can’t ride a bike! (Hopefully, we’re wrong about that one, though).
If you’re thinking thanks for the roast, but that’s not what I came here for, fair enough. Our point is this: you might not feel like you have the world at your fingertips right now, but there’s a lot you can do with this time to prepare for your college application season a few years away. If you’re an aspiring engineer, we admit that you’re not probably not going to design a new model to hit the F1 circuit between June and August, but you don’t have to settle for a summer of RollerCoaster Tycoon, either. Here’s a guide for our future engineers looking for a head-start.
Read (and Listen)
We know, we know… If you’ve been keeping up with our “9th Grade Summer Plans” blog series, you’ve probably caught on to the fact that we say this every time. Wanna know why? BECAUSE IT’S GOOD ADVICE. Sorry to hit you with the “because I said so” of college counseling, but we really do say so.
We lead with this recommendation for a couple of reasons. First, colleges will ask you one day what you read in your spare time, and it’s good to have an answer (even better if that answer corroborates your declared intended major). Second, this is an easy way to get your bearings in a new field, and it’s free and accessible. Yeah, we’re talking checking out library books, listening to (reputable) podcasts, browsing academic journals, and keeping up with engineering blogs.
Consuming a variety of media will help you round out your understanding of engineering as a discipline and find your niche within it. Engineering is, of course, incredibly broad. Want to develop a robot that performs minimally invasive heart surgery? You might be into biomedical engineering. Want to make the conversion of fuel to usable energy more efficient? You’re looking at chemical engineering. Just want to make frickin’ sick light displays or build bridges? Find out more about electrical engineering or civil engineering. And if you’re trying to get to the moon…? Well, to that we say good luck on the aerospace engineering track and beam me up, Scotty.
Take Additional Classes
Summer school?! Are you kidding me? Wish that we were, kiddos. But, in all seriousness, the summer is your opportunity to seek out further learning in your area of interest, which means these electives will probably have your attention and (dare we say) even provide some fun.
If you want to develop your skills in the subcategory of engineering that most appeals to you, you have plenty of options. Lots of top-tier colleges have online programs (such as Harvard, Yale, NYU, Stanford, etc.), but you can also access affordable and respectable remote learning services through Coursera, The Great Courses, LinkedIn Learning, and more.
For in-person options, you can seek out local options at community colleges or neighborhood learning centers, or you can apply to a pre-college program. There are many benefits to a pre-college program — you get the chance to live on campus for a few weeks, you meet other students your age who share your passion for engineering, and you start to develop a relationship with a college you’re interested in. There’s plenty of programs to choose from, but here’s a list of top summer engineering programs we’ve compiled.
Join a Research Team
The best thing you can do as a pre-engineering student is get involved with professionals in the field. Find out what scholars teach and perform research in your area, and ask if they are looking for a research assistant or if they might have other opportunities for high school students aspiring to study engineering. At your age, there might not be a plethora of opportunities to participate in a collegiate-level lab, but you never know what mentorship might be available to an enthusiastic young mind — a professor might offer to let you shadow them, or they might open a dialogue with you, answering the questions you have top-of-mind and becoming a valuable connection later on.
Build Something
It can be difficult to find a meaningful job, internship, or research opportunity at this stage in your education, and that’s true for all freshmen. The great news is that engineering means you can get hands-on skill just from experimentation on your own time. As reading and further learning help you identify your engineering niche, start looking into projects you can try at home. If you’re a mechanical type, you can take a radio apart and teach yourself to put it back together. If you’re into robotics, get a robotics kit or look into the robotics club hosted at your high school or another community organization. Of course, make sure that you are following general guidelines and being safe as you try out new skills, but, when it comes to creating something from scratch or designing an independent project, your options are endless.
Just know that if you do happen to build a rocketship, we’ll want some of the credit. Shoot for the moon and land amongst the stars, or whatever our momager Kris Jenner is always saying. Good luck!
Not sure where to start? Contact us here for personalized help planning your summer.