Introduction Is attending a summer program in Georgia still about building a resume, or is it about demonstrating academic readiness? Every year, ambitious students from Atlanta and across the state enroll in STEM clubs  and short-term summer camps,  hoping to increase their chances of admission. However, admissions officers for the Class of 2026  report a growing issue: high participation but low productivity. Students list extracurricular activities  but are unable to demo

What if the strongest part of a college application isn’t a grade, a score, or even an award, but a system a student built? In California, that question quietly decides outcomes. Every year, the UC system reviews hundreds of thousands of applications filled with straight A’s, advanced coursework, and long activity lists. At places like Stanford, Berkeley, and Caltech, academic excellence isn’t impressive on its own. It’s expected. What admissions officers look for next is har

Is choosing s ummer programs  really about finding the most famous campus or about creating something that admissions officers can actually evaluate? Every summer, California students fill out applications with program names. However, when admissions committees review files, they consistently see the same pattern: high grades, busy schedules, and little evidence of g enuine intellectual production . The students did not fail because they lacked ambition. They failed because p