It seems like every year, students follow a template for their summer plans — some summer program or internship, a few volunteer opportunities and maybe a week or two of vacation. It’s a widespread belief that this is the optimal way to spend summer to be competitive in the college application process, but if you really think about it, how impressive is it to be the same as everyone else?

Students are often brainwashed to believe that attending prestigious summer programs or volunteering abroad will make their college application stand out.

If that is what you are interested in, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing research or volunteering opportunities. But for a lot of people, there are better options out there that won’t break the bank.

Plus, after spending the entire school year studying and focusing on academics, students should break free from their comfort zones. The 10 weeks of summer should be used to explore, discover or improve talents and passions.

For those lucky people who have already found what they are passionate about, summer is the perfect time to fine-tune those endeavors. For example, for someone who knows they want to pursue directing, attending a film workshop or just picking up a camera and spontaneously producing a home-made movie could be an extremely fulfilling summer experience.

Summer is a great time to start a more ambitious and time-consuming project because students finally have the time to put their complete effort into what they’re passionate about and produce something to be proud of. Also, it saves thousands of dollars and still demonstrates passion and talent.

Most students, however, don’t really know what they want to do. Summer is the perfect time to find out. Rather than compete among tens of thousands of hopeful high school students for a spot in a prestigious summer research program, students could take college-level classes, travel to a new place, teach a class for children, get a job or anything else as long as they are interested in it. These are options that provide a different but equally rewarding experience as a summer program.

Obviously, the goal is not to spend the entire summer lying on the couch watching Netflix, but students shouldn’t feel obligated to tailor their summers just to get into a certain college. Variety is healthy. If something is interesting, do it. But don’t be afraid to relax.

For those who don’t know what they want to do, try new things and find out. Break free from the grasp of parents or college counselors. Even though there is a widespread belief that students’ entire high school experience is defined by the college they’re accepted into, it’s not worth it to spend summer doing something they don’t want to do. There isn’t a template for college acceptance, so students might as well spend their summer doing something they enjoy.