I can't afford $10,000 precollege programs to give me a better shot at getting into Ivy League schools. I wonder how much I need them in the first place.

• I'm a junior in high school who's starting the process of applying to college.
• Many of my classmates attend precollege summer programs that cost thousands of dollars.
• While I can't afford these programs, I realized I can spend my summer building skills in other ways.

The college-admissions process feels to me like the Hunger Games. You must prepare for years, spend your free time participating in well-rounded activities, and fill your schedule with AP classes before you can enter the games in your senior year and learn your fate.

Given the increasingly elitist educational system and the cost of living, college could, for some, forecast the life they'll lead. And many will do anything to get into the schools they have their minds set on.

As I enter this process, questions swarm my brain: Did I do enough extracurriculars? Are my essays cringe? Am I what they're looking for?

But the biggest issue seems to be money. I wonder whether I should've paid for SAT prep, for private art lessons, for college counselors to help me as a first-gen student.

My classmates are applying to summer college programs

The summer of my junior year is only a few months away, and emails to apply for summer college programs fill my inbox. I've ignored them, since I know there's no chance I'll find $10,000 lying around and spend it on padding my résumé.

The Harvard precollege summer program, for example, costs $5,375 for 12 days. Brown University's program could cost up to $9,459 for a hybrid five weeks in Providence, Rhode Island. That program offers a few scholarships — including one for students whose parents work at Brown — while other programs offer limited or no financial aid.

Precollege programs are supposed to help students picture themselves at these institutions and get a taste of college life before attending. Their cost indicates they're designed for students who already have that money, thus creating an inner circle during the admissions process.

I'm sure these experiences can be gratifying. But would not going to one of these programs hurt my chance of attending an elite university? Or are they another form of frivolous spending by the financially well-off?

I can't afford these programs

I did what any paranoid high schooler with a low income would do: I scoured the internet to see whether I absolutely needed to attend these programs.

But I realized there are other ways to develop my skills that don't cost me money.

Not attending these programs gives me a chance to personalize my learning by doing things in my community that keep me in touch with my roots and allow me to make a difference directly.

My summers over the past three years have given me hands-on career experience that I might not have gotten otherwise. Just last summer I worked as a fellow through my local congressional representative, learning how to run a political campaign. I've also written for national outlets.

This is not to say that rigorous coursework and classes aren't helpful. But applying what I've learned during the school year to my community through social-justice pursuits has given me a better understanding of the world I live in.

More and more universities are becoming empathetic to students' unique circumstances and want to know their students' stories. So I'll lean into what I learned for free and show who I really am.