College Summer Programs for High School Students
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Anonymous
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So my child is doing Model UN and at one of their events they had a bunch of colleges with tables handing out flyers and telling kids about their summer programs. I guess these are like summer camps, but more academic oriented. Stuff like coding classes, group projects and field trips to software companies.
Brought home some flyers from places like Syracuse, Tufts and Columbia. Sounds interesting, I never heard of these kinds of programs when I was in high school. I heard that UVA and the Virginia public universities have these programs but the application deadlines passed a long time ago. Anyone go on one and any suggestions for other programs? I am looking for a program that is well run and the kids enjoyed the experience. Not looking at these as a way to help with admissions, just for enrichment and someone for the kids to do during the summer beyond just summer sports or playing videogames all day. |
Anonymous
| Do they charge a ton of money? If not, imo it’s worth trying. But I don’t think I would pay for anything like this. |
Anonymous
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Georgetown has a wide variety of summer offerings: https://summer.georgetown.edu/
My DS attended the 5-week Summer College program and had an absolutely amazing experience. Not only did he make a wonderful connection with a faculty member, but he got to live in the dorms and experience life has a college student. Highly recommend! |
Anonymous
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What is your kid interested in? Search this topic for pre-college programs. They've been discussed recently.
My kids each did 1-week programs that were not too expensive IMO and were helpful for exposure to a college environment and how the subject they were interested in might be studied in college. |
Anonymous
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There are older threads on this you might want to check out.
Several schools of thought. For purposes of enrichment, esp for some kids who really crave that, they can be great. For others, a taste of living away, on a campus, is appealing. Some would tell you they are largely considered an indicator of privilege, frowned upon by admissions officers, and that your DC’s summer time would be better spent in other, non academic ways (summer job, EC’s). Consensus seems to be the best ones are non-profits, not run by outside companies who run a lot of these as pay to play and while seeming like they are affiliated with the college are actually not. Some writers projects and arts programs are very highly regarded. Just a heads up that some will tell you that if your DC indicates they attended for instance the Georgetown program, on their Common App, Columbia for example will yield protect DC, assuming Georgetown is where they would ultimately choose. That can hurt an application. Some disagree but fwiw… There are articles you can research (pretty sure one in WaPo) about the proliferation of these programs and the financial incentive for those who offer. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
My DS (current jr) is planning on doing one or two programs this summer. I was wondering about that yield protect thing but I’m hoping it won’t be an issue because he’s doing the programs at schools that are either nothing like the kinds of schools he’s actually going to apply to (big state vs SLAC) and schools that are much less selective than the schools he’s actually applying to. This isnt a calculated strategy. These are just the programs (focus on particular topics) of interest to DS with the right dates and a reasonable price. |
Anonymous
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Attending Georgetown and Notre Dame summer programs didn't seem to hurt my son's admission to college. He was admitted ED1 to a highly competitive SLAC. Perhaps this can have a greater impact on yield protection during the RD round?
On a related note... the two programs my son attended were run solely by the universities and staffed by university employees -- no outsourcing or visiting professors. I agree that it's quite important to look out for programs that have little to nothing to do with the universities at which they're hosted. |
Anonymous
| I would recommend to OP the Yale Young Global Scholars program (tied in nicely with Model United Nations). It's competitive and $$$ but DC really got a lot out of it. It did nothing for her to get into Yale (double legacy) but really set off her resume nicely and turned out to be an opener for other internships during the summers. She did it as a rising junior, which is a bit unusual. That led into lots of other opportunities. |
Anonymous
| DC thought YYGS was a total waste of time. The classes were largely taught by young undergrads and the "global" aspect was largely undermined by cliques. |
Anonymous
| Davidson has a great program; Wake has a terrible one. |
Anonymous
Agreed! Unfortunately, the Davidson program will not be offered this year: https://www.davidson.edu/offices-and-services/july-experience |
Anonymous
Unfortunately Davidson still hasnt restarted their program since pre Covid |
Anonymous
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Less about admissions than about learning independence, being away etc. I did one after sophomore year of high school so when I was 15 and it was great for that especially since I grew up in a small town far away from the east coast where the program was, my school didn’t send anyone to college out of state, my school had limited course offerings etc.
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Anonymous
My DDCs did two summer programs offered by colleges directly. It was great, she learned a lot and it demystified college for her. She came out more confident and pretty excited about college. That helped her in doing her applications — She knew better what she wanted and felt like it was within her grasp. One school she decided not to apply to because she didn’t like the vibe (her word  ). It doesn’t seem to have had any negative effect, she’s done fine on admissions. It was $$$ but for this kid it was inspiration and that really mattered.
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