Pre-college summer programs: which are high quality, merit-based, and not pay to play?

[Anonymous]

Looking specifically for a 10th grade girl who is interested in science, math, healthcare and engineering. Strong student, ex-CTY but find their program quality and peer group have changed.

[Anonymous]

Temple

[Anonymous]

I would post on various Facebook groups. A lot of them have a ton of information about this.

[Anonymous]

If you are near Baltimore, JHU has some great options.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that pay to play doesn’t necessarily mean a program lacks value or quality. CTY is pay to play. Yes, you have to achieve a certain score first, so it’s not solely pay to play, but the cost is significant. It’s the elite private school of summer programs.

Governors school programs in VA are excellent and are free if you’re in public, and subsidized if you’re in private.

[Anonymous]

Check out the MIT programs.

Very competitive, but free of charge if accepted and I think like 50% of RIS participants are accepted by MIT.

https://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/summer/

[Anonymous]

While I think it's a mistake to make the pay to play ones a big part of your college application (or really do anything but list it) they're not bad if a kid has an interest. Our kid did Wake Forest and it was a really enriching experience for them, academically and socially. We did not have a good experience with Duke but that was middle school right after the pandemic (two weeks, not a single field trip, never even went to West Campus once, for $5k).

[Anonymous]

University of Michigan Math Science Scholars

[Anonymous]

Notre Dame

[Anonymous]

Va governors school

[Anonymous]

There’s a STEM program at Stanford which I think is merit/scholarship-based but don’t more anything more about it

[Anonymous]

To be clear, I'd do it for the experience, but not for college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out the MIT programs.

Very competitive, but free of charge if accepted and I think like 50% of RIS participants are accepted by MIT.

https://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/summer/

+1

I did one of these in high school and it was great. I learned a lot and it was helpful to get a feel for what a school like MIT is like. We also got to meet people in the admissions office and ask questions. Bonus that when applications come across their desks, you're already a known and vetted quantity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking specifically for a 10th grade girl who is interested in science, math, healthcare and engineering. Strong student, ex-CTY but find their program quality and peer group have changed.

Governor's school in NJ, NC, VA. They are exclusive and impressive, and free

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame

typical pay-to-play again, isn't it?