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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame

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

Um, no. ND leadership seminars are highly competitive and free

https://precollege.nd.edu/leadership-seminars/

[Anonymous]

^^ that one ND leadership thing is considered prestigious bc no fee and very selective.

[Anonymous]

YYGS paid program from Yale

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

And, I assume, only available to residents of those states?

[Anonymous]

If she has any interest in research, check out Ole Miss’s Rebel Research Scholars / ARISE. Competitive and grant-funded. We paid transportation / drove him there, but IIRC, there were funds for that as well. The only other thing we paid was a couple of optional weekend activities that were held in conjunction with students taking classes in the pre-college program.

There’s opportunities in the engineering, health science, chemistry, and biology fields, among others. Our son spent 6 weeks working in a lab with grad students and undergrads on an REU, and it helped solidify his desire to explore research opportunities in college.

[Anonymous]

JHU CTY has drastically changed for the worse. Completely screwed up first summer program post-pandemic. Fired everyone from top to bottom. Still exorbitantly expensive, but lost its cachet.

[Anonymous]

My DD did a National Student Leadership summer program at Georgetown last summer. I won't say that it isn't pay to play, but it was a very valuable experience for her. She expressed interest in a particular major out of the blue junior year. I wanted her to dip her toes in the major before building her college list. It solidified her interest, which was what I wanted to see. It was a well-run program and she had a great time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YYGS paid program from Yale

Not sure anymore?
Mixed AO views

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JHU CTY has drastically changed for the worse. Completely screwed up first summer program post-pandemic. Fired everyone from top to bottom. Still exorbitantly expensive, but lost its cachet.

I’ve heard this, and it makes me sad. CTY was such a formative experience for me for several summers in the 90s.

[Anonymous]

Iowa Young Writers program
Vanderbilt

[Anonymous]

There's a journalism program at Northwestern

[Anonymous]

Virginia Tech has a bunch of precollege summer STEM programs. Have heard great things from other families.

https://eng.vt.edu/ceed/ceed-pre-college-programs.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Michigan Math Science Scholars

Also through Michigan and best suited for future STEM/pre-med majors:

https://www.mircore.org/2025-summer-camp/

There are online and local camps. There is not housing for the in-person camps.

[Anonymous]

NSLI-Y

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YYGS paid program from Yale

Not sure anymore?
Mixed AO views

What do you mean by mixed AO views?