How much do college summer programs help with admissions?

[Anonymous]

If you are rich, not a bad way to spend money,
but ZERO help.

[Anonymous]

Almost all of these programs are pay to play, which aside from real the positives your child experiences, signal privilege to college admissions officers. Most are for profit and many are run by outside organizations. There are exceptions like arts & sports programs, a few very highly regarded summer writing programs etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you.

Has anyone had their kids do these after which the kid confirmed an interest in a program or decided not to apply to certain schools after doing the program? That would provide value as well. Just wondering whether to even pursue these at all.

Thanks.

Pre-Covid, but my niece did a Duke summer bio-tech program, and decided both the school and the program weren't for her. Ended up as an Engineering major at Cornell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. Zip. Zero.

Really, they do not help one bit. They are a money grab.

Not true. They show demonstrated interest and I’ve seen some incredibly impactful supplemental essays that center around an experience in a program like this. Also sometimes it helps make you pointy in a way unique to a program you may be applying to at a school. So they can help if utilized strategically.

[Anonymous]

I did one of these at an ivy and I have no idea if it helped with admissions - probably not a lot - but I did get As in those summer classes and loved the experience and later got into that specific ivy and others. I was coming from a great high school but international and had never even been to New England prior. Hugely formative for me. This was nearly 20 years ago but classes taught by profs at the school itself (not serious older ones) and I still stay in touch with one friend I met there. I remember crying over it because it was so expensive but I really wanted to go and my grandmother caved. Just sharing another personal experience. It was fun! I felt so grown up!

[Anonymous]

Pp here - and as a prior poster said, perhaps a fluke but I later went on to major in one of the courses taught there.

[Anonymous]

Double PP here - one more thing - I have no idea if this still counts but I used the credits from my courses there toward my college credits, which was useful for me because I graduated a semester early.

[Anonymous]

Experiences from decades ago can still be true, but today - admissions do not like privilege and these programs are largely, that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did one of these at an ivy and I have no idea if it helped with admissions - probably not a lot - but I did get As in those summer classes and loved the experience and later got into that specific ivy and others. I was coming from a great high school but international and had never even been to New England prior. Hugely formative for me. This was nearly 20 years ago but classes taught by profs at the school itself (not serious older ones) and I still stay in touch with one friend I met there. I remember crying over it because it was so expensive but I really wanted to go and my grandmother caved. Just sharing another personal experience. It was fun! I felt so grown up!

+1 for my dd who did one on a college campus summer after 7th and 8th. It was SO expensive, we only sent her for 1 week the first time and 2 weeks the 2nd time. But it was life changing and in that sense worth the budget breaking aspect of it. Definitely did not go on college apps though, just did it for the experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally depends on the program. The for profit ones that just rent out the college facilities, not so much.

If actually run by the college, it can show interest in a particular field or potentially demonstrated interest for a college. Some are for credit and can show your child can meet the rigor of a college course.

Some are super competitive to get into and can look good on an application.

Not a must do by any stretch and they tend to be expensive (although many offer financial aid). For both of my kids, they helped rule out a major that would not have been a fit (for one, it meant not choosing art school, so that was huge). It really just depends on the program and your financial situation. They are by no means a ticket into a particular school.

OP this is not true at all.

Only in the minds of DCUM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None. Zip. Zero.

Really, they do not help one bit. They are a money grab.

Not true. They show demonstrated interest and I’ve seen some incredibly impactful supplemental essays that center around an experience in a program like this. Also sometimes it helps make you pointy in a way unique to a program you may be applying to at a school. So they can help if utilized strategically.

nope the originial poster was correct does nothing nadda zip zero

[Anonymous]

Competitiveness of entry into some of these programs does not change the fact that they are mostly money making counter indicators in the college admissions process. Save your dough.

[Anonymous]

The zip zero guys are right with a small number of exceptions, mainly highly competitive programs like MOSP and TASS and a few others.

If you are looking for something to aid your kid in admissions during summer it is far better to try and find something private at a local college, such as research with a professor. But this is only if your kid has a real passion for something academic, and most normal kids don't, so don't try and fake that.

Honestly, IMHO the safest way to spend the summer doing something to help with college admissions is working a real job to help pay for college. This genuinely does impress adcoms and even if it doesn't there is some savings at the end of the summer rather than an expense.

[Anonymous]

Some of these comments are weird. It's way too extreme to say these programs have no value.

I did one at a selective T10 school. I took two classes. My brother went to that college at that time, and he had friends in the same class I took, and he had had one of my instructors the previous semester. It's not only real college credit (that may place you out of a req the way an AP would- for me, I was able to get out of some senior year HS requirements which was incredibly helpful), but shows you can be successful at a college like that. It's certainly no ticket into any college- but all that is not nothing.

[Anonymous]

A much better use of time and help with admissions is for your kid to have a job, and it's a life skill.