Is Summer Residential Governor’s Schools a big deal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son attended the summer 2025 Virginia Governor's School World Language Academy for Spanish at Washington and Lee University. He absolutely loved it! The mentors and leaders are fantastic. He loved speaking in Spanish all day, every day for three weeks. They had tons of social interaction, games, and classes. Three weeks away from home with absolutely no electronics is challenging for some but he said after the first day or two everyone fell into the rhythm and didn't miss their phones. This is a character-building program and definitely college application material!

Are all of the gov schools device-free? Wouldn’t some of the academic ones need laptops?

Not all are device free. Language academies are mostly device free, but they do get limited computer access about once/week. It’s still very academic and my DC learned a ton. Highly recommend!

[Anonymous]

A friend of my daughter’s did the French program at W&L this summer and had a really positive experience!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do they teach?

Your student can apply to attend a Governor's School for a month that has the subjects they are interested. There are:
Agriculture (Virginia Tech): 100 slots
Science, Math, and Technology (Lynchburg): 160 slots
Humanities (Radford):150 slots
Medicine & Health Sciences (VCU): 26 slots
Engineering (CNU & NASA) :12 slots
Marine Science (CNU & VIMS): 6 slots
Visual and Performing Arts (Radford): 250 (Separate allocations based on discipline)

There are also World Language Academies @ Washington & Lee in Japanese, German, Spanish, French, and Latin.

Cool! Too bad Maryland doesn’t have anything like that.

[Anonymous]

My son did it last summer for French. Absolutely loved it! Highly anxious going in yet came out practically skipping. It was probably the best thing that could’ve prepared him for college – eased his nerves about leaving home. Thought he couldn’t live for a minute without his phone and yet he didn’t really miss it for three weeks. Grateful that he had this experience.

[Anonymous]

My DS did Gov School Humanities a few years back and is currently at Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Do you need to attend a public high school to attend or can vA residents at private high schools attend? What about private schools in DC?

[Anonymous]

It was when I was growing up in the Carolinas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you need to attend a public high school to attend or can vA residents at private high schools attend? What about private schools in DC?

Private and public HSes can all apply.

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/specialized-instruction/governor-s-schools/summer-residential-governor-s-schools

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son did it last summer for French. Absolutely loved it! Highly anxious going in yet came out practically skipping. It was probably the best thing that could’ve prepared him for college – eased his nerves about leaving home. Thought he couldn’t live for a minute without his phone and yet he didn’t really miss it for three weeks. Grateful that he had this experience.

What level of French or Spanish do students need to have to be accepted to the program?

[Anonymous]

Do it for interest or the experience. Don't do it for college applications. It won't move the needle there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you need to attend a public high school to attend or can vA residents at private high schools attend? What about private schools in DC?

Private and public HSes can all apply.

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/specialized-instruction/governor-s-schools/summer-residential-governor-s-schools

Private school students have to pay tuition to attend the Virginia Governors School.

[Anonymous]

^^^its pretty cheap relative the summer pay to play programs. Worth every penny. And it does count as a high level EC for colleges as they know VA has a competitive admissions process. Every little bit helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^its pretty cheap relative the summer pay to play programs. Worth every penny. And it does count as a high level EC for colleges as they know VA has a competitive admissions process. Every little bit helps.

It's completely free except for an activity fee that they will waive if income eligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do it for interest or the experience. Don't do it for college applications. It won't move the needle there.

how do you know? it's a state level honor and it's a pretty big deal