Reply to Good academic summer programs / camps for middle and HS at colleges

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One rule to keep in mind -- [b]If it costs money, then it will do nothing to enhance elite college admissions.[/b] Some free programs are almost "golden tickets" to get into the elite colleges while others are "only" big boosts and great experiences. Paid summer programs are just a notch below mission/charity trips to beach locales signalling "my parents have money and I need to polish my college app."  In most instances Governor's Schools and Boys and Girls State are better than paid programs because they don't carry the over privileged connotations.

Many of the funded programs are for STEM: Research Sciences Institute and MITES @ MIT, CMU's Summer Academy for Math and Science, NIH's Summer Internship in Biomedical Sciences, Clark Scholars @ TexasTech, Stanford Medical Youth Science Program and Stanford Institute of Medicine Research Program.  The closest there is in humanities is the Telluride Association's programs for sophomores (TASS) and juniors (TASP). For future journalists there is the Princeton Summer Journalism Program, Cronkite Institute's program at ASU and the Asian-American Journalist Association's JCamp.  [/quote]

True, I've seen this point made before (College Confidential). My beef with that is that there are what, maybe 1,000 such slots in total? Some of which are only available to URM, or are in subjects of no interest to a kid. Hundreds of thousands of high school students, and we focus on so relatively few spots. The argument about the likes of TASS, MITES, etc. is that colleges will value those as signals that they are "safe" to admit the kid (aka golden ticket).

H[b]ow about doing a camp to demonstrate interest? So that there is a consistent story to a kid's application? Or to learn more about a subject? [/b]Camps would be good application material.[/quote]

This.  If your kid wants to do it and you can afford it, why not?  I was happy to send my kid to a summer program to help him explore something he was interested in.  I have no illusions that it will be any boost to his college applications, except to the degree it helps him express why he wants to major in a subject. [/quote]

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