Reply to Are summer boarding programs at Brown, Harvard, Penn, Exeter, Andover worth it?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not for admissions hooks, just overall, do they benefit teens?[/quote]

OP smartly asked the right question. The rigorous, academic three week Summer at Brown class was really a transformative experience for our DC.  DC was a very academically-oriented smart kid in a wonderful high school but few of his friends shared his intense academic interests. At Brown, he met a cohort of more similar kids from different states and a few other countries - he stays in touch with a couple still .  He had the experience of living in a dorm room, going to a dining halll, and juggling a Challenging work load balance against social interests. As a very strong student, he had never before reallly had to be efficient - learn enough to grasp a subject without reading every word of an assignment every time . That may sound like an odd lesson to tout but it was a useful life skill.  The level of intellectual engagement and debate in class was far greater than he had experienced up to that point. The course was taught by the Chairman of the department at Brown, and the TA took the time to really critique the first two of the three required papers DC wrote.  This was a class designed for high school students but taught on a college level.  We did not want him to take a summer class for college credit - that would have added more grading pressure and distracted from  the overall experience.  When we picked him up after three weeks, DC said it was the best summer experience he's ever had and that he'd never made so many friends so quickly.  After Brown, he felt more strongly and we - as parents -- felt more comfortable that he could thrive at a very selective university and not feel diminished by being one of the pack when surrounded by so many equally smart kids.  To our surprise, he was able to distinguish between the summer program and what he learned about the school, and decided not to apply to Brown. He ended up at a different ivy where he has done very well.

Yes, it was expensive.  Was it with it? For us, absolutely. But, if I had to borrow or dip into his college or our retirement fund to pay for it, he would not have gone.  That would have been a shame, but that's life.  My parents could have never sent me to such as program and i obviously found a different way to land a career enabling my DC to have this other option.   He would have done fine without it. But the experience taught him a lot and taught us a lot about him, enabling all of us to make more informed decisions about college.

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thanks for posting. what year(s) did your (or other parents) child do this, or would you recommend it be considered?  [/quote]

DC did it between junior and senior year of high school.  That is when most of the kids there did it, but there were some who were just rising juniors.  Brown gave a lot of independence to the kids.  I don't think our DC (or we) would have felt comfortable with DC in Providence with little supervision as a rising junior,  but we were comfortable as a rising senior. I also don't think DC wanted to necessarily work as hard for three weeks as a rising junior.   But as a rising senior, DC was very motivated by the college application process coming up (he actually did a second, very different, activity that same summer).  I should add that I don't think all programs at Brown are similar.  Some seem more exploratory and fun, but less academically rigorous.   I think of the summers as showing some sort of progression.  If you do something great before junior year and just chill by the pool before senior year, I think it raises questions.  We tried to have our DC do something interesting/productive each summer for at least a few weeks.    BTW, our second child did not do one of these programs -- he had other passions that he followed.  In some ways I wish he had because I think the experience will help in college, but we'll find out next year.  It didn't make any difference in college acceptances. [/quote]

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