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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Everything I've read says that most do not help if they are "pay to play," meaning that it's not hard to get into them if you have the money. I would say that if a kid has a really intense desire to go to a specific school or type of school, it couldn't hurt because at least it gives the kid a chance to really be involved in the campus. But even a program like the Yale Global Scholars Program, which I think IS competitive and is considered sort of prestigious is not getting your kid into Yale.

If you look at places like college confidential or the insane applyingtocollege subreddit on Reddit, you will see lists of programs that supposedly do help with college admissions. A lot of the ones listed are in math and STEM but there are a few that are in the humanities.

There are also numerous programs involving research that look good. A lot of them are free. Some aren't, but they are known as being selective. My kid is applying to a few of the math/science ones this summer. We will see if he gets in. But I decided against having him apply to some of the other college programs that were really just expensive because he's not interested in any particular college.

We looked at the George Mason research program, which is basically where the student does research ALL summer--literally ALL summer from 9-5. That would probably look good, but I decided I didn't want my kid to spend all summer doing work to go back to school and do more work. Some students might really love that. [/quote]
I won't discount the value of these competitive admission summer programs. But their real value in college applications is serving as a vetting process. Students who are accepted have demonstrated strong academic and intellectual chops. Arguably, a kid who gets into Telluride Association Summer Seminar (TASP) was going to be accepted to T20 schools regardless.[/quote]

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