My child got into very good colleges without a single summer college experience. The camps are fun but they are still just precollege camps. They are NOT a secret backdoor to a college acceptance. If your child did a camp and later was admitted to a good college it is very likely they would have been admitted with or without the camp. By all means have a productive summer but don’t buy into the hoopla too much or stress with regrets if Larlo didn’t do a camp. Pre-college program/camp is pretty much the same thing; don’t oversell it.

Anonymous wrote:Every time this comes up, I get the sense no one is naming specific college programs because they don't want to spread the word too broadly.

I also get the sense summer programs are taking off, in the same way EA took off. Once an advantage among those in the know, now the norm. My DD and her friends (10th grade at a DC private) all applied to go somewhere this summer. I didn't know this was a thing but the girls seem to think it is. My older DD didn't do this, and it wasn't on my radar. The ones they applied to were Vanderbilt, BC, BU, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and maybe others I didn't hear about.

It's a thing for kids wanting to go spend some time on a campus in the summer. High school girls wouldn't know whether it's an advantage in admissions.

Anonymous wrote:Every time this comes up, I get the sense no one is naming specific college programs because they don't want to spread the word too broadly.

I also get the sense summer programs are taking off, in the same way EA took off. Once an advantage among those in the know, now the norm. My DD and her friends (10th grade at a DC private) all applied to go somewhere this summer. I didn't know this was a thing but the girls seem to think it is. My older DD didn't do this, and it wasn't on my radar. The ones they applied to were Vanderbilt, BC, BU, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and maybe others I didn't hear about.

There is nothing new about summer programs. Most of them aren't even run by the universities themselves - it depends on the program.

Every time this comes up, I get the sense no one is naming specific college programs because they don't want to spread the word too broadly.

I also get the sense summer programs are taking off, in the same way EA took off. Once an advantage among those in the know, now the norm. My DD and her friends (10th grade at a DC private) all applied to go somewhere this summer. I didn't know this was a thing but the girls seem to think it is. My older DD didn't do this, and it wasn't on my radar. The ones they applied to were Vanderbilt, BC, BU, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and maybe others I didn't hear about.

Programs like Simons RSP or BU RISE have 3-5% acceptance rates.

But I would assume the kid would write about research they did in the program in the Activities section of a college app

It's better than nothing. But, it's no better than many other summer activities. Whatever you do, particularly summer after junior year, be observant, learn something, be able to reflect on it.

A parent posting on DCUM college board = striver

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents are trying to scare you away from these programs to reduce competition for their kids.

The only people who think this are newbie striver families. Sorry, pay to play programs are not the way.

Plenty of kids with normal summer activities get admitted to top schools. No one needs a summer program or pretend research or internships.

Sigh. Percentage of these type people here?

I would say they help insofar the kid has possibly more content to write a great essay on. If you do one of the summer programs at UChicago it can definitely help with admissions there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents are trying to scare you away from these programs to reduce competition for their kids.

The only people who think this are newbie striver families. Sorry, pay to play programs are not the way.

Plenty of kids with normal summer activities get admitted to top schools. No one needs a summer program or pretend research or internships.

Clearly.

Cal and UCLA have programs where the courses are from the regular summer session so your kid earns college credit for each course. DS ended up with 12 semester credits from Cal, straight As. If you use UC assist you can choose courses that transfer into the UC system.

DS did far better at top private schools and didn’t get into Cal despite having a semester of 4.0, top high school stats, great ECs, good PIQs etc. The kids from his school that got in were two random students with lower stats in the 20% range not top 10, no school leadership, not many APs etc, athletes that declined the offer and chose other schools, an athlete that was recruited a year earlier and a math/physics kid that truly was gifted and offered a TA spot as a freshman. Point being is that for some schools, depending where they want to source what demographic or skill you may have zero chance anyway. None of his friends from all over the country who did the program that summer got in but again did well across top 15 schools.

Pros
-entered college with a UC 4.0 from Cal
-was far more confident moving into his 4 year college as in his mind he had already been to college
-gained some street smarts as the homeless/druggies/criminals around Berkeley are far more aggressive than SF which is pretty chill, ran into muggers etc which is uncommon in SF
-had a good time, was seldom on screens

Cons
-made him love a school too much based on the summer experience
- gave him false hope that he would be accepted
-developed a false sense of the school as Cal is not super busy and crowded in the summer, everyone is happy in the summer not stressed and miserable, summer kids were given great housing and only doubles or singles.

Anonymous wrote:Usually the competitive ones (typically free or give FA) are really great. But spending the summer at a program is better than nothing. Educational enrichment is always valuable, and something, like a new project or initiative, may come out of it.

These ones typically pick, or give priority to kids low income kids or first generation college kids- basically kids that are seen as having a lot of potential but little access to opportunities

I will let you know in a week

Anonymous wrote:The parents are trying to scare you away from these programs to reduce competition for their kids.

The only people who think this are newbie striver families. Sorry, pay to play programs are not the way.

Plenty of kids with normal summer activities get admitted to top schools. No one needs a summer program or pretend research or internships.

The parents are trying to scare you away from these programs to reduce competition for their kids.