I'll second CTY. My CMU-attending son still says it was the best, pure-learning experience he ever had. Expensive, like so many programs, but worth it.
I think this whole thread has an amazing list of options worth checking out.

Anonymous wrote:If your child could qualify, my DC loved the summer programs with Center for Talented Youth. Made lifelong friends (including current roommate senior-year in college, who was their roommate maybe 7-8 years ago with CTY). Great programs.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know of a program like the Mountain School in VT that takes place in the summer?
Selective enrollment? Enrichment? Engaging? Sustainability focused?

http://www.mountainschool.org/

I think a number of semester schools offer summer programs: https://www.semesterschools.net/

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know of a program like the Mountain School in VT that takes place in the summer?
Selective enrollment? Enrichment? Engaging? Sustainability focused?

http://www.mountainschool.org/

Never heard of this. Super cool.

Does anyone know of a program like the Mountain School in VT that takes place in the summer?
Selective enrollment? Enrichment? Engaging? Sustainability focused?

http://www.mountainschool.org/

Ooops. Sorry. Didn't mean to double post.

Some of the math programs are competitive, and I think are seen as more than just "pay to play." My son is looking at a few of them for this summer, depending on what we end up doing. I second College Confidential as a place to sort of ask around. I have the Yale Young Scholars listed there as being semi-competitive...like that colleges will tend to see it as much than JUST "pay to play." We considered applying, but it's only 2 weeks, and I feel like if I'm going to send my kid somewhere, I'd really like a little more time than that since a big part would be living on a college campus and being more independent.

Some of the math programs are competitive, and I think are seen as more than just "pay to play." My son is looking at a few of them for this summer, depending on what we end up doing. I second College Confidential as a place to sort of ask around. I have the Yale Young Scholars listed there as being semi-competitive...like that colleges will tend to see it as much than JUST "pay to play." We considered applying, but it's only 2 weeks, and I feel like if I'm going to send my kid somewhere, I'd really like a little more time than that since a big part would be living on a college campus and being more independent.

Phillips Exeter Academy has a great summer program for High Schoolers that was pretty rigorous and enabled DC to take three different courses and have athletics as well. Courses are graded and the work was challenging. DC wanted to write and this was recommended by an English teacher at DCs school. It's worth a look. But, also, not inexpensive.

https://www.exeter.edu/exeter-summer/exeter-summer-on-campus-programs/upper-school

Are these programs for specific grades or high schoolers in general?

My DD did a 1-week program at Susquehanna and it was one of the lower priced options we'd looked at. It was around $800 for one week and she really liked it. It was actual professors from the university leading the program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read about so many amazing stem programs on college campuses in the summer.

I know most have humanities/liberal arts offerings, too, but we are having trouble distinguishing among the programs.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a history/political science focused teen? He likes math/statistics, too.

We’d like him to have an experience living on a campus for a week or 2, if possible.

Thanks for any suggestions.

To what extent are these programs just income generators for universities? I am trying to understand whether worthwhile or not. Thanks.

+1 Does participating in these programs help students get into these universities?

No. And I’ve heard that from two admissions directors at top schools and one consultant. If your kid didn’t win a scholarship to attend, it just means your kid is applying full pay.

These pre-college programs are crazy expensive.
We sent them because they were interested in the topics the programs offered. They both speak fondly of all their experiences. The programs have influenced their career options, they've made really good friends, and both say it was a great preview of college life.

These are the ones we chose that weren't the most expensive:
National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC)- $5k for 10 days
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY)- $5k for 3 weeks
Great Books - $4k for 1 week (this was the only in-person option we could find last summer so we sucked it up but kid loved it now wants to go back)

I've seen programs that were $10k for 3 weeks- Georgetown was one of them.

Here are some others:

St. Johns in Annapolis- $1k for 1 week, need to write an essay to apply.
Stanford Humanities Institute- was it $3k but it might be only online
My kid got an invite for a different summer program at Stanford that's not the Humanities Institute. it was about 8K for 3 weeks.
Yale Global Scholars is online only. Lots of requirements for the application. $3500
James Madison Summer Honors Progam- $1k week, competitive.

Looking at Governor's school options in Virginia too but the issue is, they don't provide decisions until after the deadlines of these other paid programs.

$$$$ too, not cheap

If your child could qualify, my DC loved the summer programs with Center for Talented Youth. Made lifelong friends (including current roommate senior-year in college, who was their roommate maybe 7-8 years ago with CTY). Great programs.

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, and I appreciate the general suggestions and specific recommendations. I will suggest DC look into the William & Mary program- does anyone how if/how competitive entry is? Also, DC has already taken APUSH - will the material be repetitive or build on it/go deeper?

We are in MD so no Governors School unfortunately - I participated in my home state one summer in HS and had a great experience, one of the pieces being on a college campus and another was being with a group of engaged, excited peers.

To the posters whose children had good experiences at Skidmore and Denison, how did you sort out ahead of time that those programs would be strong?

We aren’t interested in this for college admissions at all. We do think it will add value to DC’s college search in that she can see does she like small/big, rural/city, etc, and will help make more realistic her expectations for the college experience and does she feel prepared from an emotional standpoint. We want the experience to be engaging and help her hone interests, too. I agree that the programs are pricey and I wish there were more lower cost ones.

Georgetown offers FA