<p>Hello everybody, and hope we're all having a great day!
I'm in 9th grade right now, and I'm looking at summer programs for this summer because I just found out that a lot of them require an early application deadline than I thought. I did take a look at previous threads and found a couple summer programs that fulfill what I'm looking for, but just to make sure, can all you CCers help me out tons here by posting summer programs that are:
-prestigious
-intensive
-math or science orientated, preferably programming or engineering
-looks good on a resume (this is a bit of a plus)
-accepting international students
Thanks everybody!</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t recommend 14/15-year-olds going out to do a summer program because it’s prestigious, intensive, looks good on college apps, etc. This is completely based on my own experience so don’t flame me if you disagree. </p>
<p>The summer after freshmen year should be spent reflecting upon your first year of high school and planning out your next 3 years. Also, you want to use this precious time to get accustomed to your community, since hopefully you will be doing a lot of things with your community over the next few years. Obviously, going to an intensive summer program would detract you from doing so. As a freshmen, you probably aren’t allowed to take the most advanced classes that your school offers. So the summer is a great time to prepare for that, as well as other standardized testing. In 3 months, a self-motivated person can really push themselves to do more than the typical summer program, especially since the activities can go at a comfortable pace. Such activities can include volunteering, studying for a class, joining a youth group, playing a sport, etc. You don’t need a summer program to get the same experience.</p>
<p>Plus, there aren’t that many prestigious programs out there for freshmen/sophomores. The reason is because you can learn a LOT in just 2 short years. Something that normally takes a freshman a month to learn might only take a senior 3 days to catch on. During that period, you experience huge growth both mentally and cognitively. So why not just wait a year or two and then apply? Of course, it doesn’t hurt to zoom in on a target program and then work your way towards getting in. The only exception to what I’m saying is if your country has some kind of Olympiad camp for top finishers in bio, chem, physics, math, etc. Those are definitely top-notch programs.</p>
<p>Anyways, that’s my blurb about summer programs. Personally, I didn’t do any until the summer after my sophomore year, and even that experience was minuscule compared to my junior summer. Of course, if you’re still interested in some programs, I guess the best one out there is CTY (they’re open to international students as well). Even then, a lot of the people who did CTY tend to look back and say “it wasn’t worth it” by the time they go to college. There are ones for math such as MathCamp, AwesomeMath, PROMYS, SUMAC, and ROSS; but they’re not prestigious - I’d only go if you’re truly passionate about math. But it’s all really up to you.</p>
<p>any feedback is appreciated. 
i’m already doing CTY, and I’m only looking into this because I don’t see myself stuck in a room for 3 months. I live in an international school, so many, if not all, of the people leave town for their homeland/vacation/whatever. I was figuring i might be bored. thanks, your recommendations for activities are interesting…i’ll think about it.</p>
<p>Princeton JSA is a good one.</p>
<p>[JSA</a> - Junior State of America | Program Locations and Dates](<a href=“http://jsa.org/summer-programs/summer-school/program-locations/]JSA”>http://jsa.org/summer-programs/summer-school/program-locations/)</p>