<p>dmd77, my "gifted and talented" math/science daughter lost her enthusiasm for classroom learning over the first two years of high school. She transferred to an all-girls school and the results have been spectacular. </p>
<p>FireBad, our oldest dug in his heels on the "summer enrichment" thing. Refused. Spent his summers doing what he wanted to do and didn't care what college wanted or what other people thought he should be doing. Now that he's graduated from college and is working, I look back on how he spent his time in the summers and as unproductive as it looked at the time, I can clearly see that it was all necessary to his evolution. Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford last June (<a href="http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html%5B/url%5D">http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html</a>) talked about "connecting the dots" and how you can only see how they connect in retrospect. I think that's very true and I worry that "packaging" students to the point where every moment is filled with productive pursuits may backfire with a few kids.</p>
<p>OTOH I have 2 boys, one of which wasn't much interested in academic summer programs until after junior year. He happily stayed home and taught himself programming languages. He's at MIT studying EECS.</p>
<p>The other begged to go to Duke TIP. He's spent the past 3 summers attending 3-6 weeks each summer in academic programs (2 were very intense) and came home the happiest I've ever seen him. He says the kids at the summer programs "get him" and it's the only time he feels as if he fits in. </p>
<p>I always thought if I had a smart kid I'd love to send one of them to a place like Choate or Exeter for one of their summer enrichment programs. I do have two pretty smart ones but would they ever go to one of those? Hell no! I'd have to drag them kicking and screaming. One would rather golf 10 hours a day, and the other I'm not sure about yet. I hope the poster is right about goofing off in the summertime because it looks like that's what they want to do. Maybe some employment would be a good thing......</p>
<p>There's a difference between kids who "beg" to go to Duke TIP and parents wondering whether they should guide their kids into programs in order to make them more competitive in the college admissions process. It's an important distinction. I'm responding to the original question, not condemning summer enrichment programs at all. My D asked to do those too until she became too heavily involved in other activities that conflicted with these things. </p>
<p>There's goofing off and then there's goofing off. Everyone needs down time and time to just be a kid and hang out, and while I'm not a big fan of pushing kids into structured programs just for the sake of impressing colleges, I don't think spending most of the summer watching TV and going to the mall is a good idea either. Some of the things my S did to goof off in the summer was learn about the stock market, read books on game theory, do some day trading, re-write stock trading software programs, write computer programs, study the statistics behind casino card games, learn how to "count" cards, create a robot to play online poker (which never actually worked properly), and play computer strategy games. All of it, including the computer strategy games, played into his future curriculum choices, choice of major and career interests (he's a quantitative analyst at a big investment banking firm). None of it went on his college applications. He did work part time but it wasn't "summer enrichment." :)</p>
<p>My son spent an inordinate amount of time playing poker with his friends last year. Hard to see that as a useful activity. But it actually has helped him on the tennis team (the appearance of confidence and the refusal to display negative emotion is a big factor) and he thinks he would like to do something involving business negotiations for his career. Can't really list those poker games on the college app, but I guess all has not been for naught!</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice I've received here. I welcome it all. And I do agree, I feel it's very important not to push her into anything. After all, look how well she has done up until this point! :) I swear, I believe I could have been asleep up to this point (well almost) and she would have still achieved all she has so far. But....just wanting to make sure I'm a good, supportive parent, that knows enough about the whole process so as to make sure she has every advantage she can have. </p>
<p>Thanks to you all....and by all means, I continue to be open to more of what you have to say. This is a wonderful website. As I said before, I believe I've hit a goldmine of info here!</p>