Are these paying summer programs worth it?

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
1

I have been researching summer research and study experiences for my son, who is interested in medicine. The prices simply floor me, something on the order of $2-3000 PER WEEK, to study at, say, Brown or Oxford or U Toronto.

Does anyone else think this is anything but a crass ripoff? To put it into the perspective we take on it, that is about the same price that my daughter is charged for an entire term at Cambridge University.

For those of you who’ve done it, what did you get out of it?

Surely there must be alternatives? Any suggestions?

2

The price you quoted floored me, too. I just looked up one to see for myself - UCSB is charging close to $10k for their summer research program. I would also be interested to hear feedback of others who actually attended one of those paid programs.

Both DS14 and DD17 found local professors willing to allow them to research in their labs - for free. Those opportunities were not easy to find and secure but they are there. One summer, DS14 attended a summer research program with stipend but admission was extremely competitive (3 to 4%).

I would suggest that you consider your local universities as a possible alternative.

3

Look very very closely at the programs before you sign up for anything. The vast majority of them are simply housed at the university- an outside program that rents space from the university. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good program- but obviously it means that you want to check out the organizer’s credentials, and make sure you aren’t just paying for the zip code.

One of my D’s did a summer program at Brown, which she enjoyed thoroughly. But, she had two reasons for doing the program: the course leaders were people that she was interested in studying with, and she was considering applying to Brown (even though it is not the same in the summer as during term, it is in a region she was unfamiliar with) (follow-up: she is majoring in the subject, but chose not to apply to Brown).

Another did a summer program at Stanford, offered by Stanford directly, which was outstanding. It is a full undergraduate course, not a ‘summer program’.

Another did an “Intro to Medicine” course at Georgetown (which is when we learned the difference between outside programs and university-run ones). She actually enjoyed it quite a lot, and they did get to do a few cool things (viewing surgery, for example). She also did IR in that session, and by the end had decided not to go towards medicine, so there’s that. She got a lot of peripheral things from the program though: they took the kids on a lot of college visits during the term, and she met a fair few students that she has run into again at other things (at Model UN meets, for example). She also got experience living in a dorm, doing her laundry, having a roommate, etc. So, overall it had some merit.

It is hard for a high-schooler interested in medicine, as even volunteers are typically required to be 18 before they can be around patients.

fyi, all the courses at Oxford are run by outside groups. Also, although I am pretty sure that this is not relevant to your son, fyi the selective US universities are not impressed by any of the programs in and of themselves- the adcomms tend to see them simply as evidence of the parents ability to pay for fancy summer camp (as the Dean of Admissions at Princeton put it). (accredited summer classes at a university are a different matter).

I know students that have done the NIH summer internships: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/careers/research/summers/ and as 4beardolls notes, local professors will sometimes have work- easiest if your S has an area of interest that he can talk about a bit. D2 did that one summer in HS as a volunteer and at the end of the summer they gave her a small stipend by way of thanks.

4

I am beginning to find some programs that are more economic, such as on at U Toronto (about $5K for 4 weeks, very substantive, not over-burdened with soft subjects).

Collegemom (hello, by the way), it is quite deceptive about those Oxford courses - and the cost!! - but also not enough for the money.

4beard, if you have any networking we might do on those unis, we are looking.

At this point, we are thinking our son may benefit more from an outward bound adventure in the UK and then a bigger course when he is a year older. Timing is important in these things and he has expressed reluctance about long programs - we’ll let it percolate in his mind over the year.

5

Hello right back at you, Alcibiade! Your last point is key- as Maria Montessori would say, ‘follow the child’. Your son will get the most overall benefit from doing something that suits who/where he is.

D2 went to regular summer camp (think Parent Trap) all the way through, moving up from camper through the ranks to counselor (even during the summer she did the Brown program). This summer, as a college sophomore, she finally, regretfully stops (she got a 10 week, paid, summer research job in her major)(physics, since you asked!). Camp was a wonderful place for her- the antithesis of her very urban, academically competitive school year. It kept a whole side of her alive and growing through high school, and now she is finding ways at college to keep some of that year round.

6

By the way, collegemom, we live near CERN. If your daughter (and of course you and yours) visit, there, get in touch. I remember you were saying you might pass thru Geneva.

7

My D has been accepted into Brown & Stanford’s summer programs. An important factor is life outside the classroom including field trips (formal and informal) off campus. I’m delighted to hear that through your Ds you have experience with both programs. Can you speak to this aspect? Thank you.

8

I can share that my D has attended two JHU CTY camps and one UM MMSS both of which are at the lower end of the cost spectrum. She loved the CTY camps, which were taught by gifted & engaged doctoral candidates at different institutions, but the campuses (in central PA) where isolated and by the end of her 2nd year she found it bit boring. (Still the location was a good way experience for someone unused to larger cities and being away.) Her UM MMSS experience was not positive and, in the end, we told her she didn’t need to complete the stats class (though she did). The course was was disorganized, many lectures comprised unrelated stories and the labs (led by students) were weak. My understanding is that the UM MMSS experience varies with the professor/class.

9

You can often get need -based financial aid and in my case I was given a merit scholarship (that I didn’t know existed until I aske)d at the program I attended. If you go to someplace like Harvard’s summer program, you are actually taking undergraduate courses, so hopefully, those credits can someday be transferred over to your eventual college which may reduce your tuition.