Hi I’m a high school student. I just got the offers from these two summer programs. They are both math programs and I wonder which one should I accept so it would be more beneficial for my college application?
Put aside for a moment your college application. Does one of the programs appeal to you more? Which one has a better focus/emphasis for you, @TonyI2002? How about geography and cost–is one in a place that you’d like to be more than the other or is one less expensive?
Upenn’s is close to my current location since I live in PA. But it’s more expansive with 7000 bucks. I don’t actually have a preference on the focuses two of them have. Awesome tends to be a bit more challenging I guess? One student told me this before
After looking at both websites, I think they’ll be pretty different experiences. Awesome looks like it was designed for the excellent math student who is looking to advance in math; whereas, UPenn’s looks like a summer camp designed for excellent math students. Subtle distinction? Maybe, maybe not.
I like the research component of Awesome and the overall emphasis on problem-solving and investigation. Since you’re from PA, why not use some of the money you’d save by not going to Penn’s program, and buy a flight to the WA site for Awesome? The Puget Sound area–if you haven’t spent time there already–is amazing in the summer. It alone could give you some great experiences to write about in your college essays.
To restate my emerging bias toward Awesome, I would say that the UPenn program looks more like a summer camp (albeit chock full of real math) and Awesome looks more like you’re truly interested in math.
Thanks for your suggestion!
Just curious–do you plan to major in math? Are you a veteran math contest participant?
possibly, but not necessarily