Hi guys,
I am a sophomore right now and am looking for a summer program to apply to for next year. I want to find the best, most prestigious programs. I am taking AP comp sci this year, so next year I will have programming experience in Java.
The programs I know of are with computer science at Columbia and Stanford (both three week non-credit). I also want to meet some cool people and have a good time.
Thanks!
Try looking at mysummeradvisor.com and searching under Academic Programs, Technology, Computer Science. There are lots of programs. There is also an article on the homepage about careers in programming and also a feature about the summer classes at George Mason University, which are also offered online.
My daughter did ID Tech for several summers and loved it! Your name makes me think you are a girl, so look at Girls Who Code (girlswhocode.com). These courses are held at businesses. (They probably don’t have 2016 dates yet.)
Most big universities will have courses in programming through their summer for high school students programs. For example, Summer@Brown has 300+ classes. I’m sure they have some in programming.
I would seriously consider the Summer Science Program (SSP). This is one of the nation’s best science programs, focused on determining the orbit of a minor planet. While there are lectures on topics in math, physics and astronomy, the majority of the work you do will actually be in CS. You are expected to write computer programs for everything you do, and will become very familiar with Python-- especially Visual Python–by the end of the 6 weeks. It was a very “real” way of exploring CS, and was overall a fantastic experience that I could not recommend more highly. PM if you have any questions 
Great question…have the same one.
I looked at the SSP website:
“a 39-day residential enrichment program designed to challenge highly gifted high school students (rising seniors) from around the world”
…an option between junior and senior year.
What program(s) did you ultimately decide on?
^^ Yale is starting a program similar to SSP this summer. Worth looking into.
Carnegie Mellon hosts the National High School Game Academy, if anyone is into computer gaming.