I’m new to the whole sphere of summer programs, and have only lately delved into researching my different options.I’ve come across a few broad types, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. But on some of these finer-details, it seems like personal experience with these programs is really needed to accurately gauge whether or not they’re a sham. From my view, it’s a bit redundant for me to be visiting all their pages directly and spending hours-on-end searching through the Internet for opportunities, when thousands of computer science students at top-schools have already gone through a comparable experience.I also want to make note of the fact that I’m not a minority in any capacity (and in fact, am a straight, white, wealthy male from an over-represented part of the country)… just about as stereotypical as you can get?
With that said, I’ll lay out my different considerations at this point.
- Option A: Course-work Ex. Columba Summer Immerison Ex. Harvard Pre-College Program Ex. Summer@Brown
My main fear surrounding the first type is of whether colleges can see through the prestigious label of having ‘studied at harvard, brown, etc.’ and see it more as a cop-out/filler activity for the wealthiest among their applicants.
- Option B: Tech-oriented Ex. Clark Scholars at Texas Tech Ex. Game Lab Institute at UCLA Ex. Google in Education Computer Science Institute
I’m looking for a tech program that is open to 10th (becoming 11th) grade students. A majority of these are closed off to sophomores, or require prerequisite Calculus.
- Option C: Research based Ex. Research Science Institute Ex. Application of Nanoscience at UCLA Ex. REHSS at Vanderbilt
I was thinking more of saving any research or entrepreneurial summer programs (such as LaunchX) for consideration during Senior Year. For that reason, I am largely ruling this option out, but am still open to the possibility if a good opportunity presents itself.
If you have any suggestions or general insight surrounding either of the three options, that would be greatly appreciated. Do you have any other examples, with a computer-science focus, I should consider, and if so, do the merits outweigh the costs?
Thanks