<p>Great to hear all the experiences of CTY (& long-term advantages!)! It's something that could be a stretch for us, money-wise (right now) but I keep hearing such good things about it --strengthens the resolve to do it!</p>
<p>Wyogal---I know they say you're not 'guaranteed' admission, so plan for other things for the summer. Just wondered if there was a percentage of people who are admitted? And is it mainly based on their SAT/other test stats? (Son scored in mid-to high 600s on M/V SAT). I'm trying to figure how much effort I have to devote to lining up something else in case CTY falls through... :-) Thanks a lot for any thoughts. :-)</p>
<p>I see this year they still have posted the same statement they had posted the year my son applied, namely that RETURNING students are assigned classes before any classes are assigned to first-time students, and sometimes classes fill up with returning students. My son, for instance, did not get his first-choice class the year he went to CTY, but his second-choice class was good. </p>
<p>Jolynne: the part about not guaranteeing admission is because there end up being more students requesting summer slots than there are spaces. And as tokenadult mentions, they have a specific admission procedure. They take all the applicants and line them up "in order" with returning students on the top of the list, new students below, and then sorted within those categories by SAT scores. Each student can request up to nine choices of course-location-session. To assign classes, CTY starts with the early applicants and goes from the top of the list to the bottom, attempting to assign each student into their highest-ranked choice which still has spaces available. If they come to a student whose application only lists course-location-session options that are already filled, they do not get an assignment and are skipped over.</p>
<p>If your son qualifies and applies, he'll be on CTY's list and should probably do a few things:</p>
<p>(1) Look through the catalog (it's available online long before it's mailed in paper) and pick out the maximum number of courses he'd consider taking. (Remember, it's the whole experience of CTY, not <em>only</em> the courses that make it so special. And some students only qualify for the math/science/CS courses and not humanities, or vice versa.)
(2) Be expansive about which of the many CTY summer sites he'd consider attending. My sons have gone locally, and have also gone across the country. Some courses are only offered in limited locations, which makes applying a little tricky.
(3) Consider both sessions during the summer. (Often the second session is less in demand, and my younger S tells me it's more fun sometimes.)
(4) Fill out the application EARLY with AS MANY of the nine available course-location-session choices filled out as possible.
(5) Send the application as early as you can.</p>
<p>There are a couple older threads here somewhere on CTY, you might try to look them up and see the advice suggested there.</p>
<p>I agree with Mootmom's list. Besides CTY, your S could consider Northwestern CTD and summer programs, and TIP.<br>
My S did the Chemistry class in the second session because he wanted to make sure he got in at the location he wanted. It had the advamtage that the materials was still totally fresh when he started the AP class after Labor Day!</p>
<p>Those are great tips about the application process, mootmom (just what I was looking for!). We'll review the catalogue and apply asap. </p>
<p>Thanks much tokenadult for the links to other resources. Definitely some things to consider, wonderful to have the info right there!</p>
<p>marite, we'll certainly look into TIP and CTD. Son is actually amenable to something scholastic this summer (he says) so hopefully will be a fun process and rewarding experience. We're also trying to line up an independent research w/prof at nearby university (he attended program there last summer), but that probably wouldn't take much time.</p>
<p>The second session at CTY would likely be our first choice, because of a planned family reunion/vacay. Good to know that it's sometimes considered more fun! :-)</p>
<p>One more tip: some of the CTY locations are more popular than others with CTY-goers. The two that seem to fill up slots fastest are the Franklin & Marshall campus (Lancaster, PA) and the Dickinson campus (Carlisle, PA). So, make sure to consider some of the other locations when you send in your course request list. My son did his first year at St. Mary's College in Maryland. It is one of the smallest CTY sites in terms of number of students attending, and that actually worked out perfectly for him for his first CTY experience. I think the Sienna College campus in NY is also another less requested site.</p>
<p>Carolyn,
I second Marite: Harvard and Chicago were both on S's list for intellectually intense with enough possibilities for quirkiness. S didn't want a liberal arts college but I thought the Swat DVD we watched looked especially CTYish. Possibly Carleton and Pomona, too.</p>
<p>Carolyn, good to know about those other locales. For some reason, I was thinking it was only on the JHopkins campus. F&M and Carlisle are not really all that far from us (2 hrs or so).</p>
<p>momof2inca, so interesting to hear how the CTY experience played into college preferences!</p>