<p>D2, who is now a 7th grader, is interested in participating in one of the summer programs sponsored by CTY or TIP. Do any parents have any experience(s) with these programs? Are they worth the cost?</p>
<p>I imagine they are wonderful programs, but they were all WAY more than we could/would spend on a summer program like that. Church camp and scout camps and volunteering and family trips and just vegging out are how my boys do summer.</p>
<p>Also, it was nice for them to get away from academics and climb a mountain or backpack 60 miles in New Mexico or canoe the boundary waters with their brothers and dad. That probably cost about the same as some of the programs that are offered via the talent search. For our family, the family thing and the memories were the way to go.</p>
<p>Son went to TIP three years (beginning after 8th grade). He loved the experience, and wants to go back as a counselor as soon as possible. The classes were great (very impressed with the teachers), and he was very happy to "be among his kind". Good experience, but very expensive. Worth the cost? Possibly.</p>
<p>I would not borrow money for very many things, but should I need to for my S to go to CTY, I would. It's a (huge) financial stretch for me, but it's been so wonderful for him in so many ways, I'll make that stretch. </p>
<p>So yes, I have experience with the program, and yes, I think they are totally worth the cost!</p>
<p>Between my two children, they attended 5 sessions of TIP, and they both were incredibly happy they did. It was the first time they'd been really stretched academically, but it was in a non-graded setting, so it was not stressful at all, just really stimulating and fun. </p>
<p>My son came home from his first summer with a list of books that his TIP friends had recommended. None of his friends from home read outside of required school assignments (or I should say, none of them admitted it publicly), and it was nice for him to find that there were lots of great kids whose company he enjoyed AND who loved reading as much as he did. My daughter loved her summers so much that she is returning this summer as a counselor. Both made friends that they have kept up with over the years.</p>
<p>As for whether it is worth it financially, that's really an individual family decision, but for ours, it was worth it. Perhaps the value depends on what your school situation is. In our case, TIP offered so much beyond what my kids were experiencing in their mediocre public schools. I know that TIP offers financial aid, and I would assume that CTY does, too.</p>
<p>My older son loved his experience there and went back two more times. He was on several different campuses - some seem to have more fun traditions than others. It was the first time he was completely surrounded by kids like him. He mentioned that the math he learned in Probability and Game Theory was stuff he didn't see again until he took a Quantum Mechanics class at Columbia (and he was the only one in the class who'd seen matrix algebra before.) I was impressed because the game theory class went way beyond just math. They talked about marketing, the Cuban Missile crisis and all sorts of other stuff. It was well worth it. Enough so, that I now donate to their scholarship fund.</p>
<p>CTY was the best part of my life for 6 years. It shaped the way I am today. </p>
<p>Is it worth the cost? I don't know. My parents are of the opinion that as long as it furthers my education, it's worth the cost. I qualified for financial aid, so my parents only had to pay $1000 a summer to finance it, but it's still a hefty cost.</p>
<p>Here's what I think of the two major points you probably want to take into account.</p>
<p>Academics weren't actually amazing. It fostered my interest in forensic science (1st year), but I also don't remember much else of what I learned. (took drama, logic, cognitive psychology, and mathematical modeling too) I think of the academic experience this way: you learn terribly interesting stuff, but most of the stuff will be rather useless; you won't have instances to apply your knowledge, so you tend to forget it after a year or so. The professor quality has always been good, but sometimes the class isn't. They don't have age restrictions on classes (entering 8th grade to entering 11th grade) but upcoming 8th graders have a huge gap of knowledge compared to upcoming 11th graders. Mathematical modeling ended up being a giant bore for me because I would finish the problem sets easily and end up sitting around waiting as the majority of the (younger) class struggled.</p>
<p>But the social environment is fantastic. I don't know quite how to describe it, but you learn to get rid of your self-consciousness there. Also, the fact that everyone is a nerd creates a giant web of kinship, and sometimes causes really close friendships. I still hang out regularly with one of my friends from CTY, and I talk on the phone with a few others. There's also facebook, that handy-dandy ubiquitous application.</p>
<p>The problem is that I never went to any other camps. I went to a day camp when I was 8, which was fun (built rockets and played tennis), went to a horse-riding camp when I was 9, and I worked this summer, but I've never been to another academic-related sleepover camp. I couldn't compare anything. I loved CTY, but I also loved all the other things I did over the summer. It might have just been having a change of environment.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think that if your kid is interested and thinks she would enjoy it, you should send your kid there.</p>
<p>That was a bit long and rambling and disorganized. Sorry.</p>
<p>Not to be the spoiler, but my S did not enjoy his TIP experience at all. He went to the Aerospace program held at KU via Duke TIP. The classes were not the least bit challenging. Instructor told him he was far ahead of others in the class, and he had to teach at their level. Plus all the hype said classes taught by experts in their field. This instructor was a grad student. S thought he wanted to major in Aerospace Engr, but this experience totally changed that. He is now a happy Chem E major.</p>
<p>TIP is very pricey, and I think you have to just take your chances on good instruction. Not a guarantee, from this family's experience.</p>
<p>The programs offer financial aid. Apply for that if cost is a concern. </p>
<p>My son went to CTY once and learned a lot there, but he much prefers more specialized math camps that involve taking an application quiz as part of the qualification process. The Duke TIP and CTY camps offer a wide range of courses, but some kids will have specialized interests such that they will prefer more specialized camps.</p>
<p>
[quote]
This instructor was a grad student.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think a lot of these types of programs are taught by grad students. They would be prohibitively expensive otherwise. A lot of summer school courses at a lot of universities are taught by grad students too...</p>
<p>D did CTY for four summers, until she aged out. As apathy says above, it was the social part that was life-changing for her, although she also enjoyed the classes very much (she took all humanities, no science). She is still very close to a whole group of CTY friends; they arranged get-togethers all through the rest of high school and now into their college years are still having reunions. The kids affectionately refer to it as "nerd camp", and it's a place where you can be yourself, in all your intellectual quirkiness, and be accepted and even celebrated in a way that isn't often the case in high school. I can't say enough good things about how much it did for D's social and emotional development.</p>
<p>S took two CTY courses before moving on to specialized math camp. What he learned was immediately applicable as these were Fast-Paced High school science classes that allowed him to move straight into AP science classes.<br>
He had not liked the fun (and expensive) summer camp; or the only partly academic and also expensive camp (half-day rather unchallenging classes). He loved the total academic immersion of CTY, but also the fun and games side of it. In class he was with older kids; but CTY arranges housing by age, so he found plenty of friends of his age on his hallway. However, he did not get along with his roommate one summer, and he did not make lasting friends there. He made lasting friends later, at his math camp.
We could afford it and to us, it was definitely worth it. We now donate to CTY, hoping to make it affordable to other kids.</p>
<p>My S went to CTY for four years and loved it both intellectually and socially. He took philosophy courses for three years, and a writing course the last year. Each of his classes was taught by a college professor, with a graduate student as TA. The classes were generally grouped by age, so that 8th graders were not in classes with juniors. He received a scholarship for more than half the cost each year. The full price is pretty standard for a 3-week residential camp, from what I've seen.</p>
<p>I think it would be safe to say that my S regards it as the outstanding experience of his life so far.</p>
<p>our kids have not only taken the cty summer classes but also the online courses and family lectures. we have been uniformly pleased with all the classes and try to be the youngest or next to youngest for each class to get the maximum out of the class (better to work hard to keep up than be a bit bored) the teachers are excellent and the other kids are interesting...</p>
<p>D did 2 field study programs with TIP, Loved them both intellectually and socially. Found it very worth it, although expensive. Still keeps in touch with professors and other participants.</p>
<p>My son went to a college-based camp similar to the ones through Duke TIP. In fact, he had completed his application for the camp at KU, and then got a flier about this other camp, liked the offerings better and decided to go there instead. He only was able to go because we got a huge scholarship so that the cost was less than $1K each of the three years he attended. That's still a lot for our family.</p>
<p>Some classes were better than others. Interestingly, he loved the for-credit psychology course he took and now is taking the AP psych class at his hs next year and is considering minoring in it. Who knew? </p>
<p>But even more valuable than the college classes were the life lessons -- just being on a college campus, living in a dorm, learning the difference between a bathroom with suitemates (his first two years) and a community bathroom (the third year), meeting different kinds of people. After the first year, he and another guy agreed to room the following two years, and it was a great friendship. They were very different in some ways (the other kid was a vegan, for instance) and was a total hippie, but they loved the same music and were kindred spirits of a sort. One eye-opener: His hs is pretty diverse, but he'd never been in an academic situation with spoiled rich kids who didn't take their education seriously. He would speak of some kids who may have qualified for the camp but clearly were not serious students. Interesting observaton.</p>
<p>One year, the noncredit course was one about urban planning and design that involved lots of field trips on public transit (not an option where we live) and that in itself was eye-opening and interesting and fun for him. The kids each year start a Yahoo group and stay in touch, meeting over the winter break for a movie, dinner or whatever. And, for those of you following danceangel's thread about the wonderful kid who doesn't get picked for anything -- well, my normally reserved son who often gets overlooked won the one award given to a single camper who exemplifies what the camp is all about: academics, team spirit, participation, etc. So, yeah, for us and him it was a great experience. </p>
<p>We are so happy with the experience that our second one will be going there this summer!!!</p>
<p>Northwestern has the CTD program, which is the midwestern version of CTY and TIP. My two rising sophs are going there this summer (one for a religion class, one for an AP psych class) and are very excited. This will be the fourth year for one of them and the second year for the other. It is pricey, no question about it. I have actually tried to get them to consider other programs (we live near NU and we are both NU alums so we are leery of "pushing" NU too much of them) but they both love it. They, too, call it nerd camp in fun and have made good friends.</p>
<p>Both of my kids are CTY kids. My son did 4 years and my daughter is going for her 4th and last year this summer. I think it was the best experience for them, and I think well worth the money. They learned so much about themselves. They learned that despite being among the smartest kids in their school, they weren't the smartest kids in the world, a humbling and eye-opening experience that made the first week of the first year a little rough for each of them. After they accepted that notion, they settled down and had a great time, met a number of kindred souls. Especially for my S, who was very socially awkward and unhappy in middle school, he found a place where he could just thrive, with so many people like him. I also think it was academically exactly what they needed to supplement their public school experience and challenge them in a way they had never been challenged. I would say let her go for it. It is truly a life-changing experience for a lot of kids.</p>
<p>CTY is worth it! Both kids have gone--taken different classes, at different campuses and they have all been consistently excellent (in our experience, always taught by college professors with college students as RA's). It's especially great for smart kids who are less social--they find a fun peer group with other kids who are just like them. This pays dividends long after camp is over. One caution: the camp is perfect for middle schoolers and early high school. After that, some kids may find that its a bit too restrictive (you never go anywhere unattended...). Definitely look into CTY scholarships to see if you qualify, another very nice aspect of the experience is that the kids are from all over the country, from all walks of life. Lots of diversity, except in one critical way: all the kids are smart.</p>
<p>S#1 spent 6 summers at CTY, loved it, and found it to be a life changing experience. It was the first time in his life that he was in an academic setting with some intellectual peers. He was able to learn at a pace he preferred to the snail-driven pace of "regular" school. In three weeks at CTY, they are capable of learning what's covered in a year long course at school. The social aspects of CTY were also extremely important to him, probably even more so than the academics. He is now a first year Ph.D. student and speaks of the day when he will be able to go back to CTY as an instructor.</p>