<p>D (15, current soph) did a great summer program last year and is now looking at some for next year. One that interests her is CTY at Princeton. </p>
<p>Most programs she's looking at want LORs, transcript, an essay or two. CTY also wants test scores. Do you know if the PSAT she just took will work or if she has to take an ACT or SAT? I've read dozens of pages on the program web site and it seems like the only tests they accept are those but it's hard to be sure and there is no contact for questions that I can find.</p>
<p>In reading how kids are placed into classes, it appears that high scoring kids who have already been in CTY are placed first. Since she has never done CTY and even with high scores will be in line behind all these other kids, I wonder if she should even bother applying.</p>
<p>Finally, I wonder if she'll be out of place as a "new kid" and sophomore...is CTY as insular as what I'm reading suggests? Have most high school CTY'ers been in the program since they were much younger?</p>
<p>I'd especially appreciate any input from parents of kids who have done the specific program at Princeton, but also love to hear from any that have had kids in CTY at all.</p>
<p>D has about 10 programs she's looking at and we are looking for ways to make that list a little smaller. If CTY is not a great fit for a soph who has never done it before, or insists on SAT/ACT that's reason enough for me to drop it.</p>
<p>My son did CTY after 9th grade, but actually did summer university at Hopkins after 10th and 11th grade. He wound up with 14 JHU credits. Both programs are very expensive, but My son really wanted to take advanced math and this was a way to do it, and to get real college credit. He didn’t go to Princeton, but I do think after 10th grade may be late to start JHU. I think to qualify for JHU CTY you need to have taken the SAT in middle school, but things may have changed. Suggest you check out their website. I remember them having many suggestions for summer programs for GT kids.</p>
<p>I called and spoke to someone at JHU last spring about their courses and eligibility requirements. It was very easy to reach a live person quickly so just take another look at the CTY website as I know that I found phone number there. My son did not end up enrolling in the CTY courses as he decided that the computer programming classes offered for his age did not interest him, so I cannot address your other questions. </p>
<p>Has your daughter considered any of the summer programs at colleges–Cornell, Brown, Georgetown, etc. There are scores of them now. As a rising junior, she would be eligible for almost all of them.</p>
<p>As far as I know, they do indeed require the ACT or SAT. I’m not sure what the last grade is in which it can be taken to qualify.</p>
<p>My S went to CTY for 4 years, until he aged out, and loved it. I can’t speak too highly of the program. Many of us have responded to inquiries about CTY in the past. If you search, you will find several threads.</p>
<p>I don’t think that CTY is “insular” and unwelcoming to new kids. Although many kids do tend to return to the same site, there are always new kids. And kids are housed with other kids taking the same class, which helps build bonds quickly.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the Princeton program specifically.</p>
<p>My kids went to CTY in middle school, but not at Princeton. I don’t believe there were any “new kid” issues because there’s a lot of turnover (or for that matter any other kind of negative “issue”). The era of FB hadn’t started, so there wasn’t the continuity of friendships from year to year. </p>
<p>Having said this, I tend to agree with CT1417 that the summer programs at universities would be a better match for a rising junior. By the time the kids were older, they kind of felt CTY was really just an extension of school and wanted something different, and went for university summer school that was mentioned earlier, sports camps, or internships locally. The credits from D’s little stint at Cornell even qualified to be applied in college.</p>
<p>My overall opinion is that purely from an academic perspective they probably cost more than they seem to be worth, but we were fortunate that money wasn’t a big factor, and it was a good way for the youngsters to go out on their own - that experience may very well have been more valuable than what was taught in class.</p>
<p>They only just started some of the high school programs when my oldest started so he only did the programs aimed at middle schoolers, but he did attend summer after ninth grade. He went to a different location each time. Loved it. He’s not terribly social, so unlike some, he did not make lifelong friends, but he had a very good time. Academically he learned math in 7th grade he didn’t see again till taking a college physics. The last course he took was fast paced chemistry where he learned a whole year’s worth of chem in 3 weeks. I would imagine the high school programs to be equally well run and welcoming. I believe they give the older kids a little more freedom.</p>
<p>As far as what programs to do, I think it depends on the interest. My son wasn’t interested in the CTY high school programs that were offered, so he had to look elsewhere. Spent one summer doing computer graphics programming at Columbia U. Convenient for us because he could commute. After that he got jobs doing freelance programming. Even better!</p>
<p>Are you interested in the CTY Princeton program for content, association with CTY, or Princeton itself?</p>
<p>My eldest did CTY but only the one-day programs such as Science and Technology Series and Pathways to College. I highly recommend participating in both. They both had a large impact and extremely useful information in the college application process (which is so overwhelming!). Participating in a one-day program I believe does count as “already participating in CTY.” </p>
<p>Yes, to the best of my knowledge eligibility for these programs is based on SAT/ACT scores - from middle school. If you were notified you were eligible for CTY but didn’t opt to take these exams in middle school, you are probably SOL.</p>
<p>However, if you are looking at the Princeton program because the content is of interest, there are many summer programs at universities that do not require affiliation with CTY. For example, here is a link to a program at the University of Maryland that breaks down Global Issues into subcategories
[Office</a> Of Extended Studies - University of Maryland](<a href=“Home | University of Maryland Extended Studies”>Home | University of Maryland Extended Studies)</p>
<p>Many universities offer summer programs for high school students, so if you are interested only because of ivy-league, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Yale, Columbia and Harvard (I may be missing a few) also offer summer programs for high school students, that again, do not require affiliation with CTY but do ask for test scores and accept PSAT’s for that.</p>
<p>My D current 9th grade, took SCAT to attend CTY this summer. After middle school you can take SAT, ACT or SCAT to qualify for CTY. I read somewhere they accept PSAT score as well.</p>
<p>Thanks all. D did a course in neuro at Brown last summer and loved it, just looking at different options for next summer, though she’d be glad to return there too.</p>
<p>All the ones she’s considering are at universities in or near large cities or in the NE. College credit is a plus, interesting math and science courses in particular. Some are geared to women in engineering too.</p>
<p>I’m thinking CTY/Princeton is coming off the list. </p>
<p>Mary, thanks for the link, looking at that now. It is indeed the content that interested her - global pandemic course specifically.</p>
<p>There are some great math and science programs out there. I haven’t researched in a couple of years, but I think Boston University has something called PROMYS, and there’s something in Ohio, but I can’t remember the name. A few minutes searching for summer math programs for high school students should point you to some opportunities. When my son went to JHU he took calc 1 and intro to biological molecules one year, and calc 3 and intro to neuroscience the next. Be aware though, that even though colleges do give “real” credit, the credits are not actually useful for all majors at all colleges.</p>
<p>My D spent the summer before 9th grade at CTY and found the social setting quite agreeable. The coursework was great, but it was the socializing that made it stand out for her. She was younger than your D.</p>
<p>My concern would be the same for CTY and for any of the expensive programs at major universities, that the programs are very costly and not particularly selective. Nonetheless, reports are that the content is very good. So it all depends what she wants. I don’t think there’s any advantage or disadvantage of Brown over CTY over any other paid program. I have heard very, very good things about the U Chicago summer high school program, particularly for kids who want to experience that campus. There’s a lot more independence (more like a college student) in that program. This is either a plus or a minus, depending on your POV.</p>
<p>1214mom – Math programs are very different, and only kids who want to immerse themselves in math for the summer should go that route. It’s too much work if you don’t love math above all else. Particularly for a “soft” science kid (biology and epidemiology, not physics) it could be a really poor fit.</p>
<p>Good point I just drive. JHU worked out well bc my son could do both math and science. Some of the state flagships also offer good summer programs and they tend to be cheaper than the privates. My younger son went to UMD, and U of Delaware offers a 5 week program.</p>
<p>My daughter’s last summer at CTY was after 9th grade, and she felt that even then she was a little old for it, although she enjoyed it. I think it’s a bit restrictive for a rising junior, especially one who hasn’t been going to CTY all along.</p>
<p>Thanks folks. BU is bookmarked, she likes the course options, the opportunity to get credit, but 6 weeks might be a bit longer than she wants. </p>
<p>We’re FA eligible so programs that don’t offer it have been eliminated. We still have 14 possibilities on the list and are always interested in hearing about new ones.</p>
<p>You might want to look at more specific programs. My kids went from CTY to programs specifically for music or for creative writing, for example.</p>
They do have a couple of specific programs, but mostly what they have is a campus with multiple courses–of course, each student only takes one of them. That’s still pretty different (in my opinion) from something like a creative writing program (like the one at Kenyon, for example).</p>
<p>hey i am going to cty for the first time this summer. I am smart but not anything extraordinary. by some miracle I qualified for intensive studies so am taking fast paced high school biology. I saw that they have pretesting for this, why? and should I prepare for the course a little?
anyhelp would really be appreciated, thanks</p>
<p>cty, my D took this course many years ago. Back then, the pretest was given as a way to measure how much you learned over the course. They are seeing how much you know when you start, and then you will have a test at the end to see what you have learned. There is no need to prepare for the course. </p>