<p>Hey CTYers and others, </p>
<p>The first session of CTY summer programs (The Center for Talented Youth, run through JHU) begins this Sunday!</p>
<p>I'm posting this thread to see if anyone who is going to be attending a CTY summer program this summer is on College Confidential. </p>
<p>I'm taking Utopias and Dystopias at the Lancaster site first session. I took Crafting the Essay last year (Lan 09.01), and it was the best three weeks of my life (so far!); I'm extremely excited for CTY this summer. </p>
<p>Are there any CTYers on here?</p>
<p>I’m going to CTY for the first time this year. I just finished 7th grade and will be doing etymology at JHU campus. I’m getting very nervous but also look forward to it. three more days left before I say byebye home.</p>
<p>It is an awful world we live in when seventh graders are on these boards.</p>
<p>Have fun at CTY, though.</p>
<p>Shmluza, don’t be nervous! Everyone’s nice there. There are plenty of people to help you out, and everyone is perfectly willing to do so. </p>
<p>Good luck, squirrel 
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<p>And AdamJaz, I can agree with you on the 7th graders thing, but I guess it’s good to start early :]. Thanks!</p>
<p>Some replies are really strange. Adam, from the number of posts you’ve had, I am surprised you haven’t noticed that there were actually a lot of middle schoolers at this site, not to speak of CTY.'</p>
<p>I’m going to CTY in a few days. This is my frist time, even though I’ve already finished my freshemen year. I really look forward to it. To PensiveCTYer and SHMLUZA, my fellow CTYers, enjoy!!</p>
<p>Hey there Pensive and Co. I’ll be at JHU second session taking Logic as a bit of a follow up to Ethics, which I took two years ago (couldn’t get to Logic fast enough last year, so I took International Politics.) 
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<p>Shmluza, I can honestly say CTY has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Coming from a rural town where I’m “that nerdy kid everyone makes fun of,” I never thought I would meet so many people (students, instructors, and TAs alike) who were absolutely AMAZING. I’ll be the “Empress of Passion Fruit” this year (you’ll find out what it means,) which is bittersweet, as this is my final time going to CTY. I have many friends who have taken Etymologies, and all of them say it’s a wonderful class. If last summer’s instructor is returning, you’re in for a real treat. I find that despite going to class for hours each day, there is virtually no level of stress, and overall its just great fun. Have a blast! :D</p>
<p>I’m not going to the camp, unfortunately, but I’m doing the distance-learning courses. I was supposed to go for the Crafting The Essay summer course after my 7th grade year (umm the summer of 09) but it was canceled due to H1N1. So I took the distance version of Crafting the Essay! And I just finished Writing Analysis and Persuasion, and I also finished a Life Science course. I’m doing Honors Geometry and Crafting Poetry now.</p>
<p>@Pensive: how old were you when you took crafting the essay??</p>
<p>Could you post your experience with Crafting the essay? I was interested for my son who is a freshman.</p>
<p>Crafting the Essay was a fantastic course. They pick very good instructors for the writing courses.</p>
<p>Every course at CTY, at least in my experience, is well planned and well executed. While Crafting the Essay was enjoyable to me (I’m more of a math-science guy), I do think that the course you choose depends on what you’re looking for. </p>
<p>If you’re looking at Crafting the Essay to boost your essay writing skills, you will find yourself practicing your essay skills, which the teachers then criticize. Crafting the Essay is not necessarily good choice if you’re looking for a class on formal essay writing because it deals with personal essays. </p>
<p>You discuss formatting, literature, and responding to literature effectively. Your writing skills <em>will</em> improve if you take the course seriously. However, be aware that you will be doing a lot of creative work as well as technical work. </p>
<p>@littleivy: I was 14, I’m 16 now. It was the summer of 2009 (appropriately titled "Swine '09).</p>
<p>I’m going to CTY this summer. My friend has told me ALL about it and to me it sounds REALLY fun :). I here the professors are really nice. I can’t wait :D!</p>
<p>CTY was the first academic summer camp I ever attended and I remember being extremely nervous and worried about how my experience would turn out. Well, let me just say that it completely exceeded my expectations :). </p>
<p>The first 2 days I felt shy and a little homesick, but right after that, the apprehension melted away and you can’t help but actually feel like you found the perfect best friends who understand you intellectually and emotionally. The courses that CTY offers are very well-run and informative for such a short time. I took Fast-Paced High School Chemistry at the Los Angeles site in the summer of '09, and they managed to squeeze a whole Honors level chemistry course in 3 weeks with 2 hour labs every weekday. Yes, it was a little too fast and I was confused a lot of times but it was fun and knowledgeable nonetheless. </p>
<p>The social life at CTY is great and the weekend activities are fun but my one serious complaint about CTY is how “chaperone-y” it is…for my hall, we always had to travel to breakfast, class, lunch, dinner, and activities together with our RA. We couldn’t do anything else without group permission and we hardly ever had a chance to go back to our dorms to chill out or rest. It was always: “get changed/ready for your next activity!”. I really wished that we had more free time to hang out with friends and have independent adventures like exploring the campus or trying out some local dining areas. (P.S. the Loyola Marymount University’s cafeteria is AWFUL)</p>
<p>Other than that , CTY is a great camp for light-hearted studies and meeting fantastic new people!!! (But don’t contract swine flu and leave camp 5 DAYS early like I did T.T)</p>
<p>I went to Carlisle and I agree that there isn’t enough chill time in the dorms during the week days. I’d get back after class and flop down on my bed only to hear “go to your activities!” But we didn’t have to go everywhere in groups, although it was annoying how the RAs didn’t trust us. They always thought that we were doing something shady or illegal. Once, when I was returning to my dorm from dinner with a friend, this RA saw us and started freaking out “OMGZWhat are you doing! It can’t be 6:30 yet. GO BACK TO DINNER OR WE’LL CALL YOUR PARENTS!!!” I then calmly informed her that it was 6:31 and that we were let out of the HUB by another RA. She smiled and walked away. Just little stuff like that kinda got under my skin. </p>
<p>And the food in the HUB was okay, potatoes are a main staple in my diet now thanks to CTY. I get to do a double session this year, genetics and chem! WOOT! You squirrels are in for a good time, and I pray that Chuck Norris protects you from swine flu.</p>