<p>Would taking a summer programat Wharton be helpful to actually getting into Wharton? Not including classes, scores, GPA, volunteer work, clubs, or sports, but just in general: Will taking a summer course at Wharton, or any other Ivy Legaue school, be helpful in getting to a school of that caliber?</p>
<p>If they are selective, yes, if they are the kind that cost you $3000 to attend, no.</p>
<p>Doing something productive with your summers helps. Whether that productive thing is at Wharton really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>What counts as productive? Lots of things. Summer programs such as you’ve described, or taking up a new language, or wilderness programs, or working for pay, or volunteering with children, or helping run the family business–*almost *anything but hanging out all summer, playing video games and drinking beer. It really doesn’t matter very much what you do. What matters is that your summer experiences allow you to show that you’ve gained new skills or taken on greater responsibility over time or achieved some kind of personal growth.</p>
<p>Some do, some don’t.
The University of Pennsylvania had a bit of a scandel about 5 or 6 years ago involving summer students & a Penn admission officer (in one of the graduate schools) who had a college counseling side business geared towards those applying to undergraduate schools. Her services were offered at the end of each summer session for a fairly hefty fee. If you had the money & applied ED, that was the easiest & surest way to get admitted to Penn.
I know a student who attended a top 3 Ivy summmer program & received offers from two profs to write letters of recommendation.
Overall, however, the summer programs are primarily money makers for these elite universities.</p>
<p>Yes. On nearly evey college supplement I’ve seen (at least, for the selective schools), there is a question about how you’ve spent the past two summers. For JHU, the admissions officer told me that about 60% of students have a summer program listed.
Keep in mind, if the summer program has little to no admissions requirements (basically a pay to attend program), there are better programs available.
Choosing a Warton program could help with a Warton application because it shows that you’re interested in the university and that you’ve looked into the school at a deeper level.</p>
<p>Post #2, there are programs that cost $3000 and are selective.</p>
<p>TASP is pretty selective and it is completely free. I’d bet it looks pretty good on your transcript, too.</p>
<p>Yes, and TASP has a lower admit rate than any of the Ivies. Just saying… don’t count on getting into TASP, or any of the other free-but-insanely-competitive summer programs.</p>
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<p>That does NOT mean that they only (or even definitely) look favorably on a summer course or program at an Ivy or top college. There are a LOT of ways you can spend your summers that they would be interested in. I suspect a kid who ran a successful business in the summers, for example, would be looked on more favorably than a kid whose family could just pay the high cost of a summer program. A kid who did some original scientific research, or organized a big volunteer event in their community might do better in admissions than someone who went to a top college summer program.</p>
<p>Do whatever you do because YOU are interested and it moves your learning and life experiences forward. Not to try to snuggle up to a specific college or impress admissions officers.</p>