<p>Participating in a certain school’s summer program obviously won’t be the deciding factor in the admissions process, but do you guys think it will help at all? </p>
<p>Specifically, in my case, I am debating whether to go to</p>
<li>St. Paul’s - a summer program in New Hampshire, only $2,900 for five and a half weeks, no credit</li>
</ol>
<p>or</p>
<li>UPenn (my ideal school) - Pre-college Summer program, roughly $6000, 6 weeks, 1 credit (or 1.5 or 2 credits, but it’s more money the more credits you want, obviously)</li>
</ol>
<p>They may mention it in the information they have available, I remember seeing something about the summer program having no effect on your admissions process for one school, so maybe e-mail or phone them if you can't find it.</p>
<p>nope. However, spending ~6 weeks on a campus might help you a little in the 'why college' essay if you get to interact with regular faculty members(sometimes lots of adjuncts teach in summer).</p>
<p>Would having the teacher write you a recommendation help though?
(The teacher you spend 6 weeks with. Assuming they're faculty of UPenn. or whatever school)</p>
<p>In general, I agree with the previous posters. But I do have a counterexample. The summer after jr. year, my D attended Smith College's Summer Science and Engineering Program to determine if she really was a science nerd and if she would like a single-gender college. She interviewed while there and was told by the admissions officer that Smith looked very, very favorably at applicants who had attended SSEP. To her knowledge, every one of the girls from her cohort who applied were accepted.</p>
<p>In my opinion, I think it will have a positive effect if you use your experiences wisely. For example, let's say you went ot the Columbia summer program. That's great and all, but you arent going to get anywhere if you simply list that you attended the program. You have to talk about the experience in an essay. Simply listing that you went will not tell the adcoms anything about yourself. It'll just tell them you have the money, which frankly, they don't care about.</p>
<p>Doesn't taking a summer program show initiative? I mean, you have to fill out applications for these, write short answer essay, get teacher recommendations and send a transcript. I would argue that it does help (although I'm no admissions officer).
Take my case: the higher lever version of a mathematics class was cancelled at my school, so over the summer I took a course in calculus to make up for what I'd be missing. I wrote in the Additional Info section of each app about it. The class's cancellation wasn't my fault in the first place, but the fact that I went out to seek what I'd be missing shows something, I would hope.
Also, your performance in real college courses shows a much more standardized gauge of how you will be as a student in a university (since high school's vary significantly in how they grade). If you get As and Bs, then it would most definitely help you. However, it would hurt you if you failed each course.
And as a final touch, I took a course in a subject that I want to major in that isn't taught in high school, which again shows initiative. It enabled me to write comfortably about my interests in my "Why this major?" essays and even the "Why this college?" essays. Plus you can say you've had real college experience and therefore know what to expect on campus and say so in your essay.
And finally, it's nice to be able to fill is something for the University's Attended section of certain applications. Very nice...</p>
<p>i attended Cornell's Summer Vet Program, where i got 3 credits for taking Animal Nutrition 212. I don't think it helps in admissions where it gives you more advantage, like being a legacy or something. However, in my case, this happens to go along with my other ECS (animal rescue, horseback riding, volunteering at therapeutic riding, etc., anything animal related), and i've wanted to be a vet forever. i do think it shows initiative, that you are taking advantage of the programs available around you.</p>
<p>i had a great time at Cornell, it was the most valuable 3 weeks of my life that i have ever spent. i did mention it in my cornell essay for CALS.</p>
<p>I went to ASP at St. Paul's. Whether it actually helps you get into college or not I can't say, but I will say that it's the experience of a lifetime. Most people get financial aid for the program. I can say that out of my class of 13, 2 people were accepted to Harvard. I ended up writing my college essay about the experience, but in a different capacity than academics. I'd rather not share all the gritty details about my experience in the forum, but if you'd like please feel free to drop me a PM.</p>
<p>jessetfan: what year did you do ASP? I'm an '06 Ancient Greece. It sure was a blast. I considered doing Harvard's summer program, but I glad I did St. Paul's. And I got into Harvard anyways.</p>
<p>It can really help you figure out if you like the college or not, the campus, the feel. While it in itself may not get you into the college, it strengthens your desire to go there. It substantiates your "Why us?" answer. I wanted to go to American for a really long time, and went there for a summer program. I loved it, and even though I never would have formally visited AU, I think it would've given me support.</p>
<p>Performing Arts programs put great emphasis on auditions. Five minutes to impress the hell out of admissions staff and department heads, weighed equally if not more than academics. Attending a summer college program in performing arts at a school you then apply to gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your talent, dedication and ability to respond to direction and grow as a performer over a 4 -6 week period of time. And if you get glowing evaluations at the end and you submit the evaluations as part of your admissions materials, it can't help but to be a significant factor in the determination of whether you and the school are a good match and you have what it takes to be successful there. It may not be the primary credential looked at but certainly is given weight in the decission making process and in a program as competitve as a BFA in Performing Arts (700 - 1000 applicants with a 5% acceptance rate), every little bit helps!</p>
<p>YES! depending on who u are and what u make of it, a summer program can get u in the place. I went to Syracuse U for a $6000 6 week intensive Acting/Musical Theater program ion 2005 and was offered a chance to audition for the real BFA program...of course I was a junior then soo couldnt do it, but i audtioned this past Nov (ED) and got in. i knew the professor who did my dance audition and review and felt really comfotable there. I think it def. helps but don't count on it. don't do it just so it will look good. Do it because you want to do it.</p>
<p>So what's the bottom line? If you go to a program at Cornell for six weeks and talk about your experiences at the college in your essays and application, will it help with the admissions process? Will they look favorably upon these programs?</p>
<p>I'm thinking about doing it...so. Yeah, I'd like to know.</p>
<p>There are summer programs that can help students stand out. Taking rigorous courses at such programs and getting excellent grades, can help a college better assess the rigor of the courses you can handle and you are demonstrating the desire to "go beyond" your environment if you come from an area that is not on the radar screen of top schools. There are also specialty programs that may make a difference especially if you are interacting with someone who is in the decision making chair for the college's admissions. The performing arts programs are such an example, though I don't know how many of the kids in the top programs also went to that college's summer schools. But things like the Duke program or the Harvard program don't seem to carry much weight for most kids. My son's good friend was turned down by Duke, but accepted to a number of selective school despite several years of going to Duke's summer programming, excelling in it, and getting recs from the profs teaching in the program who also were Duke profs. Accepted at Penn and Dartmouth, rejected by Duke even with the Duke program, to me indicates little weight given to that program by Duke.</p>