<p>My D attended Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth a few summers in a row. When I asked the admissions officer at an information session if her participation in CTY had any influence on her application, he stated, "Frankly, all most all of our applicants have attended CTY." There's just so many bright kids and so much competition out there that qualified students have taken advantage of college summer programs for high school students. But, as stated in other posts, spending time on a college campus can, at least, help a student decide if he/she would want to apply there, and the experience can possibly provide the student with an essay topic...</p>
<p>Couple of years ago the valedectorian from our local high school went to a summer program at Harvard. Loved it - cemented her life time desire to attend Harvard. She was deferred then rejected. Was accepted at some other excellent schools - but the summer program did not help her at all.</p>
<p>my S attended Cornell summer college and his roomie was a fourth gen legacy, including both parents, and his great-great gandfather even knew Ezra. The kid attended both summer sessions. End result, deferred ED, rejected RD.</p>
<p>btw: the Prof told the kids at the first day of class that any recommendation would be perfunctory since its impossible to get to know someone well over a few weeks.</p>
<p>Trmaher, I'm an '04 grad from Biomedical Ethics.</p>
<p>Before any discussion of this is to take place it is important to make a distinction. The ACT of going to a summer program doesn't help. In this case some statements I have seen in this thread such as "Attending a college's summer program does not sway the decision (just means that you have money to buy an experience)" are correct.; however, what will help is if you take advantage of the resources offered at whatever program it is and talk about your experiences in an essay.
My own case helps prove the validty of my statement. In my opinion I was accepted to Stanford this year largely because of the superb grades and recommendation I garnered from attending their 8 week high school summer college. My high school course selection didn't become laden with honors and ap until my junior year (thus I had few aps), but by attending the program, I proved I could hanlde college work. Furthermore, the fact that I had a professor say my work was some of the best he had seen in years helped differentiate me from other applicants. Thus, it is clear such programs can be beneficial to your chances, but like most other things, you've got to work hard to make it help; the simple act of going is not enough.</p>
<p>I would say that it depends on what program you are attending and how it fits into your overall goals. My son attended a microbiology research program at U of Chicago where he was in the lab 8 hours a day and received strong grades. The prof got to know him very well and gave him a strong reference that he used at Chicago and other schools. He was admitted to Chicago and a number of other schools (Rochester, Tufts, UVa-Echols, Brandeis) and waitlisted at others (Brown, Swarthmore). Of couse, we'll never know if the outcome would have been different had he not done the summer program. But we do know he was able to transfer 6.6 credits into Emory University where he's now going. </p>
<p>Son attended another program at Brown the summer before. It was a non credit course in microbiology, much less intensive. He enjoyed the time at Brown but, looking back on it, I would class that experience as an "expensive" three-week vacation. So be careful what you sign up for and how it fits into your overall plans. Don't attend a summer program just to list a line on your application. It's got to make sense and fit into what you plan to do. Courses for credit are a good bet. If your college/university accepts it along with your AP's, it can give you quite a bit of added flexibility (and credits).</p>
<p>My s attended Grinnell's Honor Scholar Program last summer on a scholarship. He enjoyed the experience very much and got 2 great recommendations from professors who taught his classes. He applied RD to Grinnell. We'll find out if his summer in Grinnell made a difference.</p>
<p>While I'm not too familiar with UPenn's summer program, I strongly recommend that the original poster attend St. Paul's ASP. It was probably the best five weeks of my life. Not only are the classes and facilities spectacular, but the people (professors and students) are the best and brightest New Hampshire has to offer. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the International Terrorism class this past summer. The coursework at the ASP is rigorous, and the friends you'll make will all be great.</p>
<p>If you're just going to a summer program to improve your shots at getting into a certain college, then, well, ASP can help you there too. The College Day at the ASP attracts nearly all the top schools in the country (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, Brown, etc.). In fact, at ASP I met the admissions officer who would end up reading my application to my early action school, and made enough of an impression that she remembered me months later. Sure enough, I got into that school (if you want to know what school it is, let's just say it's located in Cambridge and it isn't MIT).</p>
<p>I guess the moral of my story is that your choice for your summer activity should be something that will not only make you grow academically, but something that will provide you with lasting memories, because frankly, one's summer is a truly valuable period of time. So, don't go to a college's summer program just so you can gain an advantage in the admissions process, go there because you really think that it will be a remarkable opportunity for you.</p>
<p>What if the summer program complements something else in your application? For example, it will help show colleges your passion and interests. If you say you love history, and then spend 8 weeks studying it in Harvard SSP, don't you think it might reflect well?</p>
<p>What if you didn't pay anything for it, for example, you got a scholarship to the summer program from questbridge or something?</p>
<p>were you talking to the hopkins admissions people??</p>
<p>Honestly, NO. I definitely agree with Vissanik- you have to be able to parlay your summer experience at the college into something extraordinary for it to matter at all. Most summer programs for high school students at colleges are fundraising programs designed to siphon money from students like the OP, who believe that attendance will have the effect of eventual acceptance into the school. These programs (usually; there are exceptions) are relatively unselective and usually have poor financial aid options. Thus, their mere presence on your resume says nothing about you other than your family's apparent excess of disposable income.</p>
<p>Of course, some students can use their experiences to fuel their essays. However, the "why this school?" essay is usually much less important at the super-elite colleges we are discussing than it is at schools like WUSTL that are sensitive to being relegated to safety status. Harvard honestly does not need to see your demonstrated interest. They KNOW you're interested- they have an 80% yield. Flattery doesn't cut it there; I don't understand why attending their summer college would sway their decision at all in your favor. Among better choices: there are many more frugal and unique summer experiences available that admissions officers will know require more initiative and passion than simply applying to an elite school's summer program (believe me, it's not that complicated), and then there are the summer programs that are known to be extremely selective (TASP, RSI, etc) whose presence on your resume says a lot about your abilities as a student.</p>
<p>The financial aspect of attending an expensive summer course, which admissions officers, seeing through your clever plan, will probably know you chose because of the college's prestige, is the most dangerous. The more wealthy you show your family to be on your application (through disclosure of careers, income, alma maters, and your school, extracurriculars and summer programs), the more the admissions committee will expect from YOU. So by attending a program that the officers know to be expensive, the bar for your academic performance and roster of activities will automatically be raised. Admissions officers will expect far better scores, workloads, leadership and afterschool involvement (especially through service) from a student who attended a Harvard summer program to get calculus credit than they will from a public-school student who went to summer school at their high school to get calculus credit (while working a part-time job). </p>
<p>So what I'm saying (from the perspective of someone who has dealt with this decision before) is: be cynical and smart about this. Do yourself a favor and plan your summer so that it will make your application stand out from all the thousands of kids attending programs at prestigious colleges. Don't fall for expensive manipulations of your admissions anxiety.</p>
<p>one thing i'd like to add is that, i, for one, attended Cornell's Summer Program because i truly wanted to, because it was focused in Veterinary Medicine, a career that i have been dreaming of pursuing since i was a little kid. i just wanted to do it because of my passion for animals...</p>
<p>however, it was a tad expensive....it did stretch my mom's budget a bit for the summer, especially since my dad lives in korea.</p>
<p>overall, i just had a great experience and learned that being a vet is definitely the right thing for me.</p>
<p>There are anecdotes about students who made a great prof contact at a summer program, and where the prof encouraged them to apply for admission and wrote a letter of recommendation to the admissions office. I wouldn't attend a program expecting this to happen, though. With the number of students attending these programs, few will score a real boost of this type.</p>
<p>Less selective schools DO use these programs to recruit admissions candidates; I recall one where attendees were awarded a scholarship if they matriculated there.</p>
<p>i attended a summer program at an "middle" ivy, and then was accepted to 9 out of 10 schools [some considered more selective] , and rejected at the school where i spent the summer.</p>
<p>so the summer program didn't benefit me on paper</p>
<p>however, spending 8 weeks on a college campus, in class with mostly undergrads, and immersed in an intellectual atmosphere benefitted me in more ways than I can write on an application, and in the end that's what matters.</p>
<p>Go to the program if you are interested in attending, learning and having a great time. DON'T do it just to boost your resume, there are much better ways to spend >$5000 than to have a negligible impact on college admissions officers</p>
<p>LBP
"My D attended Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth a few summers in a row. When I asked the admissions officer at an information session if her participation in CTY had any influence on her application, he stated, "Frankly, all most all of our applicants have attended CTY." </p>
<p>My son was involved in CTY but also in JHU SET(study of exceptional talent)- and the reps at SET will actually send out a recommendation to colleges you are applying to, so it would seem strange that if they are recommending you to OTHER colleges that they wouldn't consider it themselves.</p>
<p>There are a lot of contrasting but equally valid points being made in this thread. Whether attendance at a summer program helps for admissions purposes really depends on the school and nature of the program. There is also the factor of whether participation in the program has a direct impact or is of more indirect benefit. However, there are more important issues and good and compelling reasons to shell out the cost that have nothing to do with whether it will help for admissions at the particular school and if those reasons don't exist for you, then many of the posters are right; there are less expensive and equally (if not more) beneficial ways to spend your summer. My daughter's experience is a case in point.</p>
<p>My daughter has always been an avid performer and throughout high school contemplated majoring in Musical Theatre. In the summer of 2005, she attended a 4 week program at University of the Arts, performance studies in dance, acting and voice 9 - 5, five days a week. She did it simply because she wanted advance level training. We supported her in this because we thought it would help her decide if this was what she really wanted to major in. These were the reasons she went, not because we were calculating a direct admisions benefit. She had a great summer, getting training from respected professionals and doing what she loved. The direct benefits: she concluded she wanted to be a musical theatre major in college and received serious training that would benefit her in the future, including college auditions. Additional benefits that were results but not the reason for her attendance: she formed close relationships with professors in the department and received great evaluations based on the opportunity to observe her over time.</p>
<p>Last summer, my daughter attended a 6 week Musical Theatre program at Syracuse (part of its summer college for high school students). Her primary reason for going was, again, the level of training. In addition, Syracuse was on her list of schools of interest so there was the added benefit of experiencing the department. We supported the decission to attend because we thought it would be a good litmus test of whether she would want the intensity of a college BFA program (classes from 9 - 5, 5 days a week, night time seminars, studio work and required studies, 14 hour days, 7 days a week during tech week). The primary benefits: she concluded that she enjoyed and thrived in the rigors of a BFA program and received great training. She also felt very positve that if accepted at Syracuse, it was a school she would enjoy studying and living at for 4 years. In addition, she also formed close relationships with some of her professors, one of whom volunteered to write her letters of recommendation for whatever schools she applied to.</p>
<p>So, how does all of this relate to her current application and admissions process? Here are my conclusions and some lesson's learned:
1. Go to a summer program only if it is something that you really want to do because of your passion for the subject matter and because its substance will be of benefit to you as you make decissions about your future. Do it only if it has meaning for you in your life beyond applying to that college. If this isn't the case, then it isn't worth the cost. Everything that follows below is secondary or can be acheived in other ways.
2. Participation in a summer program provides an opportunity to form relationships with professors over a period of time. Depending on the program and school, that can enhance an application if the department gets input into the admissions decission and you are more than just a paper application. Even if not the case, you may end up with professors willing to write letters of recommendation for you, based on college level work, which enhance your applications.
3. A summer program can give you a real taste of a school and a department and help you decide whether it is a good match for you.
4. The experience of attending and living in a college enviroment is a significant life event that can be drawn upon for your application essays.
5. In the competitive world of college applications, assume that all students applying to a particular school will have similar high school credentials and SAT scores. Participation in a summer program is one way to distinguish yourself. Beyond mere attendance, transcripts and evaluations from a summer program add substance to your application.
6. Do not assume, however, that attendance will automatically benefit your application at the particular school. There can be a disconnect between summer program offices and admissions offices. We discovered that in the normal course of business, our daughter's evaluations from UArts and her transcript from Syracuse were not part of her application folder at each respective school even though we listed her attendance on her applications. We had to specifically provide the UArts admissions office with her UArts evaluations and request that her Syracuse transcript be sent by the Syracuse transcript office to the Syracuse admissions office. If we had not done those things of our own initiative, those items would not have been in her admissions file. Her attendence would have been nothing more than a line item on her applications.</p>
<p>I think attending a summer program, specifically U-penn gives u an upper hand over your classmates because you get the college experience earlier. My friend went to Penn last summer (she's a senior) and it was a blast!! She took classes that the IB program at our school didnt offer and it gave her something to write about 4 apps.</p>
<p>I know from friend's experiences that St. Paul's is a wonderful place and an exceptional experience. It will give insight, knowledge, and help on college essays.</p>
<p>And St. Paul's has nothing to do with money - you have to be nominated and accepted with certain credentials. Go for it !!</p>
<p>Anyone go to the summer programs at Columbia University? I might be doing one in biology. A few alumni I know went and said they had a blast.</p>
<p>Think it'll have any positive effects on the admissions process later on down the road?</p>
<p>Participating in a college's summer program/precollege program doesn't help substantially, but it does help. If you've ever looked at applications or supplements, they specifically ask if you've ever attended any program affiliated with the school. They obviously wouldn't ask that if they didn't care. That said, if you could somehow connect your experience in that program with the rest of your application/hobbies/activities, it may be of greater help.</p>