<p>My son has been receiving a lot of mail since taking the PSAT. Some of the mail has been information about summer courses. Do you think attending a residential summer course would help with admission at a particular college? I realize that there are many other factors involved in admission. Just wondering if this would make any difference?</p>
<p>Don't pay for summer programs for that reason. I know kids who go to Harvard or Brown summer programs thinking that will help in admissions at those particular schools Maybe it helps show actual interest in the school if you spent a summer there and loved it, but that is a small part of admissions. Judge the summer program on its own merits.</p>
<p>For colleges that track interest, attending their summer programs may help. I do know, however, that Harvard and Princeton don't select students based on students' demonstrated interest.</p>
<p>For places like Harvard, summer programs are money makers for the college, and don't give advantages to students who attend them. Contrary to what their fancy brochures and high prices suggest, the programs also aren't particularly competitive. The main selection factor is: Can the family afford the program.</p>
<p>No, not really, unless something outstanding happens - special bond with the professor, research project that wins Intel award and so on.</p>
<p>Generally, those programs are just money makers for the U. They are very expensive, and anyone who can pay gets in. It does give you a closer look at the school, but for a very high price.</p>
<p>Some of the programs are very good, and will benefit the students academically, but they are not worth doing for the sole purpose of getting the boost in admissions.</p>
<p>My dd attended a Stanford program after soph year in a subject of great interest to her. Her critical writing skills took a major jump. The biggest impact on her, though, was a clear understanding of what it would be like to be in a classroom full of eager students, all of whom were invited to attend because of demonstrated academic talent. She came home determined to find that peer group in college. It proved to be a great motivator for the rest of her high school years. Living away from home on a campus for three weeks was also valuable for her. She did not have contact with Stanford professors, but the grad students who worked with her were excellent.</p>
<p>I think the benefit of doing a summer program is that it (a) shows that you're doing something with your summer and (b) you're interested in pursuing academics beyond what is required. I don't think it makes a difference where you do it though. Harvard isn't going to say "we should accept student X over student Y because X did a Harvard summer program and Y did one at Cornell."</p>
<p>ssmom
in Son's case, he attended two summer programs.The first, after HS soph year was at Penn State. He really had outgrown summer camp programs and it enabled him to take an interesting class or two, live in a dorm in a great college town, take a review class for the SAT in a calmer time frame than trying to fit it into his hectic academic year schedule and travel around in an organized manner to make college visits (part of the feature of the summer program).
His second program ,the following summer,enabled him to zero in on a specific academic interest,get some valuable advice from the faculty at that University about where to apply to follow that interest, have a fun few weeks in a great setting.
He didnt do either program with the intent of applying to those colleges, but he did wind up applying and being accepted to the second one (did not attend),
One unexpected outcome was that the University he is attending accepted the credits from both programs (they were credit bearing courses resulting in transcripts from those Universities.)</p>