<p>I got into a low-prestige program because the application process was simple (no essays, just fill in information, transcript, recs, etc). Should I apply to a more prestigious program and use that as a backup?</p>
<p>ty</p>
<p>lolwut. What program ?</p>
<p>I’m going to the SIG Harvard program, but it didn’t seem very hard to get in.</p>
<p>I’ve attended a reasonably selective math camp (Ross) for three summers as a first year, junior counselor, and counselor and also attended a very selective short program (SPARC) last year as well so these answers are based off those experiences and from talking with people who attended other summer camps (mainly math and some science ones as well). I think prestige is correlated with things that matter but doesn’t directly matter much itself. Prestigious programs often cost less because they attract outside funding and aren’t trying to make a profit instead of less prestigious programs that are trying to make a profit. Prestigious programs often have better students and more rigorous curricula as well. To the extent prestige measures these things it’s a worthwhile metric but the prestige of summer programs has few other benefits. I don’t think it matters very much for college admissions and you’re certainly not going to get jobs or impress many people because of what summer program you attended.</p>