<p>So once more, I have a received a letter from a summer program called Engineering and Technology from Envision Career Forum. Of course, it claims I was nominated and says I was one of the top students in the country like the last one I received, which was bs. However, the only reason why I'm still looking at this is because the program involves Engineering, which is currently my first choice major when I head into college. Should I still take a look at it? One of Engineering and Technology's campuses is UC Berkeley, which is only an hour away for me, so all the more reason for me to look at it.</p>
<p>On a different note, a lot of people who say on here the summer programs you have to pay for are not that much of an honor (which I do agree). But they never say which are the respectable ones that are free and you should be looking for. What are they? Examples?</p>
<p>~ftf</p>
<p>I receive so much BS from all these programs trying to entice me into their law programs because I demonstrated interest in Poli Sci on my PSAT for the last two years. Anything that claims that you are “among the nation’s top students” tends to be a lie, especially if you’re expected to pay large sums of money to participate. If there are scholarships available, however, I’d look into that. I did a Model UN summer camp at Harvard University which was 5k - I had the fee waived, though. That wasn’t a scam, as it was facilitated by UNAGB, which is part of the United Nations Association of America, which is actually run by the UN, but I think that was a rare case. </p>
<p>As for respectable, free engineering programs - anything at MIT, basically, lol. MITES (Minority Introduction to Engineering Science) is a very prestigious program that a friend of mine participated in last summer, it involved Calc-based Physics, Calc III, Number Theory, etc, etc.</p>
<p>The first letter I got of these, People to People (which everyone says is a scam), was offering scholarships. Missed the deadline anyways. What about anything related to urban planning, which is my true interest, but no one seems to have heard of that field. Civil engineering provides me the closest feeling to that field, and if I were decent a t drawing, architecture. Just curious, but for MITES, do Asian-Americans count? Anyways, I’m nowhere near prepared for anything beyond Algebra II yet, (sophomore here). But I’m guessing if you replace the word MIT with Stanford, I’m guessing it will be the same anyway. Also, what’s the best way to find internships?</p>
<p>@fightthefuture - Asian-Americans were included in MITES, my friend was Chinese. (Well, she’s still Chinese… but you get my point.) White people were also included, which was odd. There seemed to be an equal blend of every race. However, I think you had to be in Trig/Pre-Cal to be considered, as Calc+ would be too intense for AlgII and below. But there are tons of programs for kids of all ages and in all grades at MIT. </p>
<p>Yes, any reputable college or university of Stanford/Harvard/MIT/etc’s standard will be a very competitive, very prestigious program. </p>
<p>Forgive me, but I don’t know what urban planning is - I’m a history buff with an interest in Philosophy, so I know very little about the nuances of engineering aside from it being math intensive.</p>
<p>Have you considered talking to your GC about potential programs? Do you live in the city? Or a more rural area? That also probably impacts what programs are available to you. I live in Greater Boston, so a lot of the schools around here, ranging from Hah-vahd to UMass have programs and internships for high schoolers. I imagine you’d be in a similar situation if you lived in Los Angeles, San Fran, San Diego, etc.</p>
<p>I’m in Silicon Valley. I just go to a charter high school over my big local school for various reasons. My school is big on guidance and closeness, so it’s no problem talking to my counselor (which is a secondary role of all the teachers). Plus, their all young and graduated from top schools so I could easily find out what they did. At the local school there’s only two counselors at the big school for a population of 2,600 and everyone says they are crappy. My mom’s work is only 5 minute’s drive from Stanford, my dad 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Sounds fantastic - I don’t see why you need to rely on paid-BS programs, you probably have quite a few opportunities available to you as is.</p>
<p>Yes, I just need to build up a list of ideas (remember, competitive programs means not everyone will get in) on what I can do for summer. The only reason why is cause of all the spam mail. But I think it’s better to just plan ahead, seeing I didn’t do much this past summer. I do think I’m already getting too antsy about summer, ugh.</p>
<p>If you’re really interested in summer employment I would look at speaking to someone from an employment agency because they will have many more resources and tools to get you the type of job you’re interested in. Recruiters will contact you based on your skill and your work experience and go from there. The best company I came across was granted dot com. They gave me so many helpful tips on getting employed and I was able to find a job just two weeks after signing up. I would seriously consider it if you’re still looking for work next summer.</p>