<p>Can somebody recommend a good educational residential summer camp (hopefully under $2000) for chemistry/biology/psychology subjects? I did the search on the web and all the descriptions sound great (though most prohibitively expensive), but I am looking for a personal recommendation. We live in KY and last year my daughter went to Gifted Summer Program in University of Louisville for a 3 week chemistry camp. The course description on the web sounded great, but my daughter said that she did not learn anything and they did not do hardly anything from the course description. $2000 is a lot of money for us and if I am spending that much I want her to learn something, not just to have a good time (she can do it for much cheaper at home). My daughter is a freshman this year. She had pretty high SAT score when she was in 7th grade, so she will make any SAT cut-off if some camps require it.</p>
<p>Miami University of Ohio has a good summer scholars program but your daughter may be too young for it, and there may be an Ohio bias for admission.</p>
<p>Years ago, the National Science Foundation ran/endorsed a variety of programs at a number of colleges. Don't know if they still do.</p>
<p>Another option is to go to your local community college and find a course she can audit, or even take for credit. It will be a lot cheaper and possibly more informative.</p>
<p>Are Duke Tip or CTY out of your price range? My S took Chemistry and Physics at CTY to prepare him for the AP classes and did very well in those classes. He also enjoyed his experience a lot. Northwestern may have some less expensive classes that would be worth looking into.</p>
<p>lots of boarding schools have very good summer programs: Andover, Choate, Exeter, etc.</p>
<p>generally, the more selective the camp is, the more likely it is to academically worthwhile. Camps where anyone who pays the fee can go are least likely to be substantial. So look for camps with SAT score cut-offs, or a qualifying exam, or fairly significant application process (transcript, recs, etc). Cost and quality do not necessarily go together, since some of the most prestigious camps has significant outside funding making them reduced cost, or even free to participants. Some free ones, like RSI and Olympiad camps, are incredibly competitive to get into (like harder than getting into Harvard). Others, especially those aimed at minorities or girls interested in science/engineering, may be easier to get into but still have significant outside funding. Also, even the most prestigious, high quality program may turn out to be a disappointment to your particular child if they happen to end up in a course they don't like as much as they expected, or if they fail to mesh with staff and other students. There's an element of chance, as with anything. </p>
<p>Here are a couple of lists that might help:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ams.org/employment/mathcamps.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.ams.org/employment/mathcamps.html</a>
<a href="http://www.jhu.edu/%7Egifted/imagine/linkA.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.jhu.edu/~gifted/imagine/linkA.htm</a></p>
<p>Although it's over the $2000 range, you might want to look at Vanderbilt's Program for Talented Youth <a href="http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/pty/%5B/url%5D">http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/pty/</a>
The course offerings are somewhat limited, but my daughter attended several years ago and had a wonderful experience, both academically and socially. She attended a program in Virginia the next year which I thought was a huge disappointment in terms of supervision and social activities. This would be near you so transporation wouldn't be prohibitive. My son worked for PTY the year after my daughter attended and he thought it was wonderful as well. He spent 3 years in the Duke Summer Programs as a student and worked for them one summer, so I think his opinion of PTY is high praise.
Good luck!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.exeter.edu/summer/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.exeter.edu/summer/index.htm</a></p>
<p>Financial Aid is available and awarded to 30% of participants.</p>
<p>
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a good educational **residential summer camp
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**</p>
<p>The word camp throws me a little bit. Why did you choose that rather than summer program? Camp implies some outdoorsy element I guess?</p>
<p>Friend's daughter did the Exeter program and loved it.</p>
<p>Thank you everybody. I think I have a lot of good leads here to start working on.</p>