<p>Hey guys this is my first post.</p>
<p>I am an international student in the process of applying to Harvard's summer thing, suggested to me by my school guidance counselor. I have done a bit of reading and apparently, these programs are easy way for colleges to siphon money from rich or asian kids, and that their courses are actually easier than real Harvard courses. I also read that their acceptance rate is quite high, like 50%, making it easy for anyone with ok grades to get in. My dad thinks it is a huge waste of money while my mom supports me going. So he has reluctantly agreed to me applying.</p>
<p>To what extent is this true? (Please state if you have been to the course in your answer)</p>
<p>-Are the courses "real" courses indicative of college undergraduate courses with real vauled credits and stuff?
-Are they very selective or just admit nearly anyone willing to pay?
-For those who have been there, is it worth it at all?</p>
<p>more on the second question, I am the equivalant of a US junior doing the IB diploma. My current estimated grades are very average around 32/42 with an A in TOK. My GCSE results were 6 A*'s, 3 A's and a B in additional maths. My frist SAT in december was 2110. How likely is it that I will be accepted(I will spend a lot of time on the essay/questions required)?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Its a way for the Ivy League to make cash in the summer. They don’t help you get into college THAT much. My friend’s sister went to Harvard Summer School (is that the name?) and said all of the people there were just legacies and did drugs all the time.
Have a great summer!</p>
<p>seriously??? I find it hard to believe that kids go there to waste time and do drugs… no, I don’t believe an Ivy League college would allow that, it would be bad for their reputation.</p>
<p>BTW I am not looking to do summer school because it will help me get into college. I am doing it primarily to see what REAL college is like, and maybe get ahead on credits. Hence the questions of the realness of the Harvard summer courses and credits.</p>
<p>im sure it’ll be a good experience to get a feel of what college is like. it’ll be a lot of fun!
nevertheless, my friend is going anyways.</p>
<p>You should go, especially if the program coordinator offers to write a recommendation, they help ALOT.</p>
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<p>Lol.</p>
<p>There’s a difference between for-credit courses and not-for-credit courses: the latter is the worthless, partying kind, while the former is more useful for the two reasons outlined below. Harvard seems to fall under the former, although it is rather pricey and there are similar alternatives available for a diminished price.</p>
<ol>
<li>For-credit courses are almost always taken along with regular college students. The courses are, of course, regular undergraduate classes in the university’s summer session. This is certainly a “real” college experience.</li>
<li>That’s why it’s so pricey–you get college credit. It’s not a slack-off-and-get-laid type of deal; you can get an “F” and waste US$10,000 if you don’t do the coursework.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, obviously, this is still a moneymaking program. All colleges do this (Harvard has a multimillion–or is it multibillion?–endowment fund; they don’t need to charge that much), and not just for high schoolers, too.</p>
<p>“(Harvard has a multimillion–or is it multibillion?–endowment fund; they don’t need to charge that much)”</p>
<p>Lol not that much, sure 10k is not that much. But I guess since it is basically the same as real college, it makes sense for it to cost similar to 2 months of real college.</p>
<p>"You should go, especially if the program coordinator offers to write a recommendation, they help ALOT. "</p>
<p>What do you mean by program coordinator and recomendation? Do you mean my school counselor writing a recomendation to help you get in to the summer program or do you mean the Harvard summer program coordinator writing a recomendation to get you into college?</p>
<p>$10,000 is a lot compared to other for-credit programs, such as the summer program at [Washington</a> University in St. Louis](<a href=“http://summerexperiences.wustl.edu/scholars]Washington”>http://summerexperiences.wustl.edu/scholars). That costs $6585 for seven credits; Harvard charges $10,055 for eight credits.</p>