Harvard Secondary Summer Program for high schoolers

<p>Is Harvard SSP summer program worth it's price tag of $10K? It's also a summer long program.</p>

<p>Yes and no. My nephew attended this program. Academically, it’s a lot of money to pay for a couple of classes. But socially, he gained a lot. He made friends from all over the world. When he returned to high school for his senior year, he was a celebrity on campus. He gained a lot of confidence in himself. He also learned that Harvard was not where he eventually wanted to go for undergrad, he instead applied and was accepted to Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Thanks. Well, my concern is also that my son is a very average student. We wouldn’t even have Harvard on our list for college undergrad, however, since Harvard is so reputable, this seemed to be a good or only exposure he’d have to such a school. His GPA is only 3.67 and SAT is a bit shy of only a 1860.
I think we should prob try to increase our SAT during the summer study rather than attend Harvard.</p>

<p>If you wantnto make friends from around the world, there are tons and tons of opportunities, far cheaper than this. Take Pueblo Ingles, for example- volunteer at their camp in Spain, earn a 100 volunteer hours, and whole camp is free if you pay your airfare to get there.</p>

<p>I’m sure it wasn’t too expensive when my son went to it about 5 years ago. But he did take a very intensive class in Java programming, got credit for it at his current college, and ended up with a Microsoft high school internship, which reinforced what he was interested in.</p>

<p>In his case, I’d say it was a great experience, looks good on any college application, and it did help lead him to other opportunities. It was reasonably priced for us, so it was worth the money. It was directly in his field of interest, and a very interesting experience for him. If he’d taken an easy course, or was just there for social interaction, it wouldn’t be worth it.</p>

<p>Plus, can’t your kid just go for half the summer, a short course (for less money)?</p>

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<p>Is it ‘our’ SAT but ‘his’ GPA?</p>