I’m a Junior in High School I just recently got accepted for the Horizons Academics Online Research Program for Fall 2020 after completing an application and interview. For background: in this trimester-long program, I would be instructed by an Ivy League assistant research professor/lecturer in a 4 to 6 person class of a subject of my choice, complete a 20-25 page research paper on a topic of my choosing, and have the opportunity to get a letter of recommendation from the instructor or even get help getting the paper published if I do well in my course. I’m not extremely set on any of the courses (I’m still sort of unsure of what I want my future major to be), the rate of acceptance is about 30%, the time commitment is expected to be at least 100 hours, and it costs $5,000.
Is participating in this program something that would potentially substantially boost my college application for competitive colleges, or would it be considered not that unique/impressive? Is this a good use of my time, or could/should I be doing other better things to help me in college apps? (I’m a Junior, so I have a few things going on at the moment, so I want to be sure I use my time wisely) Basically, is this program worth it?
If I were cynical, I might say that only 30% of students are accepted because many more students apply seeking financial aid than the program can afford to fund.
You will pay $5000 to write a very long essay. The website seems pretty credible, and I don’t see them making promises of publication. It’s a relatively new company, and it seems a substantial number of their PhD mentors are based overseas, as are many of the students. The time differences might be an issue.
If you want assistance writing a very long paper that you might possibly be able to get published, and you have $5k to spare, go for it. I find this line from the website interesting, and reasonably honest: “We do offer free guidance on publication if a student gets an A grade or better, and we provide a free list of publications and competitions that students may use regardless of their grade.” Free guidance and free lists could be obtained here on CC. They give no guarantee of anything. IOW, if you do the extra work, perhaps you will get published.
I suspect admissions officers will very much view this as pay to play, which it is. Why not join your high school science research or humanities research program for free, AND get credit? The credentials of the people mentoring the program aren’t relevant, IMO.
It might appeal to some admissions officers at some colleges, but if this interests you, I would do it solely because you are self-motivated to study something in depth. I think it will be viewed in the same light as anyone else’s intensive extracurricular activities. You are interested and you want to do it. That’s the primary benefit.
ETA: There are at least couple of unforgivable editing errors on the website that give me pause.
Thank you so much for this thoroughreply! It was instrumentally helpful and it’s truly appreciated 
I thought Linda’s reply was pretty on point! Do a research program if you’re interested in the topic, and you think you’ll be able to do a paper in the program you can’t do on your own / through in-school resources. As far as I know, Horizon is selective (I’ve had students get rejected). I’m not sure I agree about the guarantee of publication question though. I don’t think there’s any way to guarantee that a paper can get published (unless it’s in a predatory journal where you just pay to publish, or unless you cross some ethical boundaries in over-editing a student’s work to the point that it’s not theirs anymore). I think promising publication would be unhealthy at best (just ask and PhD what they think about “publish or perish”), although it’s a nice thing to aim for.