My dd attended Ross Mathematics Program in her sophomore year. How do you indicate your position in your resume? Just student? selected student? researcher?
What did your student do at the camp?
It will be listed under extracurricular activities. Paid academic camps are not as valued as other summer on campus experiences unless they lead to some other aha moment referenced in an application essay. So focus on highlighting other activities in the common app. This is fine to have listed in the resume.
Ross is well regarded even if it is paid because it is highly selective. It doesn’t matter what you list it as. Just call it the Ross Math Summer Camp or something similar. You can just say engaged in a lot of very interesting math over the summer with like minded peers. In fact if Ross gives a recc letter, you can have your counsellor take and abstract from and include in his/her recc.
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Ross is extremely well-regarded. Tuition is not the same as “pay to play.” Usually if these prestigious programs charge tuition, the tuition barely covers the cost to run the program…and they often offer generous financial aid.
“Pay to play” means almost everyone with decent grades who takes the time to fill out the application, and can afford the high cost (which is usually a money-maker for the host), gets in. Basically, if you can pay, you can play.
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My reason for asking what your student did is that is what she should write in the description. The reader may not be familiar with the prestige of Ross (I wasn’t). Even if they are aware, you should focus on what she did while she was there rather than the prestige of being accepted.
Looking at the website, it describes their goal. I bolded a few lines that she could expand upon in her description of what she did at the camp.
Our central goal has always been to instruct bright young students in the art of mathematical thinking and to inspire them to discover for themselves that abstract ideas are valuable and important. First year participants take the basic course in number theory. For most students, this is the first time they are asked to consider entirely new questions, to develop methods that they have not seen before, and to justify every answer.
The value of a mathematics education lies not only in obtaining proficiency in computational tasks, but also in building a foundation for critical thinking. Students who have never asked why things work the way they do are not prepared to lead the way to future scientific innovation. It is precisely this independence of thought and questioning attitude that the Ross Program strives to nurture.
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I think I can safely say that if your kid was accepted into and attended ROSS, everyone knows how amazing it is and every professor in whatever school you apply to knows it too. Just saying ROSS is like saying, RSI or INTEL. It is a BIG deal, everyone (especially in the math community) knows what it is.
If you have to write something, talk about how much proof writing your kid did. That’s the whole point of the camp. Also be very specific about the types of math your kid did: knot theory, topology, etc. did they incorporate any computational mathematical proof into their day? If so, with what language? Be specific. Also, I might add a link to one of the projects/papers your kid did while you were there. If they did anything with a group, even better… but make sure the names of everyone who contributed to the work. I say this is important because I just heard a talk from a Cal Tech admissions person, and she said they look for group work because EVERYTHING the kids will do at Cal Tech is in a group, and their admits need to show that they can work in a group to solve difficult problems.
So, to recap: be as specific as possible as to how much proof writing, what kind of math, group work and any projects/problem sets completed while at ROSS.
Good luck!