<p>I'm planning to take a college credit course at Columbia (Intermediate micro) this summer. Has anyone been to this program and how was your experience?</p>
<p>it wouldn't help you get into colleges that much</p>
<p>Your experience is going to depend on the one particular professor who teaches your class. You can't generalize anything further.</p>
<p>Yeah...caveat emptor. These Ivy League summer programs won't necessarily get you in anywhere. I say you're better off saving the money and take the course at a school near to you. Also, MANY MANY schools do not accept any college credit taken before college! Columbia is one of them. Take the course at a community college or somewhere else, and engage in some heavy duty volunteering or research. That's a better way to use your summer.</p>
<p>Edit: the only way I can see this being helpful to you would be if you did extremely well in the class, and the professor was for some reason very impressed by you. Then you might be able to ask for a recommendation. He/she might not want to give it, though.</p>
<p>wait, wait... you are speaking of the college CREDIT course, right? The one that is usually seen as more "useless" to the college admissions realm is the other summer program, the one for high school students that does not offer credit.</p>
<p>This means that you are actually going to be attending the university, albeit as a high school student. Then, this will certainly help, in my opinion. Why? Because if you are taking this class with summer session college students, the difficulty you will be forced to face is going to be similar. If you do well, the fact that you did well at Columbia will give the experience more merit than if you did this at your State U, I think. Also, it is an intermediate level course, meaning that you knew enough about economics to get there... showing a line of interest... i think it is a good idea.</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments guys. </p>
<p>At the moment I am still unsure whether I will go to this columbia summer session. One of the reasons is that it costs a lot $$$.</p>
<p>Instead of attending college classes, I can do some some serious SAT prep (at the moment I have 2220) and try to improve that. </p>
<p>Ok. Do you think a high SAT score (around 2350) or an 'A' in a college class is more impressive in college admission?</p>
<p>Getting one A in a college class isn't going to make you get into a school like Columbia.</p>
<p>can you do both? then do both. Doing nothing this summer and just studying for the SAT will 1)make you go insane, 2)will look bad.</p>
<p>A strong rec from a full-time/tenured professor at Columbia could, however, be compelling to an admissions officer. At the same time, beware of the fact that many summer classes are not taught by the same profs as during the school year.</p>
<p>
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A strong rec from a full-time/tenured professor at Columbia could, however, be compelling to an admissions officer.
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</p>
<p>Ok, so you need:</p>
<p>1) to get an A;</p>
<p>2) happen to have a full-time/tenured prof;</p>
<p>3) happen to have a prof that would be willing to write a compelling / non-generic letter of rec and really go to bat for you</p>
<p>4) impress that prof so much that he can write more about you than "he got an A from me"</p>
<p>It is crazy to take a class just to hope you get a great letter in the end.</p>
<p>My course is actually taught by a PhD student and currently, 5 people enrolled. </p>
<p>Looks like the summer course is not happening. Well, I've got research and other camps to get on with anyway...</p>