How Important are Summer Programs in College Admissions?

Parents Forum
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<p>With all the threads about summer programs, I thought some parents may have this question. There is a lot of useful information on these threads, and most parents emphasize that the motivation was not to pad a college application. However, I thought it might be helpful to hear about how kids fared who did not go to these programs.</p>

<p>My two oldest both got into top schools doing very ordinary things in the summer. By ordinary I mean low wage boring jobs, scout camp, athletic training, volunteer work, driving school, reading, and family vacations. Summers were low key with lots of "chill" time.</p>

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<p>IMHO (and this is just my opinion) the most important thing a teen can do during the summer is what interests them the most - whatever that is.</p>

<p>If, however, you want to look good to a college (again, my opinion) avoid programs that only require that you spend money and you're in. That sounds more like parental initiative than student initiative.</p>

<p>My bet is that the best thing you can do for a college resume is to work for the summer - paid, volunteer, internsip - but WORK....no fancy camps, no special summer programs at colleges, no special forums....WORK. If they can work in their field of interest, all the better. Spend days around real adults with real jobs, real responsibilities, real problems.......learn how to mix/cooperate/produce with people who are different.....come home tired.</p>

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<p>I don't think they make that much of a difference, Cookiemom. I have seen kids get into top schools without the high gear stuff. Obviously if the student gets into a prestigious program like the Governor's school, or gets national or international attention with his activities, celebrity status, academic notice, it can make a difference, but those are not things you can just get by applying early. I also feel it helps for the kids to do something that shows another side of them, shows they can earn money and spend time with people outside of their community, doing service--the list is endless. I don't think it bodes well to be going on jaunts that are bought by parents' bucks, nor do I think empty page looks very good. Not a good idea to be a couch potato and exercise the remote and game controls.</p>

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<p>I got a full, all expenses paid scholarship to one of my summer scholarship through an essay competition. I made sure to mention that on my application so that I didn't look like a spoiled kid who had his parents pay 5,000 dollars for a one week summer program. Just a thought - try to be specific.</p>

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<p>Actually, my only parental concern about summer programs is whether they produce intellectual or social growth in my children. I like having my children around the house, and last year's experiment in having our oldest son away for two three-week programs was nerve-wracking, but good for him. </p>

<p>In the world of college admission, it is probably every bit as good to work all summer to make money--especially if the applicant's family really needs the money--as it is to go to any summer program. That said, the most impressive summer programs are those with hard entrance requirements and a rigorous academic program. In the math world (the world I have investigated, on account of my son's interests), the impressive programs are </p>

<p>1) Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOP), which one can only get into through a series of increasingly rigorous tests, and which involves studying math intensely for several weeks, mostly with college professors; </p>

<p>2) MathCamp, which one gets into by testing (on a not outrageously hard test), with huge amounts of freedom but also huge varieties of intense math courses and lots of world-famous mathematicians; </p>

<p>3) Ross Program/PROMYS, which one gets into by test, are possibly ranked higher in esteem than 2) above, and which involve intensive research on number theory; </p>

<p>and </p>

<p>several other programs I'm too tired to type about right now. Oh, yeah, arguably Research Science Institute outranks all the programs above, as some applicants turn down all the others to go to RSI (which is for students between their junior and senior years, ordinarily). </p>

<p>But, again, it's not strictly necessary (for college admission) to do any summer program. Do them for fun, do them for personal growth, do them to make friends, but don't worry about admission consequences if you have to work for a living.</p>

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<p>New Summer Program</p>

<p>I’m currently a senior in the Jerome Fisher Program for Management and Technology (wow that’s a mouthful) at the University of Pennsylvania. It’s basically a joint degree program offered to around 50 students a year that allows them to get degrees from both Wharton and Engineering. Anyway, long intro aside, I wanted to highlight that the M&T program started offering a summer program this year. It’s called the Management and Technology Summer Institute (M&TSI) and the goal is to help students discover the synergies between business and technology, which is the essence of the M&T program. For more info on it, the website is <a href="http://www.mandt.wharton.upenn.edu/mtsi.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mandt.wharton.upenn.edu/mtsi.htm&lt;/a>. My personal take on it is that it’s a good program because it: </p>

<p>1) exposes students to both engineering and business, and more importantly the cross section of the two (so you get good breadth and more bang for your buck in a way)
2) the residential team advisors (RTAs) are current M&T students who can give lots of useful and honest info about the M&T program or just business/engineering/life/etc. in general
3) lets students get a feel for Penn</p>

<p>If you want more info on the M&T program, I just posted my two cents under the Ivy League -> University of Pennsylvania area. hopefully this info helps!</p>

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<p>Tokenadult:</p>

<p>Last year my kid got selected to some program on your list. He attended one of these programs. However, this year he has no interest in attending the same program. He feels his interests are changing and may do something to explore about himself. He wants to explore different options through dufferent summer program.</p>

<p>Hichew:
Thanks for giving a link.</p>

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<p>Hmmm. My daughter went on a summer jaunt or two paid for by her parents' money. My understanding was that the important thing was for her to getting the most out of whatever experiences she had, regardless of what they were, how much they cost, or who paid for them. And if that meant a trip to Europe, then she got the most she could out of that.</p>

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<p>It may depend on the field, whether it is important to use the summer for study. In music, if you take the summer off, you are way behind. It takes at least as long to get back up to the level at which you stopped as you took off, so if you were at level x in May, took three months off until September, it may be December before you find your "chops". This is disasterous if you intend to do auditions for anything. </p>

<p>In the area of strings, if one intends to pursue them professionally, it is absolutely required that summers are used in a disciplined setting in order to get the techincal work accomplished. One well know professional told my child there were about seven years of summer study necessary. I imagine piano is the same. </p>

<p>While it would be great to spend a summer just being a teen, if there are goals, in this very competitive world, it is a real problem. As I tell our youngster, you do not have to do this, you can chose to do something else. But if this is what you want to do, you have to do it right. We are not interested in making the financial commitment to support this very expensive career effort, if you are not willing to do their part, i.e. what all the professionals we know have told us is necessary. This is reality. </p>

<p>SIGH!</p>

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<p>With regards to summer programs: we found that having a recommendation from a faculty member of the college addressing the student's quality of work did help. Most programs, however, do not seem to be taught by faculty on staff, but rather guest faculty. </p>

<p>At any rate, my kids picked the programs because they wanted to do them, not because they thought it would help get them an admit.</p>

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<p>I also think that summer time well spent-whether it's working or doing one's passion can't hurt.Does anyone know about the Governor's School in NJ for dance? My daughter has spent many summers with Dance Company affiliated schools and I wondered how challenged she'd be.Anyone?Thanks!</p>

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<p>My D just got into Dartmouth. She has always enjoyed keeping busy, but she has never done a summer program. Her summers have been spent doing lots of different activities with her friends that were in our community. She has volunteered at a tennis camp at our recreation program and she has volunteered at the public library. She has had to do summer teams for high school soccer and tennis. Being an avid reader she has read a lot in the summer. She also worked in our local video store.
My S is a freshman and I would be happy if he would have the same kind of laid back summer. I am not sure they would be such motivated students without a break over the summer. They need some downtime.</p>

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<p>I agree about the down time, and that is a real problem in the high skill maintenance fields. Probably this is what delineates them, however, those who are compelled in their dedication are the ones who make it. It is rough to have to be that concentrated, or should we say "obsessed". Maybe that is what it takes. It is part of the decision making about entering some of these fields, is one that committed or not?</p>

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<p>We allowed our youngest child (now a Jr) to attend an intensive music program last summer in order for her to see what it would take to do a music performance major in college. She loved it and we were convinced she is really dedicated to her music. We had never allowed a child to attend long summer programs believing that work or volunteer work and family time were more important. A teacher and a college admissions counselor pushed us into letting her apply and attend. I don't regret it and she will be in a music program this summer. Will it help her get into a college? The auditons next year will be the determining factor, but her summer program served an important purpose.</p>

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<p>I just read that summers showing long term committment to something,travel,volunteering, are very important .I'm sure for some students(the Dartmouth gal-obviously a smart one)they have much to offer,but for others it can make or break if it's a choice of one student over another.</p>

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<p>I'm a sophmore and someone told me to come here to ask about that. Does anyone know how to do some kind of medical related internship in Texas particularly?</p>

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<p>There is a good summer program in Texas( Lamar University,Beaumont Texas honors and leadership program) after the sophomore year(Though not medical ralated) . After the junior year there are quite a few medical internship programs- Baylor college of medicine has a Summer science for seniors program, Clark scholars program at Texas Tech . Baylor University a High School Summer Science Research Fellowship Program. Welch scholars program is a chemistry research program which also includes Biochemistry.</p>

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<p>I truly believe that my S's participation in summer (pre-college) programs in graphic design helped him get into UCLA. He thinks that the summer he spent at the Ringling School of Art and Design carried some weight because another student he met there also goes to UCLA (in fact, they're roomies this year). In specialized majors, demonstrating a long-term and in-depth interest in that field seems to make a good impression. Just a thought.</p>

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<p>Yes, I agree. People who major in Architecture, at least the 5-year program say that the summer programs spent being interns somewhere or in a college summer program helps a lot. Susan's daughter did an internship and someone else's son did a summer program and he is at Cornell now.</p>

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<p>I went to the Columbia University Summer Program a while ago, and took Global Politics. It had to do with what I was interested in, and I really enjoyed it. The next summer I actually did an internship at a district attorney's office, so I think its best if you can do a little of both. However it is nice to make connections with the people at the university, I got a nice summer program recommendation from one of my teachers</p>