How Important are Summer Programs in College Admissions?

<p>A couple of answers to questions above. My D's public high school has fully credited her Brown courses. </p>

<p>D is interested in neuro medicine. Brown offered Neuro 101 the first summer along with Cognitive Learning. The second summer she got Medicine, Law, and Morality with Modern Middle Eastern History. None of those would have ever been available in the high school or Jr. College at home. The professors were exceptional. The student body was diverse.</p>

<p>My D started asking for summer in college her freshman year. I put her off until sophmore year. She related better to older kids than the ones in her classes. She also wanted a break from a less than preferrable home life. She could have spent the summer with me, but it wouldn't have provided the intellectual outlet that a strongly academic summer program provided. Some kids just want to learn and excel. They can do it at home, on the computer, or in structured programs, as long as they have the support necessary.</p>

<p>Northstarmom, what a wonderfully descriptive and helpful reply! So much better than my own feeble attempt. I really like the way you've laid out the value of experiencing and making the most of one's summer, as well as the way you've given several very different examples as to how one might use one's time creatively. Excellent!</p>

<p>marite, I have to tell you that I loved your description of both the French experience as well as one of your own earliest memories where you wrote:

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Children go there at a much earlier age than in the US. I went to one as a 6-year old. I can't recall much of what happened except that a huge number of kids got lice and we walked around with turbans on our heads for several days.

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;)</p>

<p>bandit_TX, it certainly sounds as though your daughter was extremely focussed and found herself some excellent opportunities, indeed.</p>

<p>Reading many of these examples, except the "lice and turban" one ;), certainly makes me wish that I could attend a summer program or two...perhaps that's what Elder Hostel will do for me, one day. :)</p>

<p>Thanks for all the helpful replies, up till now the only thing I ever did in summer was go to my grandparents', go to friends' places, and go scuba diving in various places (could that be mentioned as an EC..?); now spending the summer in a law firm is definitely on my agenda. Cornell here I come!
Oh and I need to do college visits. And rugby.. and getting those A's at school... Wow looks like I can wave goodbye to free time..</p>

<p>Scuba diving is recreation and perhaps a hobby but not what is normally considered to be an EC.</p>

<p>what if it's extreme scuba-diving-shark-wrestling? :p</p>

<p>If you lose to the shark -- and survive to tell the tale -- it might make an interesting lead-in for your essay. . . .</p>

<p>Help please, what and where is CTY?</p>

<p>
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Help please, what and where is CTY?

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</p>

<p><a href="http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/summer/grades7above.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/summer/grades7above.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Of course scuba diving can be an EC! Anything you devote a lot of time to outside of the normal school curriculum can be an EC. It is not at all restricted to activities you do through school or activities you do as part of a group. "Hobbies" can certainly be ECs. Scuba diving, or swimming in your neighborhood pool,are just as much ECs as swimming or diving for a team. Running on your own is just as much an EC as running the same amount with a track team. Writing a novel is just as much as EC as writing for the school paper. Taking artistic photos is just as much an EC as taking photos for the school paper.</p>

<p>I agree with Texas. For something to be an EC, it should take some sustained commitment. I imagine that scuba diving involves quite a bit of practice and skill; it could also make for a very interesting essay.</p>

<p>Hey guys, sorry to be off topic, just a quick question. How do you know which summer program is good and which ones are not? I mean, being a high school student, I get these fancy brochures of exciting opportunities in the summer.(ex. Presiential classroom, summer at brown, jr. statesmen summer school....)
Does some program carry more weight than others? B/c programs like jr. statesmen summer school actually offer you classes at colleges during the summer, while ones like Presiential classroom takes you a tour/camp thingie...Thanks for all the help....</p>

<p>"How do you know which summer program is good and which ones are not?"</p>

<p>I gave my answer to that early in the thread. You find out what people in the field think are impressive programs, which generally are programs that someone has to TEST into that go deep into the subject. I gave examples of indisputably good math programs. </p>

<p>But I also answered more broadly, and less relatedly to the original post's choice of subject, by saying that ANY activity someone does during the summer is a good activity if it is good for that person and that person's family. Don't worry about it too much.</p>

<p>i've done a whole lot of stuff during the summers. The past two summers this has included taking classes(actual academic courses, not bs ones) at a local cc and also volunteering in a program i set up in a foreign country where I teach english to disadvantaged kids, all in all, I find summers a nice opportunity to take things which are challenging but are also fun. </p>

<p>Don't fall prey to those "prestigious" programs that arrive chock full of glossy brochures and where the only requisite to getting in is your parent's pocketbook. One of these programs is the Explo program. They advertise a summer at Yale taking academic classes when in reality it solely consists of high priced summer camp in yale dorms attending classes taught by counselors... imagine the academic nature of those classes. I remember that in one of the classes I took, the "prof" discussed how to make chess pieces out of empty beer cans.
The whole experience was nothing like what I was looking for.</p>

<p>has anyone heard of Brekathrough Collaborative?</p>

<p>It's a teaching internship, where i teach kids and stuff
would that be helpful?</p>

<p>I'm doing the Brown U. summer program.</p>

<p>DS had a great experience at Rose-Hulman's Operation Catapult about 6 years ago, for someone interested in doing hands-on research.</p>

<p>
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Breakthrough Collaborative...is a teaching internship, where i teach kids and stuff
would that be helpful?

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</p>

<p>YES! That sounds like a very worthwhile way to spend a summer.</p>

<p>"Excel Pre-college Enrichment" summer study abroad programs? </p>

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<p>Just wondering if any1 has ever went on an Excel pre-college....program. I was thinking about going on the Oxford/Tuscany trip where you spend 11 days @ Oxford, 6 in paris, and 11 in tuscany, or somethiing like that. for those of u who dont know, its 4 weeks, u take 1 "major class" that meets 4 days a week, and 1 minor that meets twice, and the rest of the time is pretty much up to u to spend on local trips and cultural interaction. I'm reallly interested in international relations and global politics so i figured that this would be the program for me. If someone has or knows someone with experience in this program or a similar program, feedback would be great.</p>

<p>My son did a summer intensive program at Carnegie Mellon in Arch. at 16, he loved it and grew up so much. Other summers he volunteer inturned for in an Arch firm and then a paid internship in another Arch firm, and then worked waiting tables in a banquet hall as well as Abercrombie folding clothes in the stock room. He must hve impressed someone at CMU because our mouths dropped open when they offerd him full 5 year scholarship. He is now at Cornell Arch 1st year and Fresh Class Pres. I think it add so much scope to a childs view - my daughter will do one also. They are only a few weeks - he had lots of down time.</p>

<p>Which business-oriented summer programs are commendable?</p>