important questions about summer session 2012

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>i'm a high school junior and will be applying for summer session at Penn, 2012.
however, it bothers me a lot about the difference between the "young scholar program", the "college course program" and the no-credit academies program. It seems like the courses that offer are pretty much the same(i'm looking for bio-chemistry related areas), but which one is better? which one looks good on the college app?
also, i'm confused about the tuition and fees, too.
according to the official website,
the fees are as below:</p>

<p>===============================================================
Penn Summer High School Programs Tuition & Fees</p>

<p>Academies (4-weeks)</p>

<pre><code>$7,599 Residential Tuition
$6,599 Day Student Tuition for Academies
</code></pre>

<p>Pre-College Program (6-weeks, residential only)</p>

<p>1 College Course + 1 Non-Credit Enrichment Course</p>

<pre><code>$10,299 Residential Tuition
</code></pre>

<p>1.5 College Course (Biology with Lab) + 1 Non-Credit Enrichment Course (optional)</p>

<pre><code>$12,199 Residential Tuition
</code></pre>

<p>2 College Courses</p>

<pre><code>$13,299 Residential Tuition
</code></pre>

<p>===================================================================</p>

<p>that seems unreasonably expensive to me. is this normal?
if every school is like this, i might consider applying for financial aid...has anybody done it before? does it decrease my chance of getting in?
thank you.</p>

2

<p>Everything I’ve heard about those things is that it really has no impact on whether you get in, though it wouldn’t hurt you if you do those things. It is expensive because the courses are Penn courses; Tuition costs around $25,000 per semester (plus around $5,000 for housing, depending on the college house); I would imagine that Penn calculated the single course rate by dividing tuition by four, since CAS students are expected to take four courses per semester. That means a course should cost around $6,250, plus fees. Housing, at $5,000/15 weeks, translates to $333 per week, or $1300 for a four week program and $2,000 for a six week program.</p>

<p>I’m sure there are plenty of advantages to doing this kind of thing. Not only do you get experience in a major university environment, you also have the potential to earn college credits before you matriculate, and most of the courses you would take have credit transferrable to other universities. Theoretically, if you take two courses as a high school student, that could satisfy two courses’ worth of credits when you are in college, which could allow you to graduate early.</p>

<p>That said, I was intrigued by the program when I got the letter in the mail. My parents told me that I had to work over the summer, so that idea went out the window, and to be honest, it made no demonstrable difference in my educational life. It’s just one of those nice-things-to-do-if-you-can-and-really-like-school type things.</p>