I was accepted into a summer program, AI4All. I understand it was pretty competitive. Does that mean I stand a decent chance of being admitted into a more selective college? Thanks.
No. It can’t hurt, however. And if a school gives merit, it can help that way too. For example, my son attended Purdues engineering one week program and got $10K a year. Few get engineering scholarships at Purdue and his stats were solid, but not spectacular.
If it’s a competitive admission, it certainly will be reflective of it. However, paid programs are in some ways seen as for the benefit of the wealthy, etc.
Like anyone, have a list of Reach, target, and safety schools. There are certain schools that are reaches for anyone and everyone.
Not that type of program. But there are some prestigious free summer programs that are very good indicators that students accepted will be accepted for undergrad. My DD did one of those. All of the students were also accepted to other elite schools.
No. My D was accepted to a competitive summer program in high school at a very selective college she later applied to. She was waitlisted at that school. Any paid-for summer programs are pretty much about making money for whoever runs the program and colleges know this.
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I looked up this program, which is aimed at URM students in CS. I think it is a free program. If you are a member of an under represented minority group in CS, and you have good grades and a rigorous coursework that would prepare you for CS, I think it would help your application. No guarantees, of course.
What are those programs? Maybe I can check into them for next summer. I don’t know if I’ll get in, but maybe it’s worth checking.
That’s kind of what I thought. I thought it was a good signal, but by no means a guarantee. I have good grades, but haven’t taken the SAT or anything yet. Ai4all s free.
Ah, a free program is a good thing. Yes, include it on your app. It won’t be a guarantee of anything, but it’s a nice addition. I’d find a way to make clear on the app that the program is effectively a competitive scholarship opportunity.
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Certain paid summer programs can be also be an indication of higher admissions odds. I am only familiar with mathematics and some STEM summer programs. Of course, it is not that the program itself increases your odds, but rather that certain programs look for the same qualities as highly selective universities. As such, they can provide an “early read” on how strong a candidate you are.
One of the most expensive, at ~$7K, is the Summer Science Program. Look at the college outcomes here on page 8:
And those results are no fluke. Look here for literally two decades of outcomes in the same format: The Universal Times – Summer Science Program
If you can be accepted to SSP, or Canada USA Mathcamp (also paid), or a few others, your chances at a T20 university are really very high.
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Fabulous students in the program. Yale, MIT and Stanford lead the way.
Despite being hosts, it didn’t help out IU (0) or Purdue (1) much. Hopefully those schools get $$ out of it.
I suspect that it will “help” in that an admitted student has shown the characteristics necessary to be admitted to a competitive program, and those characteristics are likely quite similar to those colleges look for. Any valuable experience gained will look good on an application.
I doubt there is an explicit “give x bonus point for attending our program” in the process.
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Take a look at the (incomplete) list of summer programs on MIT’s admissions site.