<p>anyone know about this program or attended? i got a few brochures and it sounds really tempting.. any reviews?</p>
<p>I attended JSA Summer School at Northwestern in 2005. It really depends why you want to go...</p>
<p>My professor who taught AP Gov had no idea what the AP exam was like, and didn't prepare you for it at all - he was just a college professor who taught intro government classes. Speech class was fun, and a good way to get another A on your transcript with honors credit, you'll also probably get an A in whatever AP you take, but you don't learn much and won't be prepared for the AP exam the following spring. (BTW - at Georgetown you just take one class, I've heard this is the way to go)</p>
<p>They discontinued Northwestern's program, and if I went again I would have gone to Georgetown anyway. I had to go to Northwestern because at the time it was the only program that allowed incoming Freshmen to attend. Be forewarned that your professors may not be top-of-the-line and almost never teach at the actual college you go to during the summer. At Georgetown, they do get excellent speakers (the website flaunts this as do the brochures) and its a cool place to be (DC) plus you only have one class. Deff go for segment 2, the smarter kids attend at that time. Since the JSA program is so huge, you'll find that not everyone is that smart...actually there were some pretty dumb kids when I went, and I was more intelligent than a lot of the juniors/seniors (as a freshmen). It's cool because you really get to dive into politics for a month, and can usually strike up some conversations about politics with anyone, anytime. It's pretty laid back - we got a lot of freedom, some good opporutnies to make some friends (specially the opposite sex) and the dances are killer...people just go crazy.</p>
<p>I'm sort of rambling, but feel free to ask more specific questions (as I'm not sure what aspect you have questions about) and I'll provide as much info as I can.</p>
<p>My sister did this at Yale 2 summers ago and loved it.</p>
<p>I did this last summer at Princeton and would go back in a heartbeat. I took Gov and my professor was actually a teacher at Princeton and he was AMAZING. Best teacher I've ever had, hands down. So class wise, I had really good experiences.
I'm not going to lie, it was a LOT of work. I think our gov teacher was a little more intense than some of the others but all the same, classes basically consumed every spare minute of time there. Still, I loved it. I met some great people and I learned really valuable life skills that made dealing with a heavy work load as a junior this year much easier. I see a lot of my friends struggling to balance all their AP classes but I learned how to do that last summer. After JSA at Princeton, I feel like I can take on any amount of work, lol.
As for the cost, I applied for financial aid so that got me some money and I also did fundraising so in the end, the total cost wasn't overwhelming. But seriously, DO IT. I highly reccomend the program. If you're truly passionate about politics (which I definitely am), you'll have an amazing summer.</p>
<p>Oh - feel free to PM me if you have any questions :)</p>
<p>I went to Yale last summer. It was a really good program - I don't know about Northwestern, but I know that the Ivy League college programs pulled in alot of very smart kids. Don't worry about the acceptance rate - it's I think 80 percent. But don't let that sway you either, it is probably because all the kids are so smart. It's a great program and I really recommend it. There's alot of work, but it's also really fun.</p>
<p>Mmmm, yes. Ditto to everything Isun mentioned. I met some truly brilliant and diverse individuals at Princeton and quite honestly, the people there made my experience worth it. I'm still in touch with all of my suitemates and quite a few classmates so I definitely gained some lifetime friends.</p>
<p>Is it only restricted to current high school students? What if I'm a class of 2007, can I still do it?</p>
<p>I know it's a long shot, but if I know this now I won't have to go through the hassle of researching this.</p>
<p>hemingway - I believe its only for incoming sophomores, juniors, and seniors. And unless they've changed their policies since I attended last summer, I think you're out of luck. Sorry :/</p>
<p>I'm sure there are several other politics-related programs available for you - a quick google search should do the trick :).</p>
<p>I saw an incoming freshman at Yale, and I'm def. certain that they offer it to rising freshman too.</p>
<p>Hmmm, well I heard there is some sort of freshman scholars program that they're introducing this year. And last year, I believe some of the campuses allowed freshman but I know I didn't run into any at Princeton....</p>
<p>Is the program at all impressive?
I mean, would it be better to volunteer at a hospital all summer or go to JSA? (I would enjoy either about equally).</p>
<p>I posted this in another thread, but here's my perspective about JSA... I took AP Gov at Georgetown in 2006.</p>
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I wasn't really satisfied with the academic quality of the program. At Georgetown we lost a lot of classroom time to the speakers program on Capitol Hill. The thing about the speakers program is that the vast majority of the speakers were elected officials who really weren't interested in answering straight questions or saying anything other than the party line, so while it seemed exciting at first, after the first day or two it ended up being quite boring. Meanwhile, our professors had to give substantially watered-down versions of the courses they'd normally teach, because we had so little time. The professor I had was also more interested in ranting about the faults of the Bush administration than actually teaching. I didn't feel that I came out of the program knowing substantially more than I did when I came into it. I had friends who took AP Gov during the year at our high school (which is a rural public school, not particularly renowned for academic quality) and learned a lot more than I did.</p>
<p>Socially, there were a lot of people there who were mostly interested in hanging out in DC for the summer and doing something that would pad their college applications, rather than actually learning. I didn't find a crowd in the first few days, which meant that I was pretty lonely for the rest of the program. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>It may be different at different sites, it may be different with different professors - I know there are people out there who loved JSA. But I ultimately regretted going. You could definitely do better, without spending as much money.
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<p>I agree so much with quaere, JSA is a terrible program</p>