<p>i recently got a mail from Lead America (2009) for the Congressional student leadership conference of Medicine & Healthcare...
i'm not really familiar with this program but the tuition includeds one college credit and will take place at Columbia/Georgetown...i really don't get the point of this..i'm really interested in medicine but the fee is like 3,500 dollars! the program seems really interesting but is it really beneficial for me, a high school junior?</p>
<p>hey there,</p>
<p>i got the same letter for the same conference, and after hearing about my friends' experiences, have decided to go to columbia this summer. im a junior too this year.</p>
<p>sure, its ridiculously expensive, but my friend (whos at princeton this year) told me that a leadamerica program shows your:
-independence:each program involves a project that has to be completed by the last day, and you have limited resources to complete it with// no parents there// strange or new environment//
-intelligence: even though the letters are from a list, many people that do go are the ones at the top of their class// the program can be very educational if you take it seriously
-desire to challenge yourself: as with all summer educational programs, but esp. this one because of the amount of lecture notes/knowledge you gain
-leadership: it isnt called leadamerica for no reason! haha.</p>
<p>if you start fundraising now (i know this is like a couple months after your post, sorry) you can probably knock off at least half the amount of money needed. </p>
<p>have you decided whether you want to go or not yet?</p>
<p>Like the guy above me said this thing is a waste of time, it does nothing for you and it’s a complete hoax. If you want to be challenged go to one of the summer college activities hosted by Brown or Duke, they’ve got good reputations, unlike this which, after a quick google on them produced other forums which are exactly like this one and stated how horrible it was. There are other stuff just like this so watch out. if it’s not connected to a college or something that you’ve actually heard of then it’s probably a program just designed to take your money. As for the person who first responded, I have a question. How much are you getting paid by this Lead America program to write stuff like that?</p>
<p>Yea I got a letter from them early this year. I did some research, and I found out how little academic merit it really has, plus the ridiculous cost. I read a post from a mother on one forum about how her almost non-verbal son got a letter for this. Complete money-making operation. You would be MUCH better off spending that money on college classes, or traveling, or something else besides this with academic value. And I’ve heard from people that its extremely fun, but you need to re-examine how you spend your vacation if you need to spend +$3,000 to just have fun in the summer.</p>