<p>my S1 went in hs and loved it. He stayed at Johns Hopkin.</p>
<p>S2 has been invited since 6th grade. We won't send him until his fresh/soph year. For the price of it, it is worth it to wait.</p>
<p>The kids get more out of it when they are older and will really mature during those 3 weeks. It is also a great motivator for them to see other kids from around the states and how they rack and stack. Also they get to visit other colleges in the area and start to realize that this is their future. My S has always been a good student, but this made him become even better. WE were no longer saying grades matter, he had 1st hand experience from college professors. He got to live in the dorms and eat at the cafeteria and stay up all night with friends...which I think made him go "I want to go away to college b/c I am having fun" . From that point on he became an active participant of his college search and plotted what he needed to take and do to get into the schools he wanted.</p>
<p>BTW he did not chose 1 school that he visited during the program (J.H., American & Georgetown)</p>
<p>He also was invited to go to NYLF the following year. </p>
<p>Sorry this was so long, but to finish save your money and have your s go in hs, it will be more beneficial, especially as ec's , b/c they rec. college credit for going,</p>
<p>Hi today in the mail i received a letter from lead america pretty much saying that they wanted me to come to a program in DC this summer. What they said sounded great and i have always wanted to become a politician. But i have never heard of them before so it sounded a bit sketchy. And also when i looked at there web site there did not seem to be anything about where you live or anything. So can some one please explain to me the living situation and if anyone knows how they get your info and makes a selection process.
thanks</p>
<p>I just got a lead america packet several days ago too. I feel really interested in their engineering program but I can't decide if I really want to go or not. Hopefully there is a way I can solve that money issue.</p>
<p>Has anyone gone to the engineering course at Lead America? Was it any good? I have read a lot of negative stuff about the program I just want a second opinion. Does anyone know of a good robotics\engineering camp besides lead America? </p>
<p>I have a similar question as EagleWing except I want to know if anyone has gone to the Global Business & Entrepreneurship course at Lead America? I have put a deposit down for my son to attend the course this summer in New York City. If you did go, do you feel it helped your in your college applications?</p>
<p>I asked my teacher and she said that she had a student go a few years ago and he said that it was not worth the $3000. I'm looking for an intense course so that I can really see what robotics and engineering are like.<br>
I did a search on (Yahoo</a>! Answers - Search) and it seemed to be more negative than positive. For example, lots of people said that they were 'accepted' for good grades when in fact they were doing terrible. So it seems like they have this long mailing list that they send out every year. Sorry for the long post!</p>
<p>Anyways, I would love it if someone could tell us something about the course!</p>
<p>it's not a waste of time if you're genuinely there to have fun and learn. if you're there to fill up your application, then it kinda is a waste of time and money.</p>
<p>I thought everyone got accepted to LEADAmerica. We had one girl go from our school. She put on the Gates app. Didn't get it and the next year about 50 from our county were going. No onee could afford to go though. Too bad.</p>
<p>"So basically, they DO like that you did something with your summer, but they would like MORE that you did something that required real merit (as opposed to just lots of money) to attend."</p>
<p>What if my family income shows otherwise? Our income is a little less than $30,000 a year but what if my parents decide it is worthwhile to spend the $2,000. How would colleges view that?</p>
<p>Our daughter just finished up a health and medical rotation through the Lead America program and was extremely disappointed with the curriculum. The program was laughable at best though they did a good job with "busy" work. If you want to move from mindless seminar to mindless seminar with speakers who would rather be somewhere else... by all means spend the amount of money Lead America wants you to. They were promised an in-depth dissection which didnt happen. It was essentially a heart in a jar for observation. Our local high school has a better program than that for free! </p>
<p>What concerned me the most as a parent was the lack of security during our daughter's visit. As she was travelling out of state to attend the program we had concerns for her safety but was assured that all would be well controlled. For this program they house boys and girls in the same dorm though on different floors. When we initially inquired about this we told it was only temporary for a day or so until they "figured things out". The first day their was disorderly and it took us an hour to even find the registration site on campus. There were no signs nor people to direct you to registration area. After one hour looking we got lucky and asked the right individual for directions. </p>
<p>After speaking with our child over the time period there, we discovered that many of the boys were up on the girls floors and room area at all hours of the evening and night. They decided to keep the sexes in the same building afterall and failed to supervise them. This was extremely disturbing since the females had a community shower area with no lock. </p>
<p>This in itself is a liability but not what disturbed us the most. There was a particular young man on this trip who happened to continue to bother our daughter and follow her everywhere she went. She respectfully asked him to leave her alone and hang out with the guys. He made reference to the fact that she most be interested in "someone elses gonads" . When she reported this disturbing behavior to a female staff member, she was told by the staff member to "just be nice to him" . We informed our daughter to always stay with a group of people who also asked the young man to go away. </p>
<p>As a doctor myself, I found the program and its curriculum promised were found lacking for the amount of money invested. For your financial gain and possible safety issues, do yourself a favor and find another program.</p>
<p>Oh well... Im going to the 9th grade next year and I went to the junior youth national leadership summit. It was a great experience. This program makes you think critically in simulations and in groups about leadership. Also, in the junior youth leadership you get to go to many more tours of Washington D.C than the National Leadership summit. I made alot of friends there that i will never forget. And Ya id definately go again. I think im going to do the Study Abroad thing in Australia next year.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore. Introverted, shy kid. Was initially considering the med conference but saw the cost and rethinking. The leadership conference sounds like the type of program that would boost her self confidence and teach her skills that she needs. However is everyone there already an alpha type? Will it be too much for a somewhat timid girl? Any feedback will be appreciated.</p>
<p>I did the Intelligence and National Security Seminar last year and it was very worth going. I would go again in a heartbeat. My session had about 150 people in it i think.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>About how much extra spending money did you need?</p></li>
<li><p>I just turned 14 but I’m a freshman because I skipped a grade. I get invited to these things all of the time but I have finally found one that is in my chosen profession and that I can afford. I was just wondering, do you think that it’s too early to go? I’ve been wanting to do this for a while but I havent been old enough, I just don’t know!</p></li>
<li><p>You keep saying that it wasn’t anything academic but then you say that you learned all of this stuff. I’m confused!!!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I went to Lead America in the 8th grade and loved it. The conference that I attended was Forensic Science in Metro Atlanta. I wasn’t really interested in CSI, but that was the only conference closer to me and Medicine and Healthcare wasn’t available to middle-schoolers. The TLs were so cool, well all but one. Lead America is a great experience even though it’s kind of expensive, you get what you paid for. I wanted to go this year, but the economy sort of changed my parents minds. I hope to attended a Medicine and Healthcare Conference next summer.</p>