<p>Hi everyone! I am new to this board and am suddenly worried about my previous ideas and choices. </p>
<p>The John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth sent me a mailing about summer programs and one of them is in China with a course (your only choose one course) on Game Theory, which is something I am very interested in. However, as long as your already a center for talented youth member (which I am, you have to have had got a certain SAT score in middle school) applications are only first come first serve, and not selective. I have read on this board that abroad programs that cost a lot of money with little selectivity are not very good college admissions wise, but since I am really interested in game theory and not everyone is a center for talented youth member I'm not sure if this fits that profile. </p>
<p>I have also looked at several math camps (in particular Canada/USA Mathcamp! held at reed college this year), which defiantely interest me and are selective but I am afraid I won't get in. Plus, they all seem to ask for teacher recommendations and I'm afraid that if I ask my teachers for recommendations for this and for college they will get annoyed with me by the time they write the college one. </p>
<p>And then their are many of the volunteering abroad programs. I'm not sure how well those look either. </p>
<p>For background on me with how selective these things are I am currently in Trigonometry/Precalclus and breezing through it mathwise, I'm third in a class of about 500 (the people above me have taken many classes at the local junior college which significantly boosts their gpa do to bad conversion ratios and weighting), my GPA for freshman and sophmore year is 4.67 weighted, 4.0 unweighted and my junior year courseload will givemy 4.83 for the year if I get all A's (which I should). However, I was unfocused while taking the PSATS and only scored a 203, which worries me because at least RSI asks for PSAT scores, and I'm not sure about anything else. </p>
<p>So, any help or reccomendations would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank You.</p>
<p>first -- you need to understand that you don't attend summer programs to "look good for college". it just doesn't work that way.</p>
<p>The programs (like CTY, volunteer abroad, etc) which many, many kids can attend as long as they have the money can be great programs. You might really enjoy them and get alot out of them -- but they won't give you a boost in college admissions.</p>
<p>Selective programs, like RSI, TASP, etc don't necessarily give you a boost in college admissions -- yes, the kids that attend those programs generally do get accepted into top schools, but I would argue that the same things that qualified them for the selective program (GPA, test scores, teacher recs, ECs, research, etc) are what got them into the top colleges -- not the fact that they attended a certain summer program.</p>
<p>so -- don't select a summer program based on whether you think it will look good to colleges. As long as you don't spend the summer perfecting your tan, you will be fine. Colleges look just as highly on volunteering at the local summer school as they do volunteering with orphans in Thailand. </p>
<p>if you are interested in game theory and you want to visit another country, the CTY programs sounds like a great match. </p>
<p>And don't worry about asking teachers for recs now and then for college -- there is quite a bit of time between the two requests and they won't mind.</p>
<p>I do always suggest that you apply to several programs, especially if they programs are at all selective. You want a back-up in case your first choice falls through. Also -- check and make sure your parents are ok with the finances, not all parents can pay the costs for these programs and financial aid is available for many programs if you can demonstrate need.</p>
<p>I think I may have come off a little wrong in my intial post, I am not looking at summer programs completely for college, which is where a lot of my dilemna comes in. CTY I want to attend for my own benefit, I think it would be enjoyable to visit China (one of the top three places I want to see) and since Game Theory is something I might want to pursue, I can see how interested I really am in it. </p>
<p>However, after visiting these boards and seeing everything everyone else is doing to get into college that I'm not, I feel like I should go to some program that will look better on applications, like TASP. But I'm not particularly interested in TASP, and I doubt I could even get in. </p>
<p>I'll let the ideas of thousands of different options settle in my brain for a few days before deciding what to pursue.</p>
<p>You are on the right track --what you will find, if you read enough posts, is that the kids that get into top schools are pursuing activities that they are interested in and not because it will get them into a certain college.</p>
<p>That is what colleges are looking for -- not kids who are just trying to do whatever Bob or Sally did, so that they can go to Harvard, too.</p>
<p>That said, there are a ton of summer programs out there. spend some time looking through the summer program threads from last year and checking out different possibilities. See if any catch your interest. Definitely don't waste your time on something that you don't like -- but you think that colleges might like to see.</p>
<p>What do you think about the Stanford University High School Summer Program?
I hear that the experience is very similar to that of an undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>the stanford program is supposed to be good -- but very, very expensive. for less money you could attend a program at Oxford or Cambridge. I personally feel that the costs for Stanford's summer high school program is outrageous -- and the financial aid is very, very poor. The cost for a residential student for the minimum number of credits is over $10,000. There are many excellent programs (including Harvard and Brown) which cost less and have excellent financial aid.</p>
<p>No summer program is going to be like an undergraduate experience -- the classes are fewer and more concentrated, the kids attending are not actual Stanford college kids (for the most part), the residential experience is "programmed" with opportunities for high school students and there are rules that are imposed that are not imposed for regular undergrads. some teachers are actually from other schools, etc. It doesn't mean it isn't good -- it just can't duplicate an actual semester at college.</p>
<p>i loved CTY and encourage you to do what you love over the summer. I think it comes off as more genuine on paper. We spend so much time during the year scheduled to do this and that. Take the summer for what it was meant to be, a time to rejuvenate between school years. You don't want to burn out. CTY is a good balance between academics and fun, plus a trip to CHina. That would be crazy. PLus I think CTY helped me with GEorgetown. It helped showed a passion for international politics (I took like 5 years of classes) and I had a really great time. Just be happy with you choice and leave some time in the summer to relax.</p>