<p>Mit educational studies program just announced the details on it summer classes for high school students. One program is on sundays all summer ($30), and another offers evening classes that sound juicy ($600). </p>
<p>Not as prestigious as rsi or mites, but mit is mit. Know anyone in boston that you can crash with for the summer?</p>
<p>These classes are taught by college students, usually MIT students. The HSSP ($30) offers a lot of very informal classes with wide range of audiences (grades 9-12) with no requirement of academic achievement, the material is generally not rigorous with such different ages of students in one class. It is only for one day a week on Sunday and it is meant for fun and not serious learning experience, IMO.</p>
<p>Junction ($600) also is taught by college students. It takes place from 6-9PM on week days. You can only take one class. Looks interesting, but it is again a student run program that is meant to be for local HS kids to have something interesting to learn in the summer, not an official MIT offering.</p>
<p>My D’s two classes in ESP/HSSP were taught (not at college level) by volunteer adult professors from MIT. The ESP/SPLASH were taught by volunteer students.</p>
<p>The two incredible things about the ESP programs is that class material is beyond the curriculum of high school by a factor of 10. In addition, one gets to meet other students who WANT to learn advanced stuff. For an isolated smart kid, MIT ESP programs are a tonic.</p>
<p>Its not NIH, or RSI - but those things are not available to 98% of kids or even 98% of smart kids. MIT ESP cheap, it is registering now, one can attend while working, and its MIT.</p>
<p>But TTparent is correct - its not college level research.</p>
<p>My kids have been taking these also since last summer. I am grateful that they can do this rather than staying home and do other unproductive things. However, these are not rigorous structured environment. There are usually no homework or reading requirement or quizes/tests in any of these classes. The classes are full of wide range of types of kids, some decent and some not so. Attendance is not required and half of the class dropped out by the end of the semester is not uncommon. To me, when you say that this is not NIH or RSI, that is an extreme understatement. I would recommend this as a supplement to whatever you are doing this summer but not as a major learning activity.</p>
<p>I agree entirely, my d’s Probablity and statistics class was half filled with Indian kids who talked and behaved badly. They did not want to be there. Similarly, some splash classes invaded by noisy 6thgraders pushed in by their parents are beyond painful. But that said, for the kids who wants a two hour class on aerodynamics or introduction to partical physics, it is a great resource. </p>
<p>If the choice is flipping burgers or flipping burgers plus MIT classes - go for the second. At this late date and in this economy, even flipping burgers is a long shot.</p>