<p>I didn't know where to post this.
I got an invitation to the People to People Student Leader Programs.
You attend programs at Columbia, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins on Law, international diplomacy, medicine, you choose. It says they found me through collegeboard. Is this legit? prestigious? Help!</p>
<p>I found out about People to People through my freshman history teacher. He was in charge of some groups from my state. We went to Europe (Germany, Austria, that area) for 3 weeks. It's not really regarded as prestigious in college admissions--like other programs mentioned around CC. Some people here will say don't go b/c it's a big waste of money and it doesn't help in admissions, yada yada yada. I agree it doesn't help w/ admissions, but I did it for the international experience personally. On the other hand, I also did a LeadAmerica program in DC--hated it. It doesn't seem to me like you're invitation involves international experience...maybe it's changed in the last couple years. But if it REALLY trips your trigger, go for it.</p>
<p>People to People is not prestigious, but according to people who have taken the tours, they can be interesting and enjoyable.</p>
<p>From what I've figured out, the invitations are sent to all students who have taken the PSAT or SAT.</p>
<p>I did the one at Columbia a couple of years ago. Some things about it were great, other things not so much. My favorite thing was meeting kids from Zimbabwe, Moscow, Hong Kong, and London. Most of the day trips were fun. I met Rudy Giuliani. However, some of the rules were ridiculous-we weren't allowed to have friends (even same-sex) in our dorms (they were singles) and instead had to sit in a common room to talk. The dress code was a little bit of a pain, especially since they didn't make it particularly clear until you were already there. We also had to write a journal, which we sent off to get some kind of college credit/service hours. I put way more effort into mine than anyone in the group, even though our free time was limited, and though I got the credit, the report I got back was full of criticism. And you pretty much had to do what everyone was doing-even if it was waking up at 4:30 to go to The Today Show and not being able to sit down for about 6 hours, after you were out on another trip the night before until 11 (and not even getting on TV for a second). Anyway, point is, you might have fun, and people did have fun, but you have to see whether a somewhat poorly run program is worth it for some cool activities. Personally, I was disappointed.</p>
<p>From what all of you are saying it sounds pretty bad. I mean all the programs I got the brochure for are at pretty prestigious universitites; stanford, columbia, ucla, georgetown, and some others. It's weird that such amazing universities would have such bad programs..hmm..</p>
<p>The "prestigous universities" have nothing to do with these programs. People to People merely rents space there.</p>
<p>My friend did People to People this past summer, I think. She traveled to a couple countries in Europe (Spain being one of them) and really had a blast. From what I hear, these programs are really fun, but as far as admissions go, adcoms don't put much weight on them.</p>
<p>I think, for her, it was a rather tourist-y experience.</p>
<p>oh ok, a lot of you are talking about People to People going to europe and stuff, but all the programs I receieved were ones at collleges in the states. Nothing in europe.</p>
<p>I went on People to People two years ago, but it was the travel one, not the college one. And we went to Australia.</p>
<p>I don't know much about admissions admittedly, but my brother said it doesn't help much for college admissions [like what everyone else said]. However, I had a blast; it was so much fun. But it was basically just a tourist experience.</p>
<p>I'd rather recommend JSA, in which you will also spend 3-4 four weeks on college campus. Yet, the difference is that JSA offers a much more rigorous academic/intellectual experience (you wouldn't have time for "tourist-y stuff"). You also get to complete 2 AP courses within 4 weeks time during the summer, all taught by college profs on U.S. Government/Foreign Policy, Political Philsophy, speech communications, etc. They later send you an official transcript (along with your grade in each course) to your school so you could use it for transcript. JSA's a very rigorous program academic wise.</p>
<p>Take it for what it is: a fun little vacation with some academic element. My litmus test for any program is whether it free or not.</p>