<p>Does doing a pre college program increase your chances of attending Yale as a full time student?</p>
<p>What is a “pre- college” program? Tons of HS kids are coming out of HS with excellent preparation and achievement without ever being labelled as in a pre-college program. </p>
<p>But to the basics of your question: NO it won’t help per se. Being a super achieving student helps. I suspect your “pre college” program is a construct of your daughter’s school district. It’s not universal. Enrollment is not an aid per se.</p>
<p>I think he/she is referring to one of the university based summer programs often sponsored by independent organizations. I think these do little to bolster one’s chances. The programs are often not selective and can be entered by many for the price of admission. At schools that care about demonstrated interest, it would certainly help you to write a more thoughtful “Why this college?” essay.</p>
<p>^^ I partially agree. Attending a pre-college program will absolutely not increase your chances of admission. </p>
<p>That being said: my daughter attended Harvard’s Summer School program several years back. She chose her class wisely, enrolling in a course taught by a full-time noted Harvard professor that was limited to 14 students. My daughter worked harder than she ever had in high school, reading 3-4 books per week, writing a 500 word paper every day (Monday through Thursday) and a 1,000 word paper every Friday. After 4 arduous weeks, she received an ‘A’ in the class and the professor was so impressed that he wrote her a recommendation to the college. Looking back on her experience, my daughter cannot help but think that she is at Harvard because of her professor’s recommendation.</p>
<p>Yale does have a summer college program open to rising seniors in high school and it is very selective: <a href=“http://summer.yale.edu/[/url]”>Yale Summer Session;
<p>Yale has the Ivy Scholars as well that is very competitive to get in. The reason that you do not see a lot of chat among alumni of that program is that they have been instructed again and again the last years not to discuss anything specific about what was told by participants or learned during lectures so people can communicate ideas freely. I guess they were not very happy that some former attendees blogged about what was going on. It is a great program, very challenging and has nothing to do with an average summer college level courses.</p>
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<p>I disagree. Do such letters help a little? Probably; But I doubt the benefit is significant.</p>
<p>I had the same experience your daughter did, taking a class during Harvard’s summer program with a regular, tenured professor. I did well in the class and went to the professor’s office hours several times; we got along well and over the course of the next year and a half, ended up coauthoring a publication. It yielded me some science research awards, a 3 page recommendation letter declaring that I was the “most brilliant student” he had ever met (yes, I read it)… and a deferral from Yale early action.</p>
<p>This might just be my own post-deferral fatalism talking, but I don’t see it helping much.</p>
<p>Wait . . . you went to Harvard SSP and had the professor send the recommendation letter to YALE? And you don’t understand why you were deferred from Yale EA?</p>
<p>Might it be that Yale was protecting it’s yield because they believed the professor sent the same letter to Harvard? And that there was a good chance of Harvard accepting you based upon the professor’s recommendation? Did you apply to Harvard? What happened there?</p>
<p>^ It’s not like the letter was addressed to the Harvard admissions committee, and SCEA is designed to allow students to demonstrate interest in a school. Why would that be a problem, from an admissions standpoint? Besides, it’s not like I have buddies willing to write the same letter at each of the ivies, so that the name on the recommendation matches the school.</p>
<p>And yes, I applied RD to Harvard, though I have no idea how that will turn out - I only turned in the app about two weeks ago.</p>
<p>gibby, I’m just seeing the normal Summer session at the link, am I missing something, is there a specific program for HS students?</p>
<p>You’re not looking at the situation as an Admissions Director. Now that HYPS all have SCEA, predicting yield is more important than ever. With such a strong letter from your professor at Harvard, Yale simply did not want to “risk” wasting a spot on you, so they deferred you.</p>
<p>Not even knowing your stats, here’s my prediction: You will be accepted to Harvard, and there is a good chance that Yale will waitlist you. If you request to remain on Yale’s waitlist, you will then be acknowledging interest.</p>
<p>Entomom: Just like Harvard summer school, rising high school seniors can take summer classes along side Yale matriculated students. I’m not sure why Yale made the notice so obscure. It’s at the bottom of the dean’s letter: [A</a> Message from the Deans | summer.yale.edu](<a href=“http://summer.yale.edu/deans]A”>http://summer.yale.edu/deans)</p>
<p>“Yale Summer Session offers courses during the summer for Yale students, qualified undergraduate students from other colleges and universities, students about to enter their last year in high school, and adult learners. Find the program that is right for you.”</p>
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<p>That sucks, though admittedly your reasoning makes sense. I had decent stats (see post 7 on the results page) but ultimately I applied to Yale because it was my top choice - and RD admit rates will be so low everywhere this year that getting in anywhere else will be nearly impossible.</p>
<p>Thanks gibby.</p>
<p>I would differentiate between Summer classes at schools like Y, H, etc. and Summer programs like TASP and RSI. While the former may be selective, they are also expensive, so cost is a factor. In contrast, the latter are 100% scholarship based. While both types of study have value, for college admissions purposes, I think that the latter carry more weight.</p>
<p>It looks like the Ivy Scholars program is somewhere inbetween since some need-based scholarships are available.</p>
<p>^ for what it’s worth, Harvard’s program also offers scholarships - I wouldn’t have been able to go if they didn’t.</p>
<p>^Good to know, thanks! Ys summer session looked like it only gave need based aid to Y students, but I might have missed something.</p>
<p>The class, pre summer class was just another term for summer session. My daughter did two of them and after 5 weeks received 2 A’s. One of her Yale professors did give her a letter of recommendation to submit with her application. She has had an interview so we will see if it helped. He did tell me before she signed up that if she did want to attend Yale at all, she is an art major, she should make sure she did attend the summer program. She was actually the only High Schooler in the program , the others were working on their masters, but she got a good feel for the school. It was very expensive but a good oppertunity. She did one the year before at Skidmore as well. Lets hope it helped. She had great grades but her SAT scores could be a bit higher. Not a great multiple choice test taker</p>
<p>you are correct. There is no need based aid for summer programs unless you are already as student of Yale. Many European and foriegn students get aid from their contires, but the USA has none for this school. We paid full price and even though it was considered a pre collee program, my daughter was the only High School Student. The rest of the two classes where students working on their Masters program. I think it cost us 10K for the 6 week program</p>