Hi, My Daughter is finishing 11th grade and wants to spend part of her summer at a pre-college summer program to learn a little about college life… she chose some of the colleges she would like to apply for next… she’s looking at NYU, Tufts and Northwestern. they all range in price between 10000-13000 for 6 weeks and 8 college credits (plus some extra non credit classes).
I know it would be a good experience, but it’s a lot of money for only a good experience… Are any of this programs better than others? are they worth it?
My S did a pre college summer program at Carnegie Mellon where he worked on his portfolio. He did the 3 week program ($3000)but they offered a 6 week program that was around $6000. I think it was worth it for his particular situation. He did apply to CMU in design and got in. If the only purpose is to get a leg up on the admissions there are slim chances that it would help. But if you are interested in the experience and have the money (without missing it) then yes, it would be worthwhile. If you only want to experience life away from home then there are more economical summer college experiences.
If you want a college experience and to learn something yes
if you just want to pad the college app then any program than you can get in just by paying nope
It will be great experience for a lot of money, but will have absolutely no impact on college admission decision since those programs are not selective.