Hi,
I’m applying for a summer camp as a rising junior. I’m a STEM person, and I want to pursue a business/technology/science camp during the summer at a college.
My question is, will camps like MITES at MIT, M&TSI/LEAD at Wharton, or HSHP at Michigan State help with college admissions?
Not sure about the Wharton one but iirc MITES and HSHSP are only for rising seniors.
The most prestigious camps are those with very low acceptance rates and that are low or no cost (e.g., RSI for STEM, TASP for the humanities, Governor’s schools in states that have them). MITES is very good, but they may favor first gen/minority applicants. CMU’s SAMS is also free, but it’s also geared towards “…minoritized student groups” (strange wording, IMO, but anyway…)
Expensive pay-to-play pre-college programs (e.g., Georgetown, Columbia, Stanford) will not be as impressive. Michigan State’s HSHSP is not free, but 7 weeks at $3,800 is a lot less than Stanford’s 3-week Summer "Pre-collegiate Summer Institutes at $7,250. That said, Stanford also has a number of outreach programs that are free and some that even pay a stipend. Here’s a link:
https://oso.stanford.edu/programs/audiences/5-high-school-students
Frankly, just follow your passions through volunteer work, internships, college classes, conservatory programs, etc. Do them because you want to, not because they will look good to colleges. If you are in CA, UCSD’s COSMOS and some of UCLA’s programs are good and not frightfully expensive. If memory serves, UC Davis also has some good programs.
Those that are competitive, and especially those that cover tuition completely, are prestigious. Those that are offered by private enterprises, that cost a bundle, and that focus on things like how to nail the SATs are not prestigious, at least not to adcons (if that is what you mean by prestigious).
I think they help a lot.