My ninth grade daughter is trying to decide between summer programs and we’re having trouble finding folks who have attended these. Anyone able to share your experiences with:
Brown Summer Leadership Institute
Barnard Young Women’s Leadership Institute
School of the New York Times Summer Academy
Specifically trying to understand how structured the programs are, how much work takes place outside of the class time, strengths and weaknesses of the programs, etc.
Thanks very much!
Sorry I don’t know much about these summer programs, but just wanted to ask her reasons for wanting to attend, after 9th grade.
Presumably the student would like something interesting for the summer. Mine were always bored to tears.
Any of the programs are fine. None will help in college admissions, but they might introduce your child to a new subject, area of study, or friendship that will enrich her life. One of mine ended up majoring in a subject she studied at a summer camp. She has friends at college who also attended that camp. If you can afford it, it can be a worthwhile expense.
I took two courses through Summer@Brown Online the summer after my 9th grade year. Loved both, and while they didn’t award college credit, they definitely helped to shape the path I’ve taken during the rest of my time in high school. I also attribute some of my formal writing skills and good productivity habits to the experience – and I learned a ton!
Of course Summer@Brown and the Brown Leadership Institute are different programs, but there seems to be enough overlap that I feel confident saying the Leadership Institute would be a fantastic experience for a rising high school sophomore. Where the online Summer@Brown courses didn’t feel very collaborative because of the large amounts of asynchronous work, the Leadership Institute promises that students will “practice a collaborative model of leadership”. I’d trust that more for the in-person session than for the online one, but even without close collaboration with classmates, I found that the professors were accessible and the coursework (I took “Radical Social Movements” and “Law and Social Movements”) was complex and engaging.
My daughter attends Barnard, but never attended any such summer programs. However, given our proximity to the city, she audited two different-subject classes on (two?) different dates to get a sense of the college in operation, how differently college classes are conducted in general, and what professors/students were like. It was time well spent and her HS allowed such days-off.
May I suggest you add the tags for “Barnard” and “Brown” to the topic “tags” of your post, as it will become more visible to people getting notified who have subscribed to those two topics.
Also, consider asking your question in the current “class of…” or “early admission” threads for those colleges, as some of the young women discussing their own admission chances/outcomes may have attended these programs themselves.
My son is enrolled in his third summer with the SoNYT. He loves it.
He enjoyed the exposure to the real world of journalism. The program is rigorous enough to be a challenge but not overwhelming. The instructors provide honest and constructive feedback. It was also pretty cool to wake up in the morning and read an article written by your instructor.
The workload outside of class depended on the assignment. An example… he took sports storytelling last year. For an assignment, they reported on a NY Liberty WNBA game. The students watched the game and were able to join the pre- and post-game press conferences. Their assignment was to turn in a finished piece first thing the next morning mirroring a real-world deadline. It was a great experience (and a late night).