Struggling Out of Country Student Who Needs a Review(s) on UCI High School Summer Program

Hello everyone. I got to know about this program after meeting a UCI Summer Session Representative who came to my school, Irvine High, in Irvine, California, last December. To give an idea of why I have come to be interested in the program, I would like to provide some related background information of myself. It’s going to be quite long so I really hope you can bear with me. Thank you very much for your time and comments in advance.

I am a junior student in Irvine High. I came to the U.S. in July 2014 from Vietnam. I attended an international school called Saigon South International School in Vietnam as a sophomore. Even though it was a very good international school, it did not have a wide range of courses to choose from for sophomores. I got some college prep course credits but could not take any Honors courses or APs. When I came to Irvine High School, I was also prevented from taking many AP courses that I wanted to take, which are AP chem and AP lang. Apparently, I have to have already taken chemistry (my 10th grade school only offered Integrated Science 10) and honors British literature to be qualified for those AP classes. As a result, I have no challenging courses (except for honors British literature) in my junior year, which is very important for colleges, and little opportunity to have challenging academic experiences. Therefore, even though taking the program would lead to some complication with a family business, I really want to participate in UCI Summer Session to have those experiences and, I’ll be honest, something worthy to put on my brag sheet for college.

Do you think this is a wise idea? If you have taken the program or know someone who has taken it, what is your opinion on the program itself?
Thank you very very very much. I would sincerely appreciate your comment as I am very confused and stressed out over this matter. Thank you!

I know a couple of people from my school that went to the Summer Programs for UCI and although it didn’t technically help them significantly when they applied to college, it did give them a small supplement to their uniqueness in their application and they told me it was tons of fun. I don’t know if any of this helps but best of luck deciding!
P.S I’m a junior at Beckman and I know so many people at Irvine High so this is so cool.