<p>I'm a high school junior looking to make use of the upcoming summer. One of the possibilities my guidance counselor suggested was a summer program at a college. I thought this seemed very interesting, and I looked into Summer at USC. Unfortunately, these programs are really expensive, and I'm not sure if they're worth it. Do these programs look good on college apps? What else could I do over the summer to strengthen my chances. ANy help is greatly appreciated :)</p>
<p>(My interests are math and physics, I was looking at the Discover Engineering program at USC....)</p>
<p>Here’s one single data point for you to consider. My sister did a summer program at a top 25 school. It was expensive… probably as expensive as USC. She applied to the school with solid stats and ended up getting waitlisted/ultimately rejected.</p>
<p>To be honest, I’m not sure how much value colleges place on these summer programs. In the case of my sister though, doing the summer program at the top 25 school wasn’t enough to put her in the admit pile. If you’ve already got a strong academic background, it might be better to pursue other activities. If you’re willing to spend thousands of dollars on a summer program, why not volunteer abroad and build up your international experience/community service profile?</p>