My daughter is interested in a summer camp to better explore her interest in engineering. She wants to get a feel for the different types of engineering and what it is like to a college engineering student. Any suggestions? It does not have to be a camp for girls but that is fine as well. We are in Maryland but are open on location. Thank you
What type of engineering is she interested in?
Perhaps a bit too niche- but there is a 3 week nuclear engineering camp at NC state. I think applications are still open. S20 went to it and really got a lot from it. It is also very affordable compared to other summer programs. One thing to note is that it is selective, so (assuming it hasn’t changed) she would need a LOR, and an essay. It is co-ed.
She thinks mechanical but wants to learn more about other types of engineering.
Rose Hulman used to run an interesting “Catapult” camp. I assume they still do.
My son did camps at Michigan State, Milwaukee school of engineering and Berkeley. They all have scholarships and financial aid and are all affordable and excellent. About 5 days to a week. They were all very organized and you can explore didn’t areas of depending on what you want to do.
UC Berkeley has a popular one
Another thought is to see what is offered at schools that she might be interested in attending. Many schools have camps like that and then she’d be both learning about engineering and colleges where she might be interested. I have a friend whose daughter did one at Illinios and another at Purdue.
Take a look the ESP program at University of Wisconsin. They do have some focus on URM but all girls will get some attention with admissions. It’s a fantastic, and free, six week residential program.
My daughter attended one at Michigan Tech that she enjoyed quite a bit.
A cousin did an engineering program at UMCP last summer and love it.
Purdue has one too, STEP, but the deadline may have passed.
My D went to one at CMU last summer and found it useful.
EDIT: Sorry, rising 10th and 11th. https://www.cmuengineeringworkshop.org/
As long as I’m listing them - for rising 8th and 9th - https://engineering.cmu.edu/education/stem/programs/see.html
My 11th grader D did this one last summer. The circuits lab helped her realize electrical engineering was for her. https://www.depts.ttu.edu/coe/undergraduate/explore/
Not sure if she’s interested at all in CS, but if so AI4ALL is a growing program encouraging young women and URM in CS (specifically artificial intelligence). This program started at Stanford and has now expanded to 15 colleges including Stanford, Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton, Georgia Tech, UPenn, and more.
@MargaretP2 - Check out WPI’s Frontiers STEM program - a great exploratory program with the option of picking up some college credit. The school’s female president is literally a rocket scientist who has been actively promoting women in STEM. My youngest D attended their LAUNCH program - it was an affirming experience. She is now a freshman biotech major at WPI.
https://www.wpi.edu/c/frontiers-summer-program
https://www.wpi.edu/academics/pre-collegiate/summer/stem-residential/frontiers/course-descriptions
UMD has one specific to women: https://eng.umd.edu/women/6-12-programs/e2-umd
Most large state schools run High school summer engineering camps for rising 11-12 graders. I would pick a couple colleges your daughter may be interested in, and do a Google search using the schools’ names and “High school summer program engineering”
Missouri S&T has a specific camp to help students narrow their choice (Jackling), plus, if she has any interest in blowing things up, she can bookend it with explosives camp. They are one of the few schools to teach explosives engineering and I’d bet, the only one to offer a HS camp in the subject.
It is only a week and a little far away but you might check out Cal Poly SLO’s EPIC program https://epic.calpoly.edu/
I forgot about EPIC. It’s primary aim is to attract first gen and low income students, but women are a priority too and no one is barred from applying. CP has a very strong SWE program too. Full disclaimer, my son is a Poly grad.