<p>Anyone else accepted/going to one of the summer pre-college history programs at CWM?</p>
<p>I am, I’m doing the Revolution to the Civil War, and going to the one that starts July 10th or so.</p>
<p>Just checked, 2nd one starts July 13th I believe! I cant wait! :D</p>
I know this is an old thread, but I would love to hear from the above posters or anyone else that has attended this program as to their impressions, etc.
@MrMicawber
Hi, I’m actually an old NIAHD Pre-Coll alum, as well as one of the RPAs from last year, and hopefully will be RPAing again this year. Current W&M undergrad.
I’m happy to answer any questions you may have (or anyone else), but just note that anything I say is not official, ie my opinions do not represent my employer’s (etc. etc. legal stuff).
To start off I have to say that as someone who was very much a history nerd in high school, NIAHD was easily the three best weeks of my life to that point (hence why I jumped at the chance to work as an RPA later on). I ended up forming some very close friendships at NIAHD that are honestly some of the strongest I’ve ever had. A bunch of us still reminisce about a lot of the strange/ nerdy things we got up to and there are often meet ups in the Williamsburg area… Many of us ended up at W&M, studying history.
In terms of the academic side of things, from what I recall the course work back then (2009) was a bit punishing, I have to say. The program condenses a traditional semester length college class into 3 weeks and didn’t dumb things down. I think I wrote roughly 50 pages while I was there… Students looking at the program now will likely be happy to learn that rather than writing a paper every day it’s been changed to one a week, which does allow for a better synthesis of the material overall. There’s still daily reading, but it’s honestly fun stuff. Colonial students will soon be quoting endlessly from William Byrd’s diary-- he was definitely a character.
While anyone who wants to do NIAHD needs to come ready and willing to work (you are getting 4 college credits for it, after all!) you won’t be left high and dry. The students of each class (“Colonial” and “Civil War”) are split into smaller seminar groups staffed by a PhD student who are willing to work with the students if they need help. There are additionally “floating” instructors, so the ratio of students to instructors is actually quite low.
You won’t spend all your time on academics, though. That’s easily a way to get burnt out, so there is certainly some time off and fun activities planned. This includes an archaeology day, architectural history, colonial dancing, possibly a trip to Sno-To-Go run by the RPAs, Frisbee, etc.
Let me know if you have any questions!
HistoryChick1916 thanks so much for your reply. I sent you a private message with some specifics about my son and a few questions. In general I am very interested to know more about the journaling component of the class, as well as what it takes to earn an A or B in the class.
Is the journaling half the course grade, more, less? Is there a format or process that is taught? Do students get feedback/critique on the writing before the writing is finally assessed?
Do you have a sense for the proportion of rising juniors to rising seniors in the program? Do you see that both do about equally well? Trying to determine readiness for my sophomore?
I guess the bottom line question is do you need to be a lights-out amazing writer to do well in this class?
Thanks for taking the time to reply to this thread. I really appreciate it!
Journaling is slightly less than half the grade, and participation in discussion during the seminar portion is slightly less than half… There’s also a grade given for overall attitude/ behavior which makes up the few points that are left.
I’m not entirely certain what you mean by format or process-- it’s just basic analytical essay structure: thesis, evidence, conclusion, etc.
Students most certainly will get critiqued by their instructors before the final assessment and there are workshop sessions that are given to help those who want to do well. Anyone who is finding the writing difficult but honestly wants to work to help themselves will get the help they need; NIAHD is a great opportunity for fledgling writers to develop historical writing skills that will serve them well in college because of the sheer amount of assistance on hand. And the instructors are well-trained in helping students with their essays-- W&M PhD students (such as the NIAHD instructors) have to do a stint in the History Writing Resource Center helping undergraduates with many of the same issues.
Proportion wise, it can vary from year to year how many rising juniors versus how many rising seniors we get, though I’d say it’s only slightly more rising seniors than rising juniors. Sometimes we’ve had rising sophomores in the mix as well as rising college freshmen. I’ve seen younger students do absolutely phenomenally and older students who lacked the maturity to do well; it truly depends on the individual student. Some school districts also prepare their students better than others. Overall, however, your son will not feel out of place academically as a rising junior, and that won’t likely come up as a social issue either. It might be a selling point that we have many “returners” who do NIAHD as rising juniors and return as rising seniors for the other course.
If I’m being honest, I don’t personally think you need to be a super-star to do well. Being able to write fluently is a foundation aspect of the study of history so there is an expectation that any student can write a thoughtful, analytical essay, however the instructors are definitely aware that they are grading high school kids.