Summer Program Question

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
1

Hello,

I was recently admitted to both SSP (Biochemistry) and the MOSTEC program. However, I am having trouble deciding on which program I should attend. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to provide input on this decision.

Thanks,
Harry

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There are at least four factors to be considered when you choose a summer program. 1) prestige/selectivity; 2) location; 3) cost; 4) your goal. 1) I consider MITEs/MOSTEC is comparable to RSI in term of prestige/selectivity (another comparable program is TASP but TASP is a non-STEM program). 2) MITES/MOSTEC takes place at MIT (I believe you’ll stay 8 days in summer at MIT if you’re admitted in MOSTEC. I might be wrong though). SSP is at either Purdue or UCSD. Both MIT and UCSD campuses are beautiful, but UCSD may be hot and humid in summer time. I don’t know how Purdue campus looks like though. 3) MITES/MOSTEC is free. SSP costs you $7,150 but you can apply for financial aid (you should have received your financial aid information by today). It depends how much your financial aid is and how much your family can afford. 4) Basically MITES/MOSTEC is an enrichment program, and SSP focuses on research. It’s up to your future goal. If you want to take some courses deeper, MOSTEC may be a good choice. If you’re interested in conducting research, SSP could be the better choice. Other minor things such as length of program, food, and dorm you may need to consider as well. Just my two cents.

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What would you consider the prestige of ssp to be? I have also included some additional information below.

Extra information: I would be attending ssp completely free because of financial aid. I was accepted to the UCSD campus. I am looking at a future in STEM (so both programs fit).

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I’d consider RSI/TASP/MITES/MOSTEC tier 1 programs and SSP/Clark…as tie2. But SSP is still very prestigous. Since the cost is no longer the factor that matters to you, you can ask yourself the folowing quesitons: 1) which campus you like more: MIT or UCSD? 2) what’s you like more? taking some deeper courses or doing research? good luck!

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  1. I enjoy the campus at MIT more. However, MOSTEC has me at that campus for only a week. In contrast, SSP is six weeks of immersion. As such, it might be better in this factor.
  2. The hands on aspects of research seem more appealing to me. As I already take online courses anyway, MOSTEC might not be quite as beneficial.

It seems as if SSP may be the better fit for me. However, MOSTEC is still appealing (As it would be hard to say no to a “tier 1 program”).

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