<p>Has anyone participated in any of the pre-college programs at Brown?</p>
<p>My D is interested, but I'm just curious if anyone found them to be worthwhile.</p>
<p>There have been several threads on the Summer@Brown programs. Do a search here on CC and you’ll be able to read through quite a few reviews. D attended a number of years ago (she’s currently a college senior) and had a great experience.</p>
<p>Niece attended this past summer & HATED it – she left before the program was completed.</p>
<p>IMO - The problem was she expected a 24 hour planned program with activities & socializing. She had one class that met late in the day – most others had classes that met in morning/early afternoon. This left her alone most of the time. Her class overlapped the time when most hall mates were socializing.</p>
<p>None of this has to do with the quality of the class.</p>
<p>“IMO - The problem was she expected a 24 hour planned program with activities & socializing.”</p>
<p>That sounds more like summer camp than a college summer program. They treat kids like college students, offer opportunities and supervise - but they don’t lead you around.</p>
<p>My son attended 2 summers@Brown and loved Brown and Providence. It gave him an idea of what it would be like to live in Providence. He now attends Brown. The summer program is definitely not a summer camp, requiring you to bop from one activity to another. Its up to the students to make the most of their time there. There is homework to be done. My son’s classes required reading, doing research, writing papers, and doing presentations. But it certainly wasn’t all fun and no play. Brown offered numerous social events every week, including trips, seminars, movies, college fairs, and ice cream socials. My son first attended when he was 15 and then again at 16. One year, my son had a different schedule from his dorm friends, which did complicate matters a bit. My son had one morning class his first year, leaving lots of free time for daily bball games but his 2nd year, he was in a class/lab for the entire day. Most of his friends just had one short class so they did their homework before he was even done with is lab for the day. He often had to play catch up to go find them when he was free - running to catch them at dinner. They were then free to go off at night to the gym, to play bball or poker, to the movies or just to hang out and watch a game. I think nightly pizza and ice cream runs were common. Sometimes he would have to skip to do homework since class started early (8 or 9am). </p>
<p>I remember he complained that Brown changed to an earlier curfew his second summer and he didn’t like it, since most friends were in a different dorm and he had to be back in his dorm by a certain time. To be honest, most attendees complained (but I think parents preferred the stricter rules). I’m not sure how it’s run now. But my son took trips to Boston, Newport and Cape Cod. He made lots of friends and they often went down to the mall, to movies and restaurants. He took his first cab to a farewell dinner, off campus somewhere on the water.</p>
<p>[They treat kids like college students, offer opportunities and supervise - but they don’t lead you around.]</p>
<p>I think this is the most important factor. The program is highly regarded academically, but the student will only get out of it (academically & socially) what the student puts into it. </p>
<p>“Worthwhile” must be taken in contexted of the student.</p>
<p>My S did Summer@Brown 2009. 4 wk Creative Writing Program. Met 2x/day. He loved Brown and his professor and Providence. Although no college credit with the 4 wk program, it didn’t matter to us - he matured and became very responsible. </p>
<p>They treat the students like college students with outside reading, library research, papers etc. The small group discussions were very appealing to him.</p>
<p>They also did a very good job @ activities, speaker series, etc. On weekends they arrange trips to Newport, Boston as well as other college visits.</p>
<p>Brown also host a very popular regional college fair 1st week of july - pretty much all the big players, ivy’s etc.</p>
<p>Brown is his 1st choice, but we don’t expect special consideration because of the summer program. Brown makes it clear summer program attendance doesn’t necessarily affect the college admission process.</p>
<p>Highly recommended, although costly like most ivy summer residential programs.</p>
<p>I went to Summer@Brown this past summer and took a three week genetics course. I had the best 3 weeks of my life there.</p>
<p>There was so much independence, and I learned so much in the course.</p>
<p>My teacher was a Brown professor and really helped me get a feel of what college work would be like. We had a college text book, projects, and lab reports.</p>
<p>I met so many new people, and made life long friends.</p>
<p>I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m thinking of doing this program, but I was just wondering: Is there a partying atmosphere in this camp? Not necessarily full on out clubbing, obviously because of the curfew, but do people drink or smoke? It seems like a great program.</p>
My D was just accepted to the Summer@Brown program, she is an aspiring Sophomore, do you think she is too young for the program. What is the supervision like?
My D attended last summer and will be going back again this summer. She said it was absolutely awesome experience. They did have a curfew, but were treated like college students and she said they had more social time after they were in the dorms in their common room so she really enjoyed it!
My D attended last summer and will do so again this summer and she said it was not a partying type atmosphere. I am sure when actual college comes things might be a little different, but as far as this program she loved it and wouldn’t trade it for anything.