<p>Hello, </p>
<p>I am a sophomore looking for a prestigious summer program. Please give names of programs and tips on admissions.</p>
<p>How about Princeton’s High school Diplomats? I was planning on doing that next year. Or Summer@Brown, I heard it was pretty good</p>
<p>Dear Sophomore,</p>
<p>Wrong, wrong wrong: that’s how you’re doing it. The first mistake you made was including prestige in your search criteria. No, no, no, no, no. Prestige is irrelevant to your summer program. (The aforementioned Summer@Brown program is not very “prestigious,” either.)</p>
<p>Your summer experience depends wholly on what you derive from it; if you attended TASP or RSI or a similarly known program and didn’t demonstrate effort or interest, the prestige of the name wouldn’t help you develop as a learner or student. You can attend an obscure program - or even make your own program, such as teaching yourself a new language or just volunteering in your community - and get just as much out of it as do those who attend a “prestigious” program.</p>
<p>For admissions tips, you might want to read [this</a> thread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1277483-summer-programs-start-looking-winter.html]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1277483-summer-programs-start-looking-winter.html). But before you apply anywhere, you should change your mindset. Remember that having a “prestigious” program on your resume is not necessary to get into an Ivy League university. They care more about how your time was spent productively rather than where it was spent.</p>
<p>Prestige is an opinion. Programs I hold in high esteem may be relatively unknown to many students. Don’t let prestige hold you back from actually gaining something in a program.</p>
<p>Well that was extremely rude and condescending, chaseholl. </p>
<p>Prestige matters whether you like it or not. Attending TASP or RSI is a gold star on any application. That said, I’d go for a program that you can relate to on a more personal level. Seeing past prestige is a virtue, too.</p>