Hello
Anyone out there have any advice on 1 week/ 10 day summer programs that WILL help my daughter’s university admission chances? She has received letters from the Nat. Young Leaders Conf. and also from the Nat. Student Leadership Conf, and I found after checking out blogs that while both of these might be good experiences, they are overpriced and will not impress college admissions people. So, I need to know what programs like this will look good on college applications. Her interests are music, fine arts, but also general humanities as well as foreign languages–she is a high school sophmore. So we need a program or programs during the summer that are reputable, somewhat reasonably priced, and will catch admissions people. I hope I’m not too vague in this post, but does anyone have experience with GOOD summer or spring break programs? Thanks.
almaryland
My daughter did NYLC in DC in April of HER hs soph year and it was a great first experience at a week away. She still stays in touch with some of the kids But She did Georgetown u one week summer program after her junior year and she would not recommend it. She was deferred EA from Georgetown.
Be warned that choosing programs simply to impress college admissions is not the way to go. Choose programs that would provide an enjoyable and beneficial experience. Luckily, many programs that are great for admissions are also fun and are a worthwhile experience.
Personally, I think the best summer programs are those offered by colleges for rising juniors and seniors that provide the opportunity to take college classes for college credit, as these demonstrate a student’s ability to succeed in actual college classes and can be extremely enjoyable.
This is a good time to raise her interest in arts/music to a higher level. Look at programs for music (Interlochen Arts Summer Camp in Michigan, Westminster Choir College in Princeton,
Berklee School of Music in Boston, Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Mass.) and arts (Idyllwild Arts Camp in southern California). There are summer Shakespeare programs for teens in Wash, DC, Ashland, Oregon, and Ontario, Canada. Go to a summer writing workshop. There are summer architecture programs for high school students. These programs can be helpful in providing experiences that are just not available in the local community and may lead to the development of a “hook” for college admissions.
Forget impressing colleges. Go study something she likes on a college campus.
My daughter went to Cornell for 3 weeks last summer. It was a great experience and helped her shape what she wanted to major in and what she ultimately looked for in a college.
If she wants to impress AdComs, she should volunteer the entire summer at a camp for low-income or handicapped kids. You don’t need to pay for good ECs.
as her interests are music/fine arts, i suggest she volunteer either at a nursing home or w/ special needs children, or perhaps at a homeless shelter (with children) and do something related to the music/fine arts. i think she could consider organizing a pgm and getting her peers involved. this would be much more impressive on the college application and hopefully something she can get passionate about doing. she could keep it going for her remaining 2-3 yrs of high school.
Those are for experiences.
I’ve done all of that, and it’s mostly for smart kids who need self esteem. I agree with the above posters, your daughter should go study on a college campus.
There are better things to do with her time. Unfortunately many (and usu. selective) summer programs for art/music have application deadlines in January or February, but for future summers, definitely check those out. There’s a thread in the Summer Programs forum with good suggestions (off the top of my head: CSSSA aka California State Summer School for the Arts, Idyllwild, TASP aka the Telluride Association Summer Program is worth considering for her next summer).
But can I suggest looking beyond a summer program? She could take classes (at a local college or just in art/music/technology/something else) over the summer. I did this for my summers after freshman and sophomore year, with no apparent adverse effects on my admissions chances. (I’m a senior now.) If there’s something she’s really interested in studying, now is a good time. She could also find a volunteering gig over the summer (local or not); it’s not glamorous, but this will definitely look just as good as many summer programs (and better than the ones that are known to be non-selective and mostly for rich kids who can afford them). She doesn’t have to do something formalized to have a worthy summer in the eyes of adcoms.
General rule of thumb: The best and most competitive summer programs are free.