<p>I know this is for academic programs, but my daughter never did anything academic in the summer, except read.
She worked with the ponies then she worked at a residential camp on a local island.Her sister seems to be following in her footsteps although she has had to keep working on a few academic things just not to lose progress.
I think it is great if kids want to do it, but I want to tell all the parents who aren't sure if kids NEED to do it, that no, they don't.
Its ok to do something where the benefits aren't immediately visible ( unless you are getting a tan line!) ;)</p>
<p>I attended a leadership seminar last summer and it was AMAZING. I would definetly recommend it... Pearson Seminar for Youth Leadership. It is held in Victoria, BC, Canada at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific (one of ten United World Colleges). It was definetly the best summer I've ever had.
<a href="http://www.psyl.ca%5B/url%5D">www.psyl.ca</a></p>
<p>The summer before my Sr year, I attended the Junior Statesmen Summer School. This is a government / poli sci oriented program that has chapters in high schools across the country, and hosts summer sessions, usually 4 weeks, at college campuses.</p>
<p>The summer sessions are held at Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and Northwestern. Georgetown is also offered, but is slightly shorter, 3 weeks I think, and I think you take only 1 class. At PTSN, students take 2 classes, 1 government related (from normal gov to political philosophy, different campuses have different options for the "advanced" class, they all offer the government for the younger students. The 2nd class is a speech class, which there are two levels of. This is a very rigorious program, as each class meets for 3 hours a day (830-1130, then 130-430), and then in the evenings there are debates on current topics (when I went, there was stim cell, kyoto, school vouchers, etc) for 2 hours. On top of this, the courses gave a heavy workload. Over the month, I probably gave ~9 oral presentations in speech class, and read 50/60 pages a night for my government oriented class, which was US Foreign Policy (at Princeton). I would probably only recommend this for after Jr year, but they do take younger students. Apparently the younger ones were having quite some trouble with the workload though, but who could honestly blame them. It was very heavy.</p>
<p>website: <a href="http://www.jsa.org/summer%5B/url%5D">www.jsa.org/summer</a></p>
<p>The University of Michigan School of Engineering offers a Camp CAEN, which is computer and technology camp. It offers course from Java Programming and Web Site Development to Virtual Reality and Digital Filmmaking. Would you recommend this camp?</p>
<p>Also OT, but I want to echo what EmeraldKity said. I have nothing against tese programs, but my kids did fine w/o them, and attend(ed) great colleges, which I would not have been able to pay for if we'd spent thousands on summer programs. It might be useful to add on this list some ballpark figures on what these programs cost.</p>
<p>figure $500 a week for a high quality residential program that does not receive some kind of subsidy. Many of them are subsidized, however, especially the ultra-selective ones (RSI, Olympiad training camps), or programs intended for under-represented groups (minorities, women in engineering), or programs intended to encourage smart kids to stay instate for college. The ones that are not subsidized also may have need-based financial aid. Also, programs where students live at home and commute will be much cheaper.</p>
<p>I agree totally that no one "needs" to do programs like these to get into college. Kids can certainly demonstrate that they made good use of their summers in other ways, including working or volunteering. But the best of the summer programs provide fabulous opportunities and experiences that may be unavailable during the school year.</p>
<p>Cost certainly vary widely, and are a real consideration. We found that programs offered at our state universities were very reasonably priced, and need based scholarships were often available.</p>
<p>Some programs are even free, for targeted groups, such as women/urns in science and engineering.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon Pre-College wasn't cheap, but the cost of attending was actually less than the cost-per-credit hour would reguarly be at CMU. </p>
<p>The cost of books and transportation to and from such programs also needs to be considered.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.brown.edu%5B/url%5D">www.brown.edu</a></p>
<p>My D spent two summers at Brown. They offer 2 week, 3 week, 5 week, and 7 week courses. The 7 week courses are purely academic and generally will include Brown upper classmen and adult students. The others vary from workshops to short courses of all types. Our experience was positive with a few warnings. </p>
<p>The courses and teachers were generally top notch and in some cases renowned. You will get a Brown transcript, fully acredited, for the 7 week courses.</p>
<p>The students are treated as college students, free to come and go as they please. It's great for some, not for others. They will go to Starbucks and the crepe place at 2:00 am. If you're not sure your child is ready for this level of freedom (or you're not), be warned. They will associate with the other college students on campus as well. My D was in a study group with 3 Brown upper classmen. </p>
<p>Because of the freedom, issues can arise. My D was sexiled from the room the first week of her first summer so her roommate could have serial sexual liasons. I had to make a call to the dean, who had the RA handle in a floor meeting. Other than that, she had great courses, made long term friends, and didn't want to come back home to high school. </p>
<p>Courses:
First summer:
Intro to Neuroscience (B)
Nature of Cognitive Development (B)
Second summer:
Medicine, Law & Morality (A) (outside research and paper)
Modern Middle Eastern History (A) (9 books and 15 page paper)</p>
<p>I wanted to agree that these programs are not necessary to get into college. They are definitely in the "follow your interests" category. But we also encouraged our son to do a residential program between his junior and senior year of high school as an introduction to college life. He'd never been away from home for more than a week. It served its purpose very well in that respect as well as others, and gave him confidence to think about himself at college away from home.</p>
<p>CET Immersive Language programs (hs students taken on case by case--up to two semesters of college credit) <a href="http://www.cetacademicprograms.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.cetacademicprograms.com</a></p>
<p>Madventurer (hs seniors accepted--UK based. Volunteer work combined with overland travel opportunities in SA and Africa) <a href="http://www.madventurer.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.madventurer.com</a></p>
<p>Escape Studios in London (Summer programs avail for Maya animation programming. Studio founded by Ridley Scott. Pricey--esp w/ US$. No housing. Good industry connections/networking.) <a href="http://www.escapestudios.co.uk%5B/url%5D">http://www.escapestudios.co.uk</a></p>
<p>Sac: we literally had to bribe our homebody, S to participate in a residential after Soph year on the other coast. Long story, short, he loved it and now knows that he can function by himself a long way from home. I highly recommend it</p>
<p>i've been to jsa summer school twice, once at stanford before my sophomore year, and this summer (before my junior year), at princeton. i absolutely ADORED it. i'm almost positive these two summers couldn't have been better. the courseload was heavy, but though it pushed my limits, most people could handle it. the speaker's program is also phenomenal- the princeton and yale programs go to new york for a day and sit at the UN building, hearing ambassadors from other countries all day. it's a full on summer school, not like cty. but, unlike pre-college programs, there's some structure to it (set times for courses, etc). my RA was one the most amazing people i've ever met, along with all my friends there. i fostered my interest in politics there, which is now a huge chunk of my extracurricular life, and am now involved in jsa as a national organization during the year. more importantly, i had experiences so fun that i'm confident that i'll remember them for my entire life, and i made friends that i would give anything to go back in time and hang out with just for another day. i HIGHLY recommend this - it's not flaky at all, so it looks great on college apps, but you're not sacrificing summer fun and new experiences at all.</p>
<p>I am sure this has been covered in other threads, but for those who can qualify and get through the selection process, the TASP program(Telluride Association Summer Program) is unbeatable for humanities. Plus it is free.
It is 6 weeks long and available for students who are in the summer between junior and senior year. It is very selective ( around 800-900 apply, and last year they chose 65 students total that were split between UT,Univ. of Michigan and Cornell campuses) and not only an academically stimulating experience, but a "how to get along with everyone and have a community" experience.
Life changing...maturing for the student...intellectually WAY up there.. it also helps parents begin to wean from their kids before senior year, since they are gone most of the summer!</p>
<p>I just logged on to search for summer programs for my daughter and found this thread - thanks so much!</p>
<p>I'm searching for programs that might suit her - HS freshman, youngest of 3, very creative with great language skills, very interested in arts and music but not musically talented, somewhat organizationally challenged, and not competitive. We'd prefer a program in the northeast or mid-Atlantic area that would be arts-oriented and include creative writing opportunities, but not music and dance dominated. She loves the idea of a summer program but I would like to have more information beyond websites and brochures - they all look good there. </p>
<p>Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Math - ROSS, MATHCAMP, HCSSiM </p>
<p>Scince Research - RSI </p>
<p>are good program too</p>
<p>Concordia Language Camps--my daughter went to a two week session of the German camp last year and learned far more than I would have expected (she knew no German at all), and had a blast doing it. I'm trying to figure out a way to send her back for a month this summer--they are a little pricey, though not as pricey as some of the other programs we've looked into. They do have scholarships, so my daughter is probably going to apply for one. </p>
<p>One thing I learned last year--if your child is applying to a competitive program, have a back-up plan. My daughter applied to COSMOS last year and was rejected (OUCH).</p>
<p>My two daughters both attended Earlham's summer program. They loved it. It is two weeks long and there are a variety of classes. One daughter took a history class and the other a peace studies class. It runs from the end of June to the first weekend in July. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.earlham.edu/%7Eeac%5B/url%5D">www.earlham.edu/~eac</a></p>
<p>Obesmom - Glad you have mentioned Earlham's program!!! My daughter is going to go next summer so it is great to hear that your daughter's enjoyed it!!!</p>
<p>Kmom - Skidmore has some great art and music programs. Also look at Dickinson's summer programs - they have some shorter ones.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any opinions about ID Tech camps? They have various one-week computer oriented camps around the country. They sound interesting, but then again, most websites make their programs sound interesting. We're particularly interested in the digital film/video courses. (I'm asking for my other child, not the musician I was asking for in the other thread in this forum.)</p>