Summer Programs That Look Good on College Applications

<p>My son applied to MITES and EPGY, does anyone have any advice on either program? He has been accepted to EPGY already but we are still waiting to hear from MITES. Does one or the other look better on a college application? Which is more challenging?</p>

<p>For future reference for anyone on CC, I went to the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America program for seven weeks, held at Princeton University (all expense paid). It targets low income, diverse, highly motivated students from around the nation to prepare them to be leaders in highly selective colleges. Parts of the program include the Aspects of Leadership discussion based classes, intensive ACT, SAT, and SAT II tutoring, one on one college guidance, networking, college visits, individual and class writing instruction, and a wonderful community of support, plus many other perks. I can truly say it was a life-changing experience, and I recommend anyone on CC to apply. The application process starts sometime in November, and it mimics the real college application (essays, transcripts, recommendations, interview, etc.). If any of you in the future have any specific questions, feel free to pm me! And for more information, check out the LEDA website and youtube page:
<a href=ā€œhttp://www.ledascholars.org/[/url]ā€>http://www.ledascholars.org/&lt;/a&gt;
[YouTube</a> - LEDAScholarsā€™s Channel](<a href=ā€œhttp://www.youtube.com/user/LEDAScholars]YouTubeā€>http://www.youtube.com/user/LEDAScholars)</p>

<p>Are there any prestigious programs (that deal with engineeringā€“though can be general science-based program as well) out there that are reasonably selective and provide a very edifying experience?</p>

<p>Iā€™m looking to attend a more respected program, but Iā€™m only a sophomore at the moment (rising junior), and so far all the programs I have found for which I am eligible seem somewhat weakā€¦ My "resum</p>

<p>-Academic Connections (UC San Diego)
-Awesome Math</p>

<p>Are there any other programs similar to the ones below?</p>

<p>BHSI @ UCSF
SIMR @ Stanford
Clark Scholars @ TTU
COSMOS @ UCSD
YSP @ UC Davis
HSHSP @ MSU
HSSRP @ Baylor
HBRI @ UCSD</p>

<p>Does anyone know how colleges perceive Stagedoor Manor (intensive performing arts program)?</p>

<p>@sarac: definately MITES. Itā€™s really a top program for the science/math kid.</p>

<p>So there really arenā€™t any prestigious programs I can take as a rising junior?</p>

<p>Iā€™m looking at SAMS right now but the material is actually somewhat low-level compared to your average high-achieving rising juniorā€¦physics, SAT prep, and precalculusā€¦seriously?</p>

<p>I really want to do something that makes me stand out or at least is very useful, but it seems that all the prestigious programs are suddenly available for juniors, and furthermore I donā€™t have much of anything to show right nowā€¦I wish to achieve more with extracurriculars and the likeā€“Iā€™m just sitting around bored all summer/all school year with good grades etc. but not much else, and I really want to get into a prestigious program this summer.</p>

<p>Even worse is that many deadlines are looming or have already passedā€¦can anyone help? Thanks in advance!!</p>

<p>;__;</p>

<p>Hey everyone!</p>

<p>Does anyone know of any summer programs at universities that would be of interest to a wannabe vet? Or am I better off finding an internship at vet clinics in my area? </p>

<p>Iā€™ve already looked at Cornell, but the programs there are quite expensive, and as a current sophomore Iā€™m not eligible for the vet-related ones yet anyways.</p>

<p>@Opaline: COSMOSā€™s UCD campus has a Biomedical cluster that focuses on both human and veterinary medicine. My friend was in that cluster last year and she said she learned a lot. And from her pictures, it looks like a lot of fun. However, the deadline is March 15, which is a bit closeā€¦
Cornellā€™s vet program is the main one that I know ofā€¦ I wanted to become a vet for a while and considered Cornell, but like you said, itā€™s quite expensive. Anyway I think a vet internship would also be pretty good.</p>

<p>Okay somebody please help explain this to me - because honestly, Iā€™m tired and really frustrated with this whole process.</p>

<p>HOW, HOW, HOW, HOOOOW is it that if Iā€™m POOR and get a scholarship for some expensive fancy program (say Oxbridge), colleges APPARENTLY are all impressed and ooh look a scholarship! That must mean this student is EXTRA smart/motivated/deserving of the spot! </p>

<p>BUT!! If I pay for the program myself and go simply because Iā€™m REALLY INTERESTED in the programs offered and even though, I hold a perfect 4.0, have always dreamed of going abroad, and have studied French and Latin for almost a decade now, I am fully QUALIFIED for these scholarships - but NOT ALLOWED because my parents make 100,000+ - colleges will APPARENTLY (according to everybody on collegeconfidential at least) see me as nothing more than a dumb, rich, ***** who is wasting daddyā€™s money to go to France?</p>

<p>:((((( <em>sigh</em> Basically, why am I being penalized for my parents being successful in their careers? I canā€™t get a break here. There appears to be only 1-2 recognizable humanities programs that ARENā€™T frowned upon by the selective universities for being, apparently, bastions of the rich and restless high schoolers. So me pursuing my interests via JSA, Ivy Scholars, CTY, or ANY expensive Community Service Program like Projects Abroad or Amigos - to the college that isnā€™t saying: hey, this student loves international affairs/relations and is interesting in learning about other cultures IN those cultures; instead what they see is: ugh another dumb, rich, ***** wasting hers and our time with her faux altruism and paid-for-by-daddy travels/elitist camps?? But- hey, my dad loses his job, so I now need a scholarship, and suddenly those same colleges will fall at my feet??? IDGI.</p>

<p>Donā€™t get me wrong - I personally plan on getting a summer job (preferably at the State Dept) to gain actual exposure to my field of interest, and there are some programs clearly out there for suckers - but I donā€™t see why people who have the ability to pay should be penalized for that, especially when merit scholarships arenā€™t even offeredā€¦</p>

<p>My DD attended the summer program at Columbia last summer. She did it only to try to decide if she could handle ā€œlivingā€ in the city. She has done similar programs for the same reason the last few years. She loved the Columbia program - hated Notre Dameā€™s. She was going to go to Brown this year but managed to get summer position at our local newspaper.<br>
As a parent the only problem I had with Cā€™s program was they continued to bill me for their food services program until last month when they FINALLY realized she wasnā€™t a studentā€¦I offered to pay the bill anyway if they could guarantee admission next yearā€¦the lady giggledā€¦lol!</p>

<p>Can someone help me out?</p>

<p>Iā€™m hispanic and Iā€™m interested in business but I cannot find any good summer programs.</p>

<p>LEAD would have been great but I completely missed the deadline and Iā€™m torn. :(</p>

<p>Would it be better if I did multiple internships this summer or if I paid for some overly-expensive program?</p>

<p>I missed TASP too.</p>

<p>Iā€™m going to cry</p>

<p>@Zenxan - As a parent I see the same problem and may be CC is propagating the problem! I do want my child to get into a free program to tout it as an achievement but there are only so many of them out there and there are so few seats in those programs to go around. The next best thing is to work as an unpaid volunteer and do either research if it interests you or pick up a socially relevant activity to volunteer at or even do a job that pays you. However, there is nothing stopping you from going to oxford/columbia/brown and getting some college credits even if you have to pay. Ultimately, it matters what you can say you did in the summer before college because the colleges want to see if you are preparing for college in someway or having fun all summer.</p>

<p>@zenxan
The reason that colleges frown upon Brown, Columbia, Oxbridge, and etc. in general is (I think) that for so many of the attendees, cost is the prohibiting factor. Same goes for things like NYLC or People to Peopleā€“they might be nice programs, but theyā€™re not all that selective and theyā€™re obscenely expensive, so thereā€™s a perception (if not the reality) that the large majority of kids getting in without scholarships are the ones who arenā€™t competitive enough to get something anywhere else but have the money to ā€œbuyā€ a big name summer program.</p>

<p>Honestly, I think that if youā€™re interested in the humanities/social sciences, the State Dept. is a much better bet than any of those summer programs anyways.</p>

<p>Totally sympathize with the people here who have missed deadlinesā€¦ I just started seriously looking at summer programs this month, and I wonā€™t be able to meet many of the FA deadlines. Iā€™m a freshman. I applied to Summer@Andover and was admitted but I canā€™t go because they didnā€™t give me ANY FA (my familyā€™s gross income is just over 100K). </p>

<p>Iā€™d really like to study abroad doing some science-y. Maybe next year</p>

<p>Bravo to you! We were thinking the exact same thing but didnā€™t post it! That is probably a great question for ā€œAsk the Deanā€ Zenxan!</p>

<p>Hi, I am currently a freshman and interested in business. I know its really late but are there still any other camps I can apply to? Also, I kind of bombed my grades this year so it would be great if they dont look at your GPA.</p>

<p>My predicamentā€¦ Summer@Brown V. NYLFM
Thank you in advance for whatever help you find yourself able to give. My predicament is as follows: Iā€™ve normally been a perfect student, to be brief, but at the beginning of my secomd semester, Iā€™ve been diagnosed with insomniaā€¦ Joy (writing this past midnight). So my math grade has dropped, terribly. This is undoubtedly my last year to be accepted to anything worthwhile, in the way of summer programs. Regardless of my ā€œcareer aspirationsā€ I need to weight my college application. Iā€™ve been accepted to Summer@Brown and invited to the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine, and Iā€™m unsure which to attend. Which carries more weight with admission officers? I know Summer@Brown is an open-application-type program, and NYLFM is invitation only, and in the past 10 years, 8 students from my school have attended, some of them valedictorians, and all of them notable. NYLFM also gives college credit at George Mason, while Summer@Brown does not give any college credit. NYLFM seems like the more prestigious program all in all, but Iā€™m unsure, as Summer@Brown is still an Ivy League summer program. So if you could give me ANY inkling of information about what looks better to colleges, itā€™d greatly behoove me, I need to choose ASAP, by Sunday, unfortunately. Thank you all, for any help that might come(:</p>