does anyone know how prestigious city of hope’s summer program is?
Carnegie Mellon SAMS is a good program and it’s pretty much entirely free
How about LSC Partners in Science program? It is from Liberty Science Center in NJ, normally attended by NJ/NY folks, to do research at universities around in this area?
The cost is about 5000$ I think. I know this because I was accepted. Don’t worry they do give scholarships, and I got a full one. Also I would highly recommend this program, I am going through it currently and I really enjoy it.
For people who come across this thread looking for 2019, I’ll give a shout out to UCLA’s summer institutes. I’m not sure how “prestigious” they are, but there are many interesting topics; the cost is not through the roof; and both of my kids have really enjoyed them. It’s also nice to get the college credits if you end up going to school there, as one of mine will be soon!
Highly competitive summer programs that are free (e.g., RSE, MITES, TASP, Governor’s Schools) or specialized programs that are highly competitive to get into (e.g., Tanglewood for music, Iowa for writing, NSLI-Y or CYBX for languages) look really good. Expensive pay-to-play pre-college programs (e.g., Georgetown, Columbia, Stanford) and/or paying a lot of money to do a service trip to the third world will not be as impressive.
Frankly, just follow your passions through volunteer work, internships, college classes, conservatory programs, etc. Do them because you want to, not because they will look good to colleges. I second @pickledginger’s suggestion about UCLA’s programs; they are good and not frightfully expensive. For math/science, UCSD’s COSMOS is good, too. Carleton has some nice 3-week long programs in sciences, writing, humanities, etc.
I would recommend pioneer academics. It is one of the best programs that I have ever attended. In the first 5 sessions, the professor works with you and 3 other students from around the world. In these classes you learn about the subject area in which you will be doing research in later. After those 5 classes you schedule one-on-one sessions with your professor. During these sessions he/she helps you develop your project further, and gives suggestions. In addition to having these one-on-one sessions, you will have another 5 classes with the other 3 students, going even deeper into the research area you have chosen. I would recommend the spring-summer term, because here you will have higher chances of getting accepted (because most people think about applying for the summer one). Also, don’t worry about having too much coursework in the spring-summer one, because you only have 5 classes scheduled during the school year, and everything else is left for the summer, and there is also a break in May, so that when you are having your SAT, AP, or other exams you will have the time to focus on those, and even if you have finals in June, it will still fit in your schedule. And also the spring term will give you time to enjoy your summer, and attend another summer program if you want to because the final due date for the research paper is July 29th (at least it was like that for me). They also do a great job at matching you with the right professor. I noticed that with the one that they paired me up with, we actually had a lot of things in common, and I really enjoyed our one-on-one sessions. The cost might be a slight problem, but they do give out scholarships. Although, I am confused about how they do this, because when I got my acceptance, that is when they told me that I got a full scholarship, and I did not fill out anything concerned with financial aid. They also have a writing center that checks your writing skills, so do not worry about making stupid mistakes. One thing that the program lacks is the time that you would have with other students. I did not get to know them, and I wish there was a way for us to communicate outside the professor’s presence. One last thing that I would like to mention is that they do not focus on grades as much as I thought they would, I did not have a 4.0 when I applied, I think I had 3.6, so do not worry at being a perfect student. Although, I did have a lot of extracurriculars, and I come from a small country. Overall, I am REALLY happy about the way that the program turned out, and the things that I learned while participating in it.
Is freshman year good to try or you suggest at a later grade
@virus0987 definitely start in freshman year - I wish I had! There are a lot of great programs that accept freshmen, and applying now is great practice for the really big junior and senior year ones.
@malaalenase this is late but i just wanted to pop in and add, since the deadlines are semi-approaching, TASP all the way! TASP, RSI, and a few of the math programs mentioned here are in a tier of their own in terms of well-earned name recognition for T10 and 20 colleges. I just made a video on getting in, in case you decided to apply, in which case best of luck!! hmu if you have any questions! I think it ended up helping me get into Columbia, my dream school 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2KA5X-LEKc
What do people think about Frontiers about WPI? Also, does anyone know about the acceptance rate?
How prestigious is Cornell RABS? It’s really expensive- $13,000+ so is it really worth it?
Any great programs for freshman (rising sophomores)? (Preferably ones that are free or heavily subsidized?)
Recommended programs for rising freshman interested in science/research/medicine (aside from Hopkins)? Most programs appear aimed at those who have already completed grade 9.
A STEM student is applying for a summer camp as a rising junior, wants to pursue a business/Math camp during the summer at a college. Thanks!
I applied to frontiers at WPI this year. I’m also a rising junior focused on stem.
@KTinthehouse I completely agree with you. A student has to take from the experience of the summer program, and although a prestigious summer program will definitely help someone, it is not useful if the student is unable to gain something from the experience. Another student that can gain something from a job at mcdonalds will be more valuable than someone’s summer program.
My daughter is currently a high school freshman. She just finished up her freshman year taking all honors classes and getting straight As. Her biggest hobby outside of school is art–primary painting, but also sketching. (That said, she says she doesn’t want to study art in college. She’s convinced art will always just be a hobby, and she is planning on doing something else professionally and academically.) I’ve looked for some art summer programs for her, but I can’t really tell the difference between high-priced-cash-grab-basically-summer-camps vs. legit (read: more prestigious and meaningful) summer programs that she should apply to. Are there any art programs she should consider applying to?
@dia26,
Your D sounds much like mine. Academically strong student that really loved art but decided that art was not her career path. She applied to college as a science kid who had art as her major EC. She submitted a portfolio along with the application, and art was woven into her common app essay. She is now at the University of Chicago.
Since your D is a freshman, and you have plenty of time, here is what I would recommend:
- Find out when the next National Portfolio Day is happening nearby, and have her attend. Have her art reviewed by both the strongest art schools (e.g. RISD, SAIC) and the strongest academic schools that are there (e.g. Michigan, WUSTL). This will give you a good idea if her art talent is strong enough to be a major EC that would strengthen her app. We decided it was for D when the RISD reviewer gave her rave reviews and was shocked that D was a freshman.
- If available, find an art school nearby that takes students during the school year and has a history of developing strong artists that A) Win awards in YoungArts or Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, or B) Get admitted to the top art schools. It is really the sustained effort that improves artistic skills, rather than a few weeks over the summer.
- Compete in YoungArts and Scholastic Art & Writing.
- See if she can get her art displayed at local museums.
- For the summer, have her spend most of her time doing what she plans on doing for her career. The most important thing here is to pick a path she enjoys now and ideally progress in terms of accomplishments for the next 2-3 summers. Note that it's fine if she decides to do something completely different once in college.
- Spend a few weeks during the summer at an art camp. This could be as simple as spending 1/2 days at museums doing guided painting for 2-3 weeks. This doesn't have to cost much.
Thanks, @hebegebe! After watching her older sister (HS senior right now) go through the process, my younger daughter wants to get started early developing her “spike” which she wants to be art, since she enjoys doing that anyway.
I’ll look up National Portfolio Day. It sounds very familiar.
For point #2, how would you recommend finding such a school? Just google “art schools in [location]” or something?
Just so I understand, for point #5, are you saying that she shouldn’t focus on art over the summer? She’s not sure what she wants to do professionally yet. I keep telling her that I think she’d love mechanical engineering or robotics, since she likes physically building things, but she doesn’t think that’d be interesting. She also loves working with animals, so doing something with zoology, ecology, etc. could be interesting for her.
Sending you a PM since the details will get the thread off-topic.