<p>Hi,
My son is a high school sophomore, and committed this summer to do CTY summer camp. Up until now, he's been taking CTY Humanities classes, but recently he's gotten interested in Engineering, so he's planning to take Fast Paced Physics. </p>
<p>I've been on the MIT website and they list what summer programs impress them, but those programs seem very competitive to get into. I like what I've read about Olin much better, but I worry that grades + test scores and playing on the basketball team and being in the school plays aren't enough nowadays. But part of me prefers my kid to have what I consider an old fashioned high school experience. During the school year my son is definitely at capacity without working in a lab, science fair or prepping for a science Olympiad. </p>
<p>So, any suggestions for next summer? or a one week type camp to cram into this summer?</p>
<p>I wish Olin would run a summer weekend for High School students that is similar to their candidates weekend. Then I wouldn't have to 'sell' Olin to my son.</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any advice and guidance - both to my questions and to my 'questions behind the questions.'
Thanks!</p>
<p>If your son is a sophomore, his interests are still evolving. Olin is a wonderful place for the right fit… but Engineering is the only major. </p>
<p>At this point, perhaps a summer camp such as the “Catapult” one run by Rose Hulman (Terre Haute, IN) would be good. I was sorry that we didn’t learn about it soon enough to have my son apply in hs.
<a href=“404 | Rose-Hulman”>404 | Rose-Hulman;
<p>When we visited Olin the summer prior to junior year, DS was not all that interested. (OP is right - Candidate Weekend is exciting, and it sold DH and DS on the project based curriculum). But when I asked if DS should join Robotics club to validate potential interest in Engineering, they said…“He should do what he loves”. In his case, that was music.</p>
<p>Thanks ColoradoMom,
I wasn’t aware of this summer program;I’ll add it to the list. I like that it’s located at Rose-Hulman.
Smiles,
PS</p>
<p>FYI - This link seems cool
[Engineering</a> Education Service Center - Engineering Camps Directory](<a href=“http://www.engineeringedu.com/camps/]Engineering”>http://www.engineeringedu.com/camps/)</p>
<p>My thoughts - Look for camps that will help your student refine interests in area of study and/or preferred college attributes. I’m not sure there are any particular kind of camp “resume bullets” that would impress certain colleges. But a focused, passionate student would be a attribute on any campus. </p>
<p>The bummer about trying to set up camp time (and vacation time) is that it conflicts with the opportunity for a hs student to have a grunt job. There is value to that too. (My Olin kiddo has not had a job. In our case that was due bad economy. There are not many summer-only jobs).</p>
<p>Thanks for the link Colorado Mom,
I agree about the summer jobs that teach one ‘what we don’t want to do’ - it was valuable to me. Maybe video games will provide that sort of experience for this generation - some of those lower levels demand high persistence. ((Humor Alert))
I remember one of the Pokemon games required a fish that had to be caught (boring!) and then not allowed to mutate so it could learn a particular skill that allowed the game to be beaten. I even tried to help catch the fish for a while so he could rest his fingers, he was so young (8maybe?)- it was so boring!</p>
<p>The summer before my senior year in high school I did this: Discover the Possibilities: Engineering at Milwaukee School of Engineering. They have another program called explore where you can pick one type of engineering. The Discover program was great because I got to spend a day or so on each main type of engineering (mechanical, electrical, computer, chemical and civil) and do a project for each to get some idea what I wanted to do with myself. I found it extremely helpful since I didn’t really know what engineering was like. I decided to go into engineering because of it.
<a href=“https://admissions.msoe.edu/academic-experience/summer-programs/[/url]”>https://admissions.msoe.edu/academic-experience/summer-programs/</a></p>
<p>I have also heard great things about Catapult at Rose Hulman.</p>