Can anyone tell me if doing a summer program at a school (BC for example) will help chances of acceptance? Thanks!
Generally no. Some exceptions include competitive summer programs like RSI or Telluride.
You have to be careful about the actual program. Many programs are held at schools but run by various companies that have nothing to do with the school itself. You have to look for a program that is run by the professors of the school in the area of study that you are interested in.
Summer programs can also be helpful in two other ways. One is that it can help you decide if you are interested in pursuing a career in something, and if you decide yes, that helps you in your application build a story of who you are and what you want. For instance, you can say you want to study computer science, and you took 2 AP CS classes in school, were the Pres of the CS society, and studied gaming at xyz school over your Junior summer. A second is it can give you a glimpse of what it will be like to go to college, and help make you more comfortable about going to college when the time comes. Personally, I think a less expensive camp can do this for you too, so I wouldn’t do it for that reason, but I’ve spoken to several kids who are really glad they did it.
ALso summer programs are helpful in that you are doing something productive for the summer. Working, babysitting one’s siblings or going to camp would be other productive things.
My kids could not imagine doing an academic program in the summer. Enough of that all year. But they did have productive summers and did end up at great schools.
Thanks !!
Generally no, but perhaps for reasons you may not have considered. Schools are far more concerned with what you’ve accomplished in your summer activities (many ways to measure this) what your experience reveals about you, and how the experience fits into your personal narrative. Colleges are looking for a diverse group of students who have success pursuing their interests, and if there is a tie between a student who take a summer course at their college primarily to experience life there and the other student, for example gets a job to learn about management in small business (in preparation for a future in business), or enrolls in a specialty program at another college that matches their interest, the latter student will always nab the spot.
If the program at BC fits into the narrative of who you are and your interests, it will help you get into BC, but, perhaps confusingly, not because it is held at BC.
Quick word about how I used “success” above: success to colleges can mean achieving 1st place in competition or something “soft” like learning from a new experience or failure or gaining a new perspective. After all, success in learning, is well…learning!
Great answer, Melvin! Building on that, colleges would be interested in how the experience helped form your ideas of what you’d like to pursue OR even what you would not like to pursue and why.
My son did a CS class at Columbia years ago. I don’t believe it was a Columbia prof who taught the course, but it was taught by someone who was a professor somewhere. He got a nice recommendation at the end of the course. I think the course was only 3-4 weeks, he ended up doing some CS paid work during the second half of the summer. He also learned that he had no desire to work in computer graphics. He didn’t apply to Columbia, but he did get into some top CS programs. I don’t think the class was a big part of why he got in where he did. He had plenty of other stuff to prove how accomplished he was in CS. His whole application was “I am a computer nerd.”
the programs at MIT may help in admissions, but the others in general --no. My student did the Brown, Yale and Stanford programs which did not seem to help and may have hurt if you invest your time into programs that take away from things that might otherwise make a difference. My second student did not do any summer programs, but did some abroad things and landed acceptances to elite LACS and Harvard WL, and Penn.
What are some of the ways he showed the colleges that CS was important to him and part of his narrative?
@preppedparent What did your students get out of the Brown, Yale and Stanford programs? What would you advise other students considering them?
not much. No, I wouldn’t advise “summer” ed programs. Instead, pursue starting a business, do research, do volunteer work, do anything you love.
My kid did Brown twice and one at Temple. At Temple she learned she didn’t want to be an engineer 
At Brown after 9th grade she took a course she loved and then went back to school and did an independent study in the same subject, for credit, and got an amazing GC rec out of it all too as GC helped her set up the IS and evaluate the work. The later summer she took a somewhat similar course and fell in love with a field she is currently (junior in college now) pursuing as a career. So IMO her two Brown summers were part of her “application story” but she’s still in that “story” now, and probably will be for some time. The programs helped her clarify her goals,she also made some great contacts - profs and students, that she is still in touch with now.
Brown has excellent need-based FA for its summer program, which we found to be pretty uncommon. Most colleges run summer programs (or rent space to them) as money makers and I’m sure Brown makes a ton on theirs too but did make room for kids who couldn’t afford $6K for a 3 week class.
I can’t speak to RSI, but S went to MITES this summer and the program is not affiliated with MIT admissions, nor does it utilize MIT staff. MITES staff told the kids that the program was not going to increase their chance of admission to MIT and that they should be exploring a range of colleges.
@preppedparent I think that is fantastic advice! Many students are looking for something solely to enhance their stature in applications, and don’t realize that following their interests can support both personal growth and college goals.
What would you consider a good goal or metric for planning a summer for an ambitious junior?
@OHMomof2 Yeah, in our experience, FA is definitely uncommon for summer programs, and Brown’s commitment to offering the summer experience to those who don’t have 6k in disposable income sets them apart.
“So IMO her two Brown summers were part of her “application story” but she’s still in that “story” now, and probably will be for some time.”
That’s fantastic! How strongly was she considering the topic before she had her first course at Brown? Do you think the summer courses would have been as useful had she decided she actually wanted to to pursue a different major?
Check out Ivy Coach blog on this topic. I think first time families going thru the college app process are looking for an edge. They think these high cost summer programs will enhance apps and maybe even give an edge to the student if they complete the summer program at a particular college they want to attend. Wrong. In general this is not the case.
If anything being able to afford these high cost summer programs smacks of privilege and the elite colleges are looking for first gen kids and Questbridge and others to give their opportunity to. Privileged kids get in thru their legacy status.
Use your summer time to devote to activities that demonstrate your passion and commitment to a particular subject. So if you are an environmentalist, volunteer for a Save the Bay or Redwoods type community org. If you are a budding scientist, try to join a research project or better yet do your own backyard bio research in the hopes of creating a small paper you can publish in a throw away journal. If you are interested in business, start a small business to gain first hand experience you might also be able to write about.
But don’t count on these pricey summer programs to help you in college admissions. By and large, they won’t. I think it was the one-time Princeton Dean of Admissions who stated she never even looked at what students did over their summers. In her eyes at least, summer programs meant nothing.
The Brown program came to my attention via a scholarship program that pays for them (Joyce Ivy, not sure if they still exist), so we looked at it as “only if affordable” from the get-go. She was also too young to work that first summer, just 14.
The courses weren’t in her current major, rather they pointed her to a career interest (first course was neuroscience and disease, second was epidemiology…there’s a common thread there) and she isn’t majoring in either one, but has done research and work in epi and is majoring in an area that will take her into the field. She had zero exposure to either subject before this, her high school, like most, offers the core subjects only.
So, yes.
Awesome! Great to hear that she looked to summer school for experience in fields that interested her, then used the experience to help her choose a major!