My S24 recently was admitted to the astrophysics SSP program for this summer ….I’m wondering if anyone has direct experience with how this impacted their students college application prospects and process. He is planning for a career in aerospace or mechanical engineering.
Not familiar with the program. Whether it helps or not with college, it may help cement your son’s interests.
A lot will depend on the type of college applied to. Some are stats driven and don’t care about anything else so ECs go wasted in that sense. Some want to see leadership or activities/jobs
I’m not familiar with this program but if it’s a pay program, it probably has little merit. But if it helps confirm an interest, it’s fine.
Given his major, he can go to a range of schools, prestigious or not with likely similar career outcomes.
So do the program but for him, not for college where in most cases it will not be worth much. But again that’s school dependent.
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SSP is not-for-profit, need-blind and ‘meets full need’, ie not a straight up pay-to-play- so far, so good.
BUT: it is one data point, and there are very, very, very few single data points that are enough to move the needle on their own (being on your national IMO team is an example). Guessing that you are interested in super selective schools for your cub, here is a response to your question from the Dean of Admissions at Princeton: ‘we don’t care what you do with your summer- we care that you do something with your summer and we care what you do with what you did over the summer’.
So, AOs will recognize SSP as a credible summer program- but they will look at it in the context of the overall application. That experience accompanied by an essay that talks about what your son did with that experience (whether academic, personal, social, etc) may have a cumulative impact- but it will be the demonstration of growth or higher order thinking (not just this → that, but this → that → that) that may interest AOs.
As @tsbna44 pointed out a real benefit for your son is in exploring the field, learning more about the bigger picture, and perhaps confirming an interest - or not! One of the collegekids enjoyed her astrophysics program very much, but she also worked out that the astro- side was going to stay a hobby-level interest, not grow into a career (she kept the -physics side).
short answer: in and of itself, it won’t be the difference in college admissions, but it as a growing, learning experience it could make all the difference.
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All of that makes sense. He is a strong applicant with rigorous courses 4.0/4.7 GPA and high test scores (1580 SAT). He also has unique ECS that he loves and has discovered through his own drive. He is really excited about SSP as well. We are hopeful about his prospects but realize many students can have similar excellent profiles. I just wonder if the selectivity of SSP (7% acceptance rate this year) might be enough to distinguish him from other excellent students. I guess time will tell!
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Again - depends on his list.
Just because he’s a high stat kid doesn’t mean you’re sending him to a high stat college.
What it does mean, though, is that if you want to go to college on the cheap (i.e. lots of auto merit aid) and not spend $80-90K a year, you can do so - with easy.
$20-30K is in range and likely the same outcomes as most any other school short of a few.
So once you define a list you’d better know - but my thought is likely not.
Because the kid not in that program is moving grocery carts in the summer at Kroger and that’s just as impactful.
Best of luck.
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Congratulations he sounds like an extremely accomplished and talented kid. Before we go down a rabbit hole are you looking for cheap alternatives or as your original post suggests did you post seeking information about a specific summer program?
In terms of the program it can accomplish several important things. Student can have fun and confirm his subject matter interest, he can meet likeminded peers, he can intertwine lessons learned into his applications and gain experience. As a stand-alone credential certainly will display a degree of intellectual curiosity but won’t likely be a determinant factor in the application process.
Knowing nothing about you I would be reluctant to digress the thread into a discussion of “cost optimization” without your prompting.
My kid attended summer education programs from elementary school until the summer between her sophomore and junior year, and they did not really help with her college applications. We sent her to dance classes during the year and in summer, from the age of seven.
We sent her to these programs because they were good for her intellectually, mentally, and physically. College was never part of the equation. We started her in these programs long before we ever learned about the concept of ECs in college applications.
These programs are to give kids something that will take with them for years, if not the rest of their lives. THAT is why they are good for kids, not because they help with college admissions.
The Summer Science Programs are top level summer programs, and amazing opportunity, and an unbeatable experience for kids who are interested in any of the science fields which they have. Will it help him with college applications? Maybe. Will it help him develop intellectually and possibly socially? Absolutely.
Should he attend? If the topics interest him, and you can afford it, then YES!!!
Whether it “impacts college application prospects and process” should not be an important calculation, or, from my opinion, a calculation at all.
The ONLY question that should be asked is: “will this contribute to the intellectual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being of my kid?”.
Well, not the ONLY question. Also, “can I afford it?”
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Just to be clear - I’m not saying you should or most go to a low cost school.
What I’m saying is - with a 4.0 and 1580, what I know is -
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You could choose schools at varying levels of cost, rank, whatever - that’s the flexibility those stats get you. And because the school you go to in engineering matters little in regards to outcome (vs. other majors), that’s a nice perk to have.
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As noted before, many schools don’t look at ECs - that’s why I made the comment. So even if a school found it helpful, it would only be helpful at those schools that evaluate extras.
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I think for the schools that do, this EC likely is of little impact - but hopefully he’ll have other ECs and interests that are longer term and quantifiable…but that’s not to say this wouldn’t help. ECs don’t need to be in the area of desired study - and a part time job, for example, even at a grocery store or what not - would be wonderful. Band, sports, walking dogs, working at church/temple - whatever one does - if they build tenure and accomplishment.
So it will really depend on your list as to whether this or any EC matters - and I was simply noting that with your student’s academic background you’ll have a variety of choices in regards to selectivity and cost…so forget the SSP, he’s already in a fantastic position with or without it!!
Based on your sons stats, the tone of your posts and your seeking information regarding “application prospects” I am assuming you are targeting more competitive schools. Please correct me if I am incorrect?
In that case ECs are extremely important.
This is key!!
At elite schools ECs are relied upon to differentiate amongst pools of candidates who typically all have near perfect stats (like your kid). The ECs are employed as part of a holistic process to access the candidates ability to contribute to the schools community, leverage the institutions resources and have impact once graduated. Ideally the ECs display continuity to a broader narrative of academic interest or service but most importantly they should suggest attributes such as passion, leadership, creativity and uniqueness.
It is debatable as to what specific types of ECs spark admissions officers interests at highly competitive schools but it is without question a criteria that is evaluated and considered and ultimately is a determinant factor for many applicants. Thankfully it appears your son enjoys his ECs and is a self starter. You (and he)should be encouraged that this will serve him well during the application process at all but the largest of state schools or extremely high admissions rate schools.
Good luck to him.
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He is targeting a few top schools (MIT, GTech, etc) but has a pretty good range. Since we are from CA the majority of schools are here but also have Purdue, CU Boulder, Mines on the list. He is not doing SSP for college applications and we were surprised he got in. However, I am curious about how it impacts college because 70% of the kids go on to MIT, Stanford, Princeton… with the vast majority going to MIT. This seems remarkable but may be correlation….Cost is something we have to consider but he is pretty open minded and we have more evaluation to do if the finances. We are taking more of a “shoot for the moon, then you fall among the stars” approach. I do think private schools offer a totally different environment for education but hubby and I are both the product of huge public universities and turned out just fine!
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This is a classical case of correlation not being causation. The reason that so many kid who attend the program end up in these colleges is that the kids who are accepted to the SSP and attend it are from the same pool as the students who apply to, and are accepted to, these colleges. MIT is the majority, since it selects students based a lot more on their academic abilities (inside and outside of the classroom), whereas Princeton and Stanford also have extensive acceptances that are based onlegacy, athletics, development, and fame/fortune.
And yes, SES plays a part, less because MIT selects high SES kids, and more because higher SES kids have more opportunities to “shine”.
So to the question of “will SSP help a kid be accepted to, say, MIT?”, the answer is “maybe, possibly, who knows?”. However, if the question is “does acceptance to, and successful attendance of, SSP indicate that a kid is, to put it crudely, ‘MIT material’?” the answer is a resounding “Yes”.
The most important take-away from this is that SSP is something that would be rewarding and enjoyable for the sort of kid who ends up at MIT. So, if your kid sees a place like MIT as a place where he would fit in, he will enjoy and benefit from SSP. That will be true whether he ends up at MIT or at, say, Harvey Mudd, Purdue, UIUC, Berkeley, CMU, Caltech, or any other excellent program in aerospace engineering.
An additional advantage is that he will be surrounded by like-minded kids, which normally would not happen to these sort of kids until they start college.
My main response does not change - if your kid wants to attend, he should very definitely attend, and you should encourage him to attend.
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I think the fact that your son’s getting admitted by SSP shows that his stats are superior and there is a high chance that he will get into a top-tier university. According to SSP Universal Times page, a high percentage of past attendants did get into top universities. However, I don’t think the attendance of SSP help them get admitted. These students were already excellent. Attending SSP or not did not change their chance. A few years ago, my child’s friend declined SSP offer because she was busy with a research, and she still got admissions from MIT and Stanford.
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An additional advantage is that he will be surrounded by like-minded kids, which normally would not happen to these sort of kids until they start college.
This was one of the biggest things my son got out of doing COSMOS last summer. Obviously he has friends at his high school too but this was a way to expand his friend group outside of school. There are only about 400 kids at his private school so it’s not like he’s at one of these huge public schools with thousands of students.
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The first time my kid attended a summer overnight camp for gifted kids, my mother asked her how it was. My daughter said “they get me”.
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50% went to HYPMS. My daughter went to this camp, and it was fantastic.
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That’s great to know. I’m really excited that my son will get to have this summer experience!
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