<p>which one is better? does going to one of these things impress colleges at all/improve your chances of acceptance?</p>
<p>I don't know which is better, but going to one of these will NOT improve your chances of acceptance since they are not very selective. In fact, they may hurt your chances since you might seem like you are a rich kid with nothing better to do than spend all your parents' money. However, if you really want to go, make the money yourself, and write about your experiences in a college essay, it will help.</p>
<p>True that! I went to Stanford's summer college (take regular courses for two months and get college credit, live in the dorms) which was hella awesome. I applied to Stanford early action for the class of 2009, and sadly, was not accepted. I would still do the program again.. seriously, best summer of my life, thus far. ;)</p>
<p>What is the course level? Is it at the college undergrad, grad or HS level?</p>
<p>I did the Columbia Summer Program as well as a Stanford Summer Program (this one was very selective. Under 20% get in) and I loved both. I think if you apply to one of the schools you went to a summer program at, it shows that you have interest in the school and wished to learn more about it during a summer.</p>
<p>I applied to Columbia ED and am a proud member of the class of 2009.</p>
<p>If you want to discover an urban campus while being taught by some of the best professors in the world, I recommend the Columbia Program. Workload is minimum and there is lots of free time.</p>
<p>If you want a more suburban campus that is very large and spacious, taking classes with some of the best profs as well and want a lot of work (this program for 3 credits in 3 weeks had 2 2 pg papers a night and 3 papers over 8 pgs) go for the Stanford program.</p>
<p>I loved both. Any summer program shows your intellectual curiousity. Go to any if you have the chance.</p>
<p>jaug1: did you do a discovery instute? I did Stanford's High School Summer College, I think it might have been a different thing because mine was 8 weeks long and I earned 8 credits. I still had huge papers and projects and more reading that I would like to think about, but it was still a blast. I only had class four days a week, totaling about ten hours spent in class over seven days. Although, for the academic classes, you might spend three hours doing homework for every hour spent in class, it just depended on the day/assignment/whatever. Some kids took a more intense schedule than I did, earning 12 credits in 8 weeks and using about three hours a night, four or five days a week to go in for tutoring (but that was for like, linear algebra, intermediate econ, CS, lol, stuff I didn't take). Despite that, dorm life was awesome, Stanford summer program is incredibly liberal with room checks and what not. People can be up and hanging out in the lounges or other people's rooms at any time of day or night, you don't have to be in your own room by midnight. You just have to be somewhere in the dorm complex, and there are five different houses in the complex summer college stays in.</p>