True vs. False Benefits of College Summer Programs

The vast majority of elite colleges and universities “invite” thousands of high school students – and sometimes even middle school students – to spend a portion of their summer living on campus, attending classes, and experiencing the life of an undergraduate.

Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, The University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, UCLA, NYU, Duke, Boston College, and scores of other colleges and universities open their campus each summer to teens who later dream of returning for their college experience.

The problem is that the admission process for most summer programs can barely be considered competitive, while the admission process for undergraduate acceptance is truly daunting at many of these same institutions.  Often students, and their parents, are under the false impression that attending a summer program for high school students at an elite school will ultimately help them gain acceptance for college.  A recent Washington Monthly article, titled “The Pre-College Racket,” reported that, according to professional admissions consultants, attending a pre-college program seldom offers a special benefit or is particularly prestigious on college applications.

These summer programs are often quite costly.  Harvard’s fees for the summer of 2020 total $12,810 for high school students who will live on campus for seven weeks while taking eight credits of coursework. The fee includes room and board and health insurance.

The cost at Duke for a four-week residential program is $9,745, while the cost at Stanford for an eight week, eight credit program (without health insurance)  hovers around $15,100.

Of course, there are also good reasons for students to attend pre-college summer programs. If there is a college to which a student is considering applying “early decision,” spending a few weeks on the campus during the prior summer can often affirm or refute that it’s the student’s ideal school.

Summer programs are also extremely beneficial in familiarizing students with academic fields that they are considering for their college major. For example, students who think that psychology would be their ideal field of study might benefit from Duke’s summer of 2020 psychology program offering courses in Social Psychology, Adolescence Psychology, Cultural Psychology, and “Nature and the Brain.” Another option is Boston College’s three-week “Introduction to Concepts in Psychology Seminar.”

Similarly, students seeking to familiarize themselves with different fields of engineering might do well to consider the pre-college engineering programs hosted at Rutgers, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Drexel, University of Pennsylvania and Notre Dame.

As long as students and parents have realistic expectations of the benefits of pre-college summer programs, they can certainly offer an exciting experience for students looking forward to their college years.    

Susan Alaimo is the founder of SAT Smart. For the past 25 years, SAT Smart’s Ivy League educated tutors have prepared students for the PSAT, SAT, ACT, Subject Tests, AP courses, and all high school subjects. Visit www.SATsmart.com or call 908-369-5362.