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As high school students, university is the quasi-final goal which seems to be far yet close from now, but we do not know what they want. Not even seniors, who have strived to get what they want, have grasped the ultimate “truth”. This is the first article on the column series starting with “University Hacks” that will reveal hidden details and disprove stereotypes about higher education institutes. The article was written upon independent research and consultation with AISG’s high school counsellors Mr. Menton and Ms. Lindsay.
Aspiring scholars, most in the hopes of building a better looking resume for a year or two later, apply to Ivy League summer programmes, but the summer camps will not automatically grant you brownie points. Grade 9 Stanley Wang, who is participating in the KWHS Young Leaders Academy hosted by Wharton Business School says, “I applied to the programme myself, and I am looking forward to learning new things in general and meeting new people”.
Summer camps can provide participants with a wide range of activities or a focused topic in a programme. Some are satisfied while some others are not due to the programmes they have carelessly chosen. As they have to spend from two weeks to two months on what they chose to do, applicants have to prudently decide their programmes which may vary from something very broad such as integrated science or all humanities to a study very specific such as robotics engineering,
If the purpose is not to simply grasp a realm of studies or the school better, the summer courses may not necessarily be helpful. For instance, Brown University’s dean of admissions Jim Miller says that the summer programmes from the same school give “zero” credit and in fact they “don’t know who’s been to [their] summer school.” Beth Heaton, who previously had worked in the admissions department of University of Pennsylvania, says she did not place much value on the summer courses because it is only extra studying during the summer, which already many candidates do.
Ivy League summer programmes for which students have to pay thousands of dollars to attend do not impress the admissions unless they have made great discoveries throughout. Mr. Menton comments, “the summer camps in the US tend to be expensive”, and they usually don’t have “high thresholds”. So they might not be able to prove someone to be competent as they could show an applicant’s socioeconomic class.
However, again there are prestigious summer camps such as MIT MITE2S, Telluride Summer Programme, Stanford Math Camp in which people may make some valuable experience and intellectual research. If you feel like you want to find a place where you can concentrate and receive help for research, university summer camps might be the right place.
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