<p>I think I already know the answer to this one, but I’m looking for your confirmation. Does attendance by a high school student at a summer program at a competetive university provide any sort of an admissions bump at that school later?</p>
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<p>No.</p>
<p>It can help if the student develops a good relationship with a professor who writes a strong recommendation – but often, it is not professors who are teaching the classes. It may help when they write the “why college x” essay. For the most part, what attendance at these programs shows is that the student has the money to afford them.</p>
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I wouldn’t go QUITE that far. It also shows that the student is interested enough in the field (math, biology, economics, whatever) to fill out the application, get letters of recommendation, and spend part of his summer choosing to do additional academics. And that he has the money to afford them, of course.</p>
<p>Some of the programs offer scholarships too, so agree ^^^.</p>
<p>Of course, we never really know reasonings for scholarships, but I think the summer camps can really help- and some are not that expensive. We sent our D to a pre-engineering camp at Purdue - think it was only $600ish. During that week, she of course, learning a lot about Purdue and engineering (and found an interest in aerospace) and was voted “Best Female” camper of the week. I know that sounds corny, but there is a section on the common app, where they ask if you have taken classes etc. at another university. We listed the Purdue camp and her “award”. Long story short, our D got one of the largest OOS scholarships from Purdue (which she has accepted admission to), and also got nice offers from some other schools. I am sure the other schools said "we can tell that Purdue “likes” this appicant!! If affordable, and your child is really interested in a certain university - I would highly recommend it!!!</p>
<p>Ditto.^ S went to Uva young writers’ workshop (they DO offer scholarships for those that can’t afford the cost) and earned an award of distinction in fiction writing. He went two summers. He was just accepted, but of course that’s a small part of his entire application.</p>