<p>Does anyone have an opinion of which one of these two programs would have a greater impact when applying to a reach school? (Penn)</p>
<p>Either one would be fine. Go with the one that interests your child the most.</p>
<p>I would say SHARP for two reasons:
- Sharp is focused on research with a mentor. Many of the competitive schools like Penn are looking for research experience that will make them look good. MIT and CalTech aren’t famous because of their learning entirely, most of what you hear in the news about them is their research.
- MITE2S is focused more on the academics than research. Students are taught in the disciplines of Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, etc. Many other schools have academic programs and many can be “bought”. For example, Cornell has a program which teaches Calculus, Physics, etc.
That’s my own opinion…</p>
<p>Thank you !!!</p>
<p>LatinDude brings up a VERY good point about both Nasa Sharp and MITE2S. There are a lot of programs where you can get spend 10K to get the experience like MITE2S, but when it boils down to it, admissions officers at a lot of colleges probably know that MITE2S is more competitive to get into than the programs that you “buy” yourself into. If you get accepted into any of these, you can’t go wrong with either. Both probably have around the same acceptance rate so college admissions know that you beat the other 80 something percent of kids that applied for these competitive summer programs.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response!</p>
<p>Northcoastdad,
Just wondered how old your child was, for whom you were considering these two programs? My son is finishing 8th grade, and I’m a bit worried that he’s not doing something major academically this summer…although he’ll be studying for some national math competitions (see how that goes).</p>
<p>Do you think these types of programs are important for early HS students, as well?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>If your son is in 8th grade, what he does in the summer won’t matter, since colleges really only look at accomplishments during high school and summers between high school years.</p>
<p>It doesn’t hurt for an 8th grader to pursue a summer enrichment program. Check a local community college for possibilities. Everything doesn’t have to be about prestige, ranking and status at his age. Let him do something academically but also have some fun before entering hs.</p>
<p>Just to follow up:
My son is a Junior.
MITE2S: Wait- Listed then Rejected
NASA Sharp:Accepted.</p>
<p>Northcoastdad,
Congrats! Your S is a lucky guy! My S applied to 4 programs including both of them and got all rejections. (Not to worry, he now has a nice summer planned doing other activities in other fields. )</p>
<p>Either program is a plus when it comes to college applications because both are competitive, well organized programs offered by highly respected institutions. Both also give students an excellent exposure to science . The fact that a student is willing to devote their summer to something like this also makes them stand out.</p>
<p>What the student gets out of the experience is far more important than is which program the student got into. What the student learned is something that can be reflected on the student’s college essays, in interviews and even in a supplementary recommendation from the program.</p>
<p>Jolynne,
It is not necessary for any student to do formal enrichment programs.</p>
<p>However, any parent who’d like their student to have options after high school that best meet the student’s needs should help their student use summers to pursue the student’s natural interests and talents.</p>
<p>If those interests/talents dovetail with formal residential programs and the student is willing to do something like that, the parent can encourage it. </p>
<p>If such programs are unaffordable or the student doesn’t want to spend their summers like that, the student can be enabled to do other things that will help the student explore and develop their interests.</p>
<p>For instance, a student who loves history could take family trips to historical sites. I know a couple of guys who were history buffs and took trips with their relatives to see Civil War battle fields. </p>
<p>A student who loves art could take an art class or spend time visiting art museums. If the student didn’t want to take a class, but wanted to create art, the parents could give the student some art supplies or a camera and let the student do his own thing.</p>
<p>My son loves to read, but doesn’t get time during the school year to do all of the reading that he likes. The summer after 8th grade, I gave him some books that I thought he’d like. He gave me some books to read that he thought I would like. We had a wonderful time reading and discussing literature and going to some poetry readings and similar activities.</p>
<p>The idea is not to have your student on track for some specific career goal, but to give them a chance to delve more deeply into some intellectual or even social activities that will help broaden their knowledge of the world and themselves so that when it’s time to fly the nest, they go off to a destination that allows them to grow into their optimal selves.</p>
<p>NorthstarMom
Thanks,… We are just happy that one of the two programs worked out. Although he was accepted to “The Martin W. Essex School for the Gifted” at Ohio State, He really wanted the NASA program. He is in the commuter program so he will need his own a car (something my wife and I did not want to do just yet.) and he likes the idea of getting paid. I just hope he get a good mentor and a good project that will lead to a good extended essay that will be due for a IB class at the start of his senior year.</p>
<p>Ah, NorthCoast Dad, you are so lucky that you live near a commuter program for NASA Sharp! I think that my S missed out because we do not. There are so few residential spaces.</p>
<p>I bet your S is happy about getting his own car and getting that nice salary, too. </p>
<p>My S, too, had wanted to use the program as a way to do his extended essay. Now, however, he’s planning on doing an essay in the social science. </p>
<p>What colleges is your S considering? Mine enjoys collaborative learning, a nonpartying atmosphere, and a relatively laid back environment so is considering places like Earlham and Brandeis as he considers a wide swathe of potential majors.</p>
<p>Update:
The director of the MITE2S program call today and said he had a spot open. Back to the original question, Would any turn down NASA for MIT and why?</p>
<p>Yes, I can imagine turning down NASA for MIT for the following reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Very interested in the specific program that MITE2S offers such as the courses on robotics and humanities or wants to do the higher level math that the program offers</p></li>
<li><p>Wants to explore MIT and see what a tech university or top 5 university is like</p></li>
<li><p>Wants to explore Boston or find out what it’s like to live elsewhere</p></li>
<li><p>Wants to have a shorter summer program than NASA SHARP</p></li>
<li><p>Wants a residential experience (since your S has been offered a nonresidential NASA program)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Whatever your S decides to do is fine. He has 2 wonderful offers. He can’t go wrong with either choice.</p>
<p>Thanks again,</p>
<p>Well, I shared all of the information that I learned from this thread with my S. I tried really hard to be as neutral as possible, to allow him to makeup his own mind. After thinking about it for about a day he decided to call MIT and tell them he was going to keep his commitment to NASA .</p>
<p>uhm hello. RSI?</p>
<p>hi northcoast dad. i think i saw your sn on the stanford community Livejournal board. am i correct?</p>
<p>I don’t think so, but let me ask to be for sure. I will get back to you.</p>