<p>Don’t know much about Harvard SSP, but I’ld trust Hanna and Byerly.</p>
<p>The daughter of a good friend attended Barnard Summer program (cheaper than Columbia and allows for two distinct courses rather than one intensive; also commuted) She was looking for something “productive” and intellectually interesting to do while having an odd summer schedule revolving foremost around Empire State Games practices for her NYC team going to the all-state competition in early August. </p>
<p>As it turned out this excellent student (stellar math and science) had two great courses in social/literary history of the 50’s and 60’s. She got outstanding evaluations from excellent teachers (one also a History Tutor in one of the H college houses who vouched she was on par superior to many of his H. undergraduates, blah, blah). No doubt, her public hs advisor got some good stuff to include. She was doing this for herself (a bit outside her strengths) and training athletically. </p>
<p>She’s now at Harvard (and not a recruited athlete altho good for NYC). On the one hand it was serendipitous. Wasn’t thinking about grades in summer school or getting recs (at least the parents weren’t.) On the other, she demonstrated something Harvard likes - intellectual curiosity, breadth, joy of learning - and some multi-tasking.</p>
<p>The moral: It wasn’t H SSP, not Columbia. Not biggest bucks to do it. Barnard was great for her (and she enjoyed meeting kids from all over the country and the planned NYC outings with new peers.) Depending on where you are and your options, Community College can be just fine for the summer; that’s my guess tho of course without pricey personal benefits of residence away from home.</p>