<p>Although summer programs often stress that it will not help in admissions to that school, it can help. My son attended Harvard’s SSP for two summers & made a lot of connections with professors willing to write recs for him.(Even though that is specifically discouraged.) Students from far away were permitted to interview with the Harvard admission office. Obviously a Harvard interview won’t help you with a Brown application, but you may be able to make contacts, interview & determine whether or not the school is for you.
To the best of my knowledge, Brown, Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Cornell & Yale have high school summer programs. Does anyone know whether Princeton & Dartmouth also have summer programs open to high school students? Thanks.</p>