<p>Dear Sophomore,</p>
<p>Wrong, wrong wrong: that’s how you’re doing it. The first mistake you made was including prestige in your search criteria. No, no, no, no, no. Prestige is irrelevant to your summer program. (The aforementioned Summer@Brown program is not very “prestigious,” either.)</p>
<p>Your summer experience depends wholly on what you derive from it; if you attended TASP or RSI or a similarly known program and didn’t demonstrate effort or interest, the prestige of the name wouldn’t help you develop as a learner or student. You can attend an obscure program - or even make your own program, such as teaching yourself a new language or just volunteering in your community - and get just as much out of it as do those who attend a “prestigious” program.</p>
<p>For admissions tips, you might want to read [this</a> thread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1277483-summer-programs-start-looking-winter.html]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1277483-summer-programs-start-looking-winter.html). But before you apply anywhere, you should change your mindset. Remember that having a “prestigious” program on your resume is not necessary to get into an Ivy League university. They care more about how your time was spent productively rather than where it was spent.</p>
<p>Prestige is an opinion. Programs I hold in high esteem may be relatively unknown to many students. Don’t let prestige hold you back from actually gaining something in a program.</p>