Thank you all for the replies. DD wants to go out of state; she thinks it will be a great experience, and is passionate about science. Although we will make it happen, it still requires us to go away for some time, costs us money, etc. So we are just trying to figure out the value. She spent the 2025 summer (between 9th and 10th) working and volunteering, is doing well in school, and hopefully will do well on standardized tests, and is participating in the extracurriculars she wants to do. Ultimately, she and we would like her to go to a good college. I guess that is one of the reasons we are on this site and the forum ( so the truth is we want to know how valuable this experience will be in the College application process vs doing something else). Thank you