<p>I posted this in the Summer Programs section, and am reposting here hoping to get some responses from this forum.</p>
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<p>I am looking for an advice in choosing an on-line writing course for my daughter, who will be a 9th grader in the fall. My goal is to help her to improve her essay writing skills.</p>
<p>My son did a couple of CTY on-line writing courses (Crafting Essays and Grammar), and I think both of them were quite helpful. I especially liked their “Crafting Essays” class with relatively close contacts with the instructor, although on-line discussion room was not very active for my son’s class.</p>
<p>For my daughter, the summer on-line schedule of the CTY program does not match our summer schedule, and I found out that Stanford EPGY 3 weeks program fits into our schedule. They have courses like W10ABC, W11ABC, and EG20. Their essay writing courses look more focused on reading and analyzing literature, while CTY Crafting Essay course is more like on writing college application essays. </p>
<p>So, I would appreciate if you can share any experience with EPGY W10 or W11 series (on-line or on campus), or if you have suggestions on other on-line writing courses offered during the summer.</p>
<p>My daughter is currently finishing up ninth grade. Last summer, she attended CTY at Dickinson College and took the “Crafting the Essay” class. From everything that I heard from her, plus the anthology of work that I saw from her class, Crafting the Essay was definitely not about writing college app. essays(esp. given the fact that all of the kids in her class were either rising HS freshmen or sophomores). The essays that they worked on related to both literature and popular culture. This past year in school, D has been taking “Honors/Seminar” level English and she’s mentioned to me, on more than one occasion, that “Crafting the Essay” really helped to give her a strong headstart in her current English class. Now, that having been said, I’m not sure if the “online” curriculum would be exactly the same as the class that my D took…? I don’t know anything about the Stanford program, but if it fits in better with your family’s plans this summer, that’s certainly something to take into consideration.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply on how your daughter’s writing course is helping her. When my son was taking the crafting essays class, the essay topics are more about “you and your life”, which I felt closer to college application essays. Essays on literature seem to me more like her english class, which made me ask a question here. In that sense, perhaps it would be beneficial for my daughter to strengthen skills in this aspect.</p>
<p>I don’t remember any specific information. But check with Northwestern University. They have the Midwest Talent Search, the Center for Talent Development and some excellent summer programs and online offerings for academically talented students.</p>
<p>I took the CTY crafting the essay course in the 7th grade, and though that it was very helpful, the instructor had alot of constructive feedback on both style and grammar. They also required a short paragraph that you wrote about your essay forcing me to give my essay more though than I normally would have on any other essay.</p>