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Will attending a summer program (and taking two credit-bearing courses) at a prestigious school (Yale) in junior year enhance my chance of getting into it, especially if I apply regular decision (because it shows commitment)? Will it lower my chance (since the college will think that I'm trying to pay my way into it)? What is its impact, if at all, when I apply to other schools, namely Columbia ED?

By Sally Rubenstone on Thursday, June 20, 2002 - 10:10 pm: Edit

Taking summer classes at Yale will certainly never hurt your chances of being admitted there later on. But will this help? That depends.

Cop-out answer? Not exactly. The two ways that this will boost your admission potential are:

#1. If your classes (or at least one of them) will be taught by a "real" Yale professor, and you turn in an outstanding, impress-the-pants-off-the-prof performance, then it's likely that your instructor will support your candidacy in a way that could be valuable.

#2. If your classes are in subjects that you will later cite on your application as strong interests--especially uncommon areas that are not always readily available in high schools (e.g., astronomy, linguistics, philosophy, etc.)--then admission officers will acknowledge that you've gone out of your way to pursue the passions you claim to embrace.

If you apply ED to Columbia, your Yale experience will certainly not be held against you. Keep in mind, however, that a great many of the top students who apply to Ivy-level colleges have had summer school experiences at some pretty prestigious places, and admission officers are not going to get hyperexcited when they see yet another, unless there's something about it that really stands out.

BTW, can you tell us more about your prospective Yale program? For instance, is it specifically for high school students? Is it geared to one academic area or is it more general? What are its admission criteria? A bit more info would be helpful.

By rasp5erry on Friday, June 21, 2002 - 12:38 am: Edit

The 5-week Yale Summer Program is open to current Yale students, other college students, and high school students (at least juniors). Its admission criteria (for high school students) is: high school transcript, PSAT/SAT/ACT score, one teacher recommendation, one counselor recommendation, and a one-paragraph essay on "why Yale Summer Program." I don't think it's very selective, but I chose it because the courses (in many different subjects) offered credit and...well, it's at Yale. I chose two courses, Reading & Writing Prose and Introduction to Philosophy--philosophy because it's an interesting topic (and yes, my high school does not offer it) and writing because I wish to improve my writing skills (so that I can enter a national expository writing competition in the fall as well as write better essays for college). Also, my college major may be English.

By sgandhi on Friday, June 21, 2002 - 08:42 am: Edit

Do colleges look favorably upon summer research programs for high school students (e.g. MIT's Research Science Institute, NASA's SHARP PLUS Program, etc.)?

By MG on Saturday, June 22, 2002 - 12:37 am: Edit

I know that RSI is prestigious in the high school science world. A couple of people from my school have attended and really benefitted from the experience--one girl had a paper published in a famous research magazine. Also, it links the student to MIT--this girl was told that MIT was her "safety school"! Are you thinking of going there yourself?

By sgandhi on Saturday, June 22, 2002 - 08:45 am: Edit

I think so. I like math and science, and I scored very high on my SAT's in math.

By MG on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 - 04:38 pm: Edit

Most colleges see summer school experiences as solely validations of the fact that a student's parents can afford to send the student to a particular program. Admissions standards are usually not that rigorous. However, I am with Sally Rubenstone--getting to know professors who could potentially be of assistance in this process is a great idea, as is developing a unique interest/talent. Overall, the experience definitely won't hurt you, but simply attending the program is not enough. You have to either correlate it to some other interests of yours or make yourself known to a certain professor. Hope this helps!