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My son is interested in both these programs for the summer. He loves math, robotics, etc. Duke looks good but he's concerned about the number of hours of class everyday. He'd like free time, too, and it doesn't look like there is much. Has anyone had a child go there? Is it as intense as it looks?

Re ID Tech Camp: he went there as a day student and loved it. He's considering overnighting out of town at Emory. They are very vague re weekend plans for those who stay over. Anyone know anything about this?

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 10:46 am: Edit

My son has gone to TIP and CTY (Johns Hopkins' TIP equivalent) programs, and enjoyed them very much.
The courses provide a variety of activities that seem to keep the day lively. For instance, in studying philosophy, he had some lectures, discussions, debates, movies, and acting, including a session in which drama teachers helped the students with their roles (The students performed an existentialism play in class).

Outside of class, they had a selection of things to do ranging from going to the movies to going to a museum, pizza parlor to playing ultimate frisbee.

My impression is that if a kid wants to do this kind of program and is doing it in a subject they're interested in, the time flies past. If a kid really doesn't want to do it, such as a kid who prefers learning about a subject in an independent way, it's not a good program for them.

One warning: If your son is interested, he needs to get his paperwork in ASAP. The courses, particularly popular ones like robotics, fill up very quickly. We literally expressmailed ours back to make sure that our son got in. Even with that, he got his third choice (and still was happy with it).

My impression is that the programs at the name universities such as Duke fill up quickest.

If you'd like to expand your son's options, check out the courses at the other talent search programs such as Johns Hopkins CTY, which, depending on your son's scores, he may also qualify for.

By Penguin (Penguin) on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 12:44 pm: Edit

I'm now a HS senior; I went to TIP twice, once at Davidson and once at Duke, and I felt that the 7 class hours / day just flew by. I was often wishing for a couple more.

There's also more free time than it looks like, sometimes too much. I'd find myself bored quite a bit, although that's largely because I had bad luck finding friends the second time I went.

By Bobmcc (Bobmcc) on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 09:33 pm: Edit

our son did the Duke TIP thing, 2 summers @ Davidson and 2 at Duke & pretty much loved all his classes. He found one of his current bandmates at TIP after his fresh yr in HS. They're both college sophs - in fl & mn and still keep in close contact. Our S took "fun" courses that weren't anything close to what our rural NC school system had to offer..20th C music theory; the FoTRing as a model of the quest; Latin and a creative writing class.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 09:40 pm: Edit

my son did TIP at Davidson and loved it. He WANTED to study the subject he was learning about for seven hours a day. But there also seemed to be plenty of time for recreation and unstructured activity. I wouldn't bother to go and then do an independent study thing like the self-paced math. The whole fun of it is the interaction with the teacher and with other students.