November 2024 Editorial: Insider’s Guide to Competitive Summer Programs
Article written by Jenna Ahn, Millie's co-founder + CEO.
Competitive = Excellent? Not always.
But for many things in life, they often are synonyms. Starting from hard-to-get concert tickets (hey Swifties), to universities with a whopping 3% acceptance rate (looking at you Ivy League), to your dream internship at a big name corporation.
Summer programs are no exception. From our experience of guiding hundreds of students each year, competitive programs generally do offer a good “return on investment” for parents, and a very positive experience for students from both academic and recreational perspectives.
But as the name indicates, these programs are not easy to get in. Some programs like Wharton Global Youth Program boast a < 20% acceptance rate.
"The future belongs to those who prepare for it today."
Application opens early, and closes early
A majority of the “competitive” programs have their priority deadline in January (or if you are aiming for Yale Young Global Scholars, it’s in October of the year before). And most have the final deadlines in March. It is certainly not like your youth summer camp where you can sign up at the end of June and attend in July. So start shortlisting the programs, and fill out your applications early. We at MILLIE recommend you to utilize your winter break to do this.
The application process mimics a mini university application
Competitive summer programs require students to submit their motivation letter, transcript, and recommendation letters from their teachers, and some optionally request SAT or ACT results and student resume. Furthermore, some - such as Johns Hopkins CTY - require testing, while others have an interview as part of the process. For international students, English proficiency test is also a required component with IELTS 7+ or TOEFL 100+ as a cut off.
The process, in short, is very similar to that of a university application, and that is another reason why being aware of the process and starting early are important.
Majority of them are in the US and require boarding
For an immersive, full experience, the majority of these competitive summer programs require students to reside on campus. This allows the program to include more team projects and collaborative work out of class hours. It is important to note that competitive programs gained their reputation and popularity not just because of their name-brand schools, but because of their program organization and management. This is certainly another strong plus to the parents, and a reason for you to consider.
Thanks. What are some competitive programs you recommend?
Our answer will differ vastly based on the interest area of the student and their goals. But for the purpose of this article, here’s a generalized list of the most competitive summer programs.
US
- Wharton Global Youth Program - Finance, Economics, Entrepreneurship
- Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) - Political science, History, Humanities
- Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) - Various
- The Engineering Summer Academy at Penn (ESAP) - Engineering
- Carnegie Mellon Summer: Computer Science Scholars - Computer Science
- Launch X - Entrepreneurship (online & in-person)
UK & Europe
- Sciences Po Pre-College Summer Programmes - Political science, Sustainability
- Imperial Global Summer School - Engineering
How important is summer school?
We urge you to value the knowledge you are gaining through the programs as opposed to “will this be helpful in my application to X university.” Summer school is most helpful in that it provides students hands-on experience in areas of their interests in an immersive, intensive manner, and that in turn, makes it an excellent material for their college application essays. We advise against you joining summer school programs if your sole goal is creating an “impressive resume” for X university.
Before we end this article, we want to mention that we understand summer programs are expensive and therefore not for everyone. There are many valuable alternatives to summer programs such as volunteer work, work experience, independent or group research, and working on a personal project. We at MILLIE are happy to be the thought partner to think through your summer options whether that will be competitive summer programs or one of these alternative options. Reach out to us via https://ro.am/millie-group/free-consultation
If you liked this article, we have another article on how to find the right Summer Program for you! Click here to view.
Feel free to connect with us at hello@milliegroup.com if you have any queries!