Stanford summer school for high-schoolers

[sammyg2]

My son received an unsolicited letter from Stanford Saturday congratulating him on his academic achievements and inviting him to attend Stanford's summer school program for high-schoolers.

(He's been flip-flopping between Stanford and Cal tech for a while now).

Stanford High School Summer College is where exceptional students take Stanford undergraduate courses and earn college credit during the summer quarter. Students choose anywhere from one to five courses out of 145 offered in 30 academic departments. Residential or commuting options are available.

https://summercollege.stanford.edu/

Anyone BTDT or have any info? I'm trying to figure out if there would be any advantage to it, I don't see any right off the bat unless we lived across the street.

He's already maxxed out on honors or AP classes.
I can think of allot cheaper ways to pile up undergraduate credits than sending him to Stanford for the summer unless they offer scholastic scholarships for summer school.
As with other misguided members of academia, they apparently offer all sorts of financial help based on LOW INCOME instead of ability or performance.

Where the hell did this country get the idea that it would be good to reward failure and punish success?
Oh that's right, Now I remember: PARF.

[masraum]

It sounds like he's got good study habits, but it may be good for him to get some exposure to real college courses and the freedom that is associated with college before he's actually in college. The only possible downside would be that his accelerated schedule may put him out of touch with the other students, but that's probably not that big a deal.

[tadd]

One of the best things a highschool kid can do if they want to go to college is to head down the local community college while still in HS and take a few classes. Forget the AP, IB, and all that stuff.

Admissions rank having this as way above everything thing else the kid could do. Why? Community college is real college credit. Admissions job is to guess success from the application. SAT/ACT are just test predictors of college learning aptitude. Actually taking college classes and getting good grades isnt prediction, its proof of success. Plus its cheap.

The other benifit is that if they take the classes at night, they are typically in with adults with day jobs. Those folks usually want it, and are making time for it at night.

I never have taught HS, but have done science outreach so have some feel. I have never observed a HS class (AP, IP, whatever) that had the rigor of a college freshman chemistry class. Every AP student that I've ever had in organic chem who tested out of freshman chemistry had real issues finishing. The base knowlage just wasnt there. Not to say they cant or didnt do well, they just were learning two classes at once...

College is just a different enviroment than HS, especially after 2nd semester. They finally get that the Univeristy has their money and doesnt give a crap. Its all on them to learn.

[stomachmonkey]

I've heard it said the reason Ivy Leagues don't offer merit scholarships is because the entire student body would qualify.

Scholarships come from endowments so best to focus your disgust on the rich people who supply the money.

[McLovin]

Those programs are cash cows for universities like Stanford, Harvard, etc., so no, there is no scholastic scholarship. The summer school programs are not very selective, that's not really their purpose.

Filled mostly with Asians whose parents (mistakenly) think that their paying $10K+ for summer school will help their kid get in.

Stanford has become incredibly hard to get into, I think last year they had the lowest acceptance rate in the country (slightly lower than Harvard), around 5%. It is basically impossible for an "unhooked" student to get in now. Even with a 2400 SAT, you still have a 66% chance of being rejected. High grades and standardized test scores don't do it anymore at Stanford.

[McLovin]

Did your son make National Merit Scholar on the PSAT?

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Did your son make National Merit Scholar on the PSAT?

He's still a soph-a-more. He'll take the PSAT for real next
year.
He's taken some pre-SAT tests and scored in the top 1% and his grades are as good as they can get, not sure of the extra-curricular or leadership stuff.

He's the goaltender on his high school soccer team and plays year round on rec. teams but other than that and some volunteer work at the church it's all study-time ('cept for his 'puter games that I'm not supposed to know about).



EDIT I can guaranty he'll never meet the requirement of ther National Achievement Scholarship Program, not unless he spends the next 20 years in a tanning booth.

it's only open to African American students.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I've heard it said the reason Ivy Leagues don't offer merit scholarships is because the entire student body would qualify.

Scholarships come from endowments so best to focus your disgust on the rich people who supply the money.

Did you really type that with a straight face?
I seriously doubt it.


The rich people who supply the money DO NOT distribute it ONLY to PO' PEOPLE!
The universities do that.

I can provide examples as long as this forum of universities that give out the money based on financial need. DAT MEANS PO PEOPLE!

And then we can talk about pell grants etc.
Then there are the racist grants from organizations like the NAACP and La Raza.

The parents who have good jobs and kids who are in the nonprotected group not only pay for their own kids edumacation, they pay for everyone else's too.

[Rickysa]

Sammy, fwiw, my son has been getting those invites as well (Stanford, Duke, and others)...I'm thinking that they (the universities) are kind of preying on the parents "maybe it'll give my kid a leg up with admissions" emotions.

I'm not saying they are a bad idea at all...they sound like fun!

[Noah930]

I've heard it said the reason Ivy Leagues don't offer merit scholarships is because the entire student body would qualify.

.

Not Germaine to the topic, but FWIW it's athletic scholarships that are not available at the 8 Ivy League schools. (The Ivy League is just a collegiate athletic league, after all.). There's no particular restriction on academic scholarships.

I think McLovin's assessment is correct--this is just a money-making endeavor on Stanford's part.

[JavaBrewer]

Our good friends sent their son, then a Junior, to the Stanford summer program last year. The report back from the boy was that it was a ton of fun and he really enjoyed the campus. Various field trips to Fed/State buildings (he plans to be a lawyer) were included. The boy is a top student, perfect ACT score (one of 5 in the county), outer space high SAT and a GPA approaching 5.0. He maxed out of Math as a freshman in H.S. and all classes are AP or Honors types. No sports at all but he does some community service work and is on ASB. Not sure if attending applies grease to any admissions cogs but I'm sure it can't hurt. The parents were sure proud!

Oh and yes the family is Korean.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Not Germaine to the topic, but FWIW it's athletic scholarships that are not available at the 8 Ivy League schools. (The Ivy League is just a collegiate athletic league, after all.). There's no particular restriction on academic scholarships.

I think McLovin's assessment is correct--this is just a money-making endeavor on Stanford's part.

Ivy league schools offer neither athletic NOR academic scholarships.

The only scholarships/aid offered by the Ivy league schools is "need based." No "merit based" aid or scholarships.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Our good friends sent their son, then a Junior, to the Stanford summer program last year. The report back from the boy was that it was a ton of fun and he really enjoyed the campus. Various field trips to Fed/State buildings (he plans to be a lawyer) were included. The boy is a top student, perfect ACT score (one of 5 in the county), outer space high SAT and a GPA approaching 5.0. He maxed out of Math as a freshman in H.S. and all classes are AP or Honors types. No sports at all but he does some community service work and is on ASB. Not sure if attending applies grease to any admissions cogs but I'm sure it can't hurt. The parents were sure proud!

Oh and yes the family is Korean.

See if you can find out if he got in! Would be interesting. It sounds like he may have applied Early Decision to Stanford, if so, those decisions came out a few weeks ago and he should know by now.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Did you really type that with a straight face?
I seriously doubt it.


The rich people who supply the money DO NOT distribute it ONLY to PO' PEOPLE!
The universities do that.

I can provide examples as long as this forum of universities that give out the money based on financial need. DAT MEANS PO PEOPLE!

And then we can talk about pell grants etc.
Then there are the racist grants from organizations like the NAACP and La Raza.

The parents who have good jobs and kids who are in the nonprotected group not only pay for their own kids edumacation, they pay for everyone else's too.

Yes I did type that with a straight face.

The people that give the schools money know full well how it's being used.

Is it your contention that your kid is smarter than some kid who does not have enough of daddy's money to afford an Ivy League School? Apparently the rich people who supply the funds feel differently.

It's their money, why can't they do with it as they wish?

[Flieger]

The boy clearly takes after his mother.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Ivy league schools offer neither athletic NOR academic scholarships.

The only scholarships/aid offered by the Ivy league schools is "need based." No "merit based" aid or scholarships.

You're right. Ivy League schools, themselves, do not offer academic scholarships. But there is no restriction on students obtaining non-athletic scholarships on their own and applying them towards tuition.

[Rusty914s]

wow, just wow.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

EDIT I can guaranty he'll never meet the requirement of ther National Achievement Scholarship Program, not unless he spends the next 20 years in a tanning booth.

it's only open to African American students.

And that's what it's really all about now isn't it.

$2,500. Wow. That'll allow a student to live indoors for 1/3rd of one year at Stanford.

Or eat for half of one year at Stanford.

Probably not cost effective for your son. The tanning sessions required will likely exceed the amount he might be granted if his grades are good enough.

Maybe you would not be so angry if you had not made so many poor choices in life like not putting away enough money to pay for your kids education.

Tell him a good education is over rated. Use yourself as an example. Obviously you've done well enough to not qualify for financial aid.

[aigel]

Waste of $ IMHO, unless you are really flush with money.

How about going on a road trip and hit some national parks, go fishing, hang out for the summer? Or a non-academic summer camp doing something he likes ...

The way to go in the US is to start out in a good state school and finish with an excellent undergrad degree, then go to grad school, where it is easier and free to get into a top school. This may not work for every field, but I have seen this done in science and engineering many times.

G

[Mahler9th]

Not sure if you are really serious about seeking input, based on the posts. If you are serious, I can ask around.

I have quite a few folks in my network I can ask. What types of "benefits" would you and your family seek from such an experience? That perspective can shape my inquiries.

- Mike
Former Ivy League athlete. And by the way, I achieved some of the awards mentioned in this thread, but they had nothing to do with my acceptance to college nor contributed financially toward my tuition or related costs of attendance. But that was long ago.