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Have you heard of the Research Science Institute (RSI)? It is a STEM summer program hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They support research that can be entered into science competitions with topics ranging from biology to physics. It only accepts around 100 students from the entire world, and the acceptance rate is under five percent; most students never even consider applying due to its widely known difficulty. In fact, the website Collegebase.org ranks being admitted to be as large of an accomplishment as winning the National Speech and Debate tournament.
Most summer camps, though, are a lot less intimidating. They are unique experiences that can help you grow both your leadership and teamwork and academic skills. Not to mention, it also looks great on your college applications. To save you the time and confusion I felt when I first tried to figure all this out, this article outlines the most valuable STEM summer programs and helps you identify which ones are legit.
Eric Wu, a BHS junior and math enthusiast, lists every famous and popular mathematics summer program and ranks them loosely in the following order: 1) Canada/USA Math Camp, 2) Stanford University Mathematics Camp (SUMaC), 3) Ross Mathematics Program, 4) Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists (PROMYS), 5) Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics (HCSSiM), 6) MathILy program, 7) Honors Summer Math Camp, and 8) Awesome Math Summer Program (AMSP).
He believes that Ross is the best if you want to have a bit of fun in addition to studying, since it doesn’t have many restrictions. He also attended the online SUMaC camp but says that the in-person course is much better in quality. Notably, Wu remarks the Canada/USA Math Camp as the hardest to get into but also most popular for applicants, and AMSP as more valuable in freshmen year than junior year because of its high acceptance rate. Furthermore, all of them are expensive but at market standard for similar summer camps: for example, SUMaC (the most expensive) costs nine thousand dollars for four weeks in person and four thousand dollars for three weeks online.
“The way you can tell if some math summer camps aren’t good is if they do not have a difficult problem set, with the exception off the Honors Summer Math Camp which doesn’t have any,” Wu says. “It means that they either accept a lot of people or some not-so-qualified people.”
I specialize in biology rather than math, and I know a few biology summer programs that can be very valuable. For example, the Rockefeller University’s Summer Science Research Program (SSRP) is highly selective and for juniors and seniors. You get to work hands on in the university’s laboratory with highly skilled mentors to do research on different topics. There are also many good opportunities locally. The Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP) in the Fred Hutch Cancer Center is fully paid for eight weeks and claims to not require extensive experience. The Research Training Program (RTP) from the Seattle Children’s Hospital is for local Sophomores and Juniors, teaching topics like immunotherapy and gene editing as well as lab research. They especially support traditionally disadvantaged students, whether it is due to disability, wealth, education, or more.
Overall, unlike mathematics camps, biology ones do not have any problem set, so past achievements like personal research and competition awards could be important in your application. The most prestigious camps could cost thousands, but many also are free. In fact, the free programs are some of the hardest to get into and most sought after.
“It is most important to speak to people who have attended the summer programs,” Tara Saini, a BHS junior who have went to multiple of the aforementioned camps, says. “Don’t base it off of the university it is hosted at or the acceptance rate—some of the best programs are at lesser-known universities.”
Lastly, as words of advice, Wu says that even less prestigious summer camps are crucial as a “stepping stone” for better ones, as he attended AMSP for a few years before being accepted into both SUMaC and Ross last summer. Saini also emphasizes to be yourself when answering personal questions for the applications, something I agree with.
