What You MUST Know Before Sending Your Child to Summer School Abroad

Name: What You MUST Know Before Sending Your Child to Summer School Abroad
Uploaded: 2026-06-11T12:50:21+00:00
Duration: 1 min 26 s
Channel: Kidsstoppress
Description: The discussion centers on the value of summer school programs for students, with a critical view on most offerings. While some programs can be beneficial,

Kidsstoppress · 1m · transcribed Jun 2026

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0:00 is sending their kids to summer schools. How important is it and does it really matter? >> Yeah, these are a complete waste of money and time. So, first of all, let's distinguish. There are three different types of summer programs. One is a summer program that is run by the university at the university. The second is a third-party provider that uses a university campus. Now, UCLA has a lot of these programs. They're run by like NLSC and other thirdparty providers.

0:28 These are a complete waste of money and time when you have these summer programs. Even if they're run by the school like Georgetown, Colombia, they have these like one two week programs. If you do it early in their in their career, like 9th grade summer, okay, fine. But what I see a lot of times is that students do that and they say, "Well, I would say, what did you do last summer?" Well, I studied for the SAT and I took a course at Brown or Colombia.

0:52 That's not additive. That's not impressing anybody. It's fine if you do it to help you kind of move along and discover something, but then there has to be things that you're doing before and after that because studying for SAT or ACT is not a valid summer activity. So, the third kind of program is like SSP or MITE, which are super intense, super competitive. Regardless of income, you have to earn your spot there. Those can be extremely additive and valuable, but again, those are extremely hard to get into.

Summary

The discussion centers on the value of summer school programs for students, with a critical view on most offerings. While some programs can be beneficial, particularly competitive ones, many typical summer courses do not provide significant advantages for college admissions.

- There are three types of summer programs: university-run, third-party provider programs on university campuses, and highly competitive programs like SSP or MITE.
- Most summer programs, especially those run by third-party providers, are considered a waste of time and money.
- Short programs at prestigious universities may be acceptable if done early in a student's academic career, but they often do not impress admissions committees.
- Activities like studying for standardized tests during the summer are not viewed as valid or enriching.
- Competitive programs like SSP or MITE are valuable but difficult to gain admission to, requiring demonstrated merit.
- Overall, students should focus on meaningful activities before and after summer programs to enhance their profiles.