Pre-college programs are a popular way for Lexington High School students to spend their summer. Many students participate in STEM programs in particular, which have become popular overtime as they merge individuals’ interests and give students a taste of college life.
LHS students who have attended pre-college programs have mixed advice for students looking for similar opportunities. Julia Tanin, a senior at LHS, suggests that students choose a pre-college program based on their level of interest and the program’s price.
“I would not recommend any that are super expensive and also don’t add much for you…I really liked the Summer Science Program but that’s more because it aligned a lot with my interests, so it was fun to be there,” Tanin said.
Some students were disappointed in the programs they attended, describing a less than engaging experience
“I was expecting [the program] to be boring and mostly useless, and I was right,” Charlotte Ma, a junior at LHS who participated in a three-week veterinary medicine program at Bentley University, said. “It was actually even more boring than expected because the people who planned the curriculum didn’t do a good job. It was a six-hour day and for about half the time we had nothing to do.”
Students tend to appreciate programs that are organized intentionally and instill both knowledge and passion for the instructed discipline. Sometimes, the participants face issues that are difficult to predict during the application process, which end up impeding their experience.
“I did the Brown summer Pre-College program virtually, so I had a lot of issues with the Internet. That really sucked. But… the main issue I had was they made me get up at 6 a.m., so I just ended up skipping breakfast so I could sleep for longer,” Tanin said.
Regardless, pre-college programs create many fond memories for students to reflect on. Tanin found a sense of community in the joint struggle of workload management and group projects within her cohort at the Summer Science Program.
“We collectively pulled an all-nighter to finish our report at the end of the program, and then it still wasn’t done,” Tanin said. “We all told each other we’d just go to bed and then get up in the morning and deal with it, but then one member of our group pulled a second all-nighter in a row as he tried to finish it all by himself. It’s hilarious in hindsight.”
Attending the right summer program can be a great experience. Many students particularly enjoy making new friends from around the globe. Additionally, pre-college programs can encourage students to hone not only their skillset, but their character.
“What was really enjoyable was just meeting a ton of new people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise if you didn’t participate in that program, and learning a ton of new concepts that you probably would not have explored otherwise by yourself,” Tony Sun, a junior at LHS who participated in the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute, said.
Students who have attended pre-college programs have additional advice on how to approach applications and pre-college itself.
“Just look at your options, see which ones you would enjoy, decide on whether you want to do in-person or online, decide on what topic or course you want to do, and just try your best and throw in the application to get in,” Sun said.
Tanin said she encourages hesitant students to apply anyway.
“It’s usually pretty fun, and in terms of how to apply, honestly, if you just Google summer science programs online, you’ll find a bunch that pop up, and then it’s usually a pretty direct process to apply,” Tanin said.
