Pre-College Summer Programs: What are they about?
You’re a high school student, and graduation looms ever closer with each passing day. Oh, sure, you’ve still got a couple years before you get there, but you can feel it coming. The vast change of setting and circumstance known as “college” is sitting there like the 2000 pound gorilla in the room, too. What will it be like when you get to college? Will it be anything like what you’ve known before?
Well, in all likelihood, yes. But if you want more of a direct, firsthand knowledge of what your college experience might be like, fortunately, there are some options available. In particular, pre-college summer programs for high school students provide a good chance to get a taste of college before they get to to their freshman years. This is, of course, in addition to all the other benefits of pre-college summer programs, such as opportunities for academic improvement, travel, and even hands-on work in particular fields. So what are you waiting for? Start looking into pre-college summer programs for high school students today.
Why Pre-College Summer Programs for High School Students?
Pre-college summer programs for high school students aren’t designed to make students into young professionals. They aren’t really there in order to help students decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives, or to become experts or masters in some particular field. Pre-college summer programs certainly can provide academic development, help students to become more prepared to enter professionally into some field, and even make those high school students look more appealing as college applicants.
But pre-college summer programs for high school students are really about the experience, the act of participating in a college-like environment, even for a short time. They’re about learning, both about one’s self, and about the world. They’re about taking in new things, and growing as people.
So what does all this have to do with what to look for in pre-college summer programs for high school students? Well, it’s simple, really. You should look for pre-college summer programs that will offer you (or your children, if you’re a parent looking into pre-college summer programs) the best and most expansive experience possible. This is an opportunity for high school students to start figuring out some of the criteria with which they will pick their colleges in the following year. They can live in a city college for a month or two, and find out if they like the urban environment. Or they can experience college level classes in a particular subject, to determine if they are interested in pursuing it at the collegiate level. They can find out what it’s like to live in a dorm, and what it’s like to live in a highly populated campus, or what it’s like to live in a less populated or smaller campus.
The key point of all this is that pre-college summer programs for high school students are fantastic opportunities for high school students to get some experience, some idea of what they’re looking for, both out of college and out of their futures, without them having to make any solid decisions right this second. Pre-college summer programs are great learning experiences, and any high school student at all interested should be sure to look into them further.
