Just took a quick peak at the Loyola 2013 info on the link that Dandy posted - there's a note about "pre-testing" for the kids taking the Fast-Paced science classes - do y'all know anything about that, what it is, what the purpose is?
LOL, I never knew polar bears could have a southern accent ("y'all").
Anyway, speaking with D, she thinks there might have been multiple Biology classes being taught at the same time, and her impression was that the pre-test was used to create the right classroom mix (whether that means high in one class, low in the other, or an even mix across both is something she doesn't know).
There is also a "class session" listed at night in the weekly schedule - with a morning, afternoon and evening class session - were the kids really continuing to be immersed in new material or projects/labs even in the evenings? (Note - my ds would be fine with this, but it's frying my brain a bit to think of going back to class at night too lol!).
polarbear
Yes, they were. They really do try to cover a 1-yr course in three weeks, so it is compressed. But the students are capable of doing it.
What D really enjoyed was being with her true peers, learning fast and still having time for social activities. She couldn't wait to go back.
Having said all this, I probably wouldn't have done CTY again this summer if D weren't so interested in neuroscience. There are plenty of other camps to try nationwide. But we couldn't find another neuroscience program for a rising sophomore that we were confident would be good. For example, Brown has neuroscience in its summer program, but Brown admits 90% of all applicants, so the peer group wouldn't be the same. Likewise, there are plenty of great math camps with competitive admissions, but that's not where D wants to spend her time.