I'm specifically looking for experience with the high school science camps - ds is really wanting to attend, but the cost is huge. I'm just curious what other family's experiences have been.

Specifically curious - what was the quality of the teaching, did your student receive either high school placement or credit, and did they have fun

Thanks for any input - and feel free to pm me if you'd rather.

polarbear

Added to the question: do they have homework? or are the camps just science-y during the day, with activities otherwise?

Good additional question Val

Can I add on? Does anyone know about H.S. level programming camps/classes. I have looked at Digital Media Academy, but what about this programs computer classes?

Thanks polarbear.

At http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/grades7-12/intensive/catalog/faqs.html they write

which I would interpret as no homework on top of the 7 hours a day of class, but this should be confirmed by CTY or by past students.

Yes, I've seen that. That "study skills" thing implies homework.

Still, I'd like to hear from people who've taken the courses (or their parents).

My information is very old, but I was a math instructor at CTY in Lancaster, PA in the late 80's. We didn't assign specific homework back then, but since everything was self-paced study anyway, some kids would do more work in the evenings for fun and turn it in the next day. I have no idea how they handle it now, though. (My guess is that they have instructors with a lot more credentials than I had, too, but I have no direct knowledge.)

DD took Fast Paced Biology last summer at the Johns Hopkins campus, and will be taking Neuroscience this coming summer since that's what she thinks she wants to be. Note that while some classes like Math are self-paced, others like Biology are lecture classes.

Our town has a highly competitive public school system (average SAT score >1900), and DD is taking all honors courses, so her classmates are gifted as well. But she found CTY to be on an entirely different level. It was like everyone there was in the top 1% of her 9th grade class. The material was covered very quickly, but students were able to keep up.

DD said she was surprised that everyone there was really smart, including people who just didn't seem to be at first. The other thing that surprised her was that almost everyone was quite nice.

As you can tell, she had a great time. If anyone has other questions, just let me know. Feel free to PM me as well.

Our son will be attending CTY @ Loyola this summer. It is his second summer in the 7th+ group and his fifth overall.

What I found quite impressive is the number of years the instructors and admin have been working @ CTY. Incredible. And as you can see from job descriptions at the link, they ain't in it just for the money.

Here's a link to JHU/CTY Job Openings page:
http://cty.jhu.edu/jobs/summer/

While the caliber of teacher will vary from site-to-site and/or year-to-year, all of our son's teachers have been college professors within the given subject area. Last year, his TA (as in teacher's assistant) was working on his Phd in some math discipline @ MIT. So CTY does not seem to be bringing aboard slackers.

As much as I enjoy our son's brain getting stretched, I also value the social aspects of the camp. Homework is rare, which isn't so bad considering the length and intensity of classes. But the kids aren't just turned loose at the end-of-day. The students have required activities -- athletic, artistic, discussion-based -- each day and for a portion of the weekends.

For a better look at the social side of camp, spend a little time browsing here:
http://www.realcty.org/mw/index.php?title=Main_Page

Here's a link to an official "Site Information Packet" from last year with official details on the daily life:
http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/docs/student_site_info/LosAngeles_2013.pdf

I appreciate the attention to safety and security, especially as the kids are usually on campus at the same time as a variety of other summer camps for sports, music, etc. Chaperones are always present; the students are never permitted to wander around campus alone.

Perhaps as important to me as everything else is the regular chance to be away from home & family. Both for his benefit and ours. He definitely gets a boost in his confidence and independence after those three weeks away, something that can only help as he'll be heading to college in a few short years. I remember that many/most of the kids in my college dorm were away from home (not counting family trips, etc.) for the first time in their lives. Not a pretty sight.

This summer he will be attending CTY for three weeks, immediately followed by a music camp for three weeks. And before those six weeks, he'll be at a habitat-for-humanity-esque week out of state with our church's youth group. It'll be interesting to see how that all unfolds.

-- -- --

I distinctly remember the first year we dropped him off at CTY. He was only 8 and the youngest by an average of at least two years. There were definitely some trembling lips and a few tears as we departed, but he was quickly pulled into the middle of a ping-pong game allowing us to slip away.

Last year -- his fourth -- was no big deal at all. Packed him up and shipped him out. I could've sent him down alone by plane and thought nothing of it. (My lovely wife, however, doth protested quite vehemently.)

-- -- --

Yes, it is a financial challenge for us. And more than once I simply put in on a credit card to be dealt with later. But as long as he's getting something out of it, I'll continue to make it happen.

I suppose I should add the perfunctory: "But YMMV."

Dandy

(YMMW: Your Mileage May Vary)

Thanks everyone for your input - mithawk and Dandy, I really appreciate hearing from families who's children are currently attending CTY summer camp I also really appreciated the links Dandy.

I have a few more questions:

mithawk, in your dd's Fast-Paced Biology class, was there a good share of lab and project work or was it primarily lecture? The CTY site says it is supposed to be 20 hours per week of lab - is it 40 hours per week of class? 1/2 and 1/2 lab and lecture? Or more lab than lecture?

My ds is also wondering about the age range (he's a bit shy re new situations) - it sounds like they try to pair same-age kids as roommates, but he's wondering about the classes and in the dorms - were their kids from 12-17 all together? Did that work out ok? Or were the kids grouped by age in the dorms?

mithawk, did your dd get high school credit (or did she at least place out of) her local high school biology course for having attended the CTY course?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions! It's much appreciated

polarbear

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?

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

The classes are grouped by age and the dorms (single-sex) are grouped by class (& therefor by age).

Here's a link to a sample syllabus for Fast-Paced Biology:
http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/docs/syllabi/biol_2.pdf

Our high school will not give credit for one of the Fast-Paced courses, but the class does satisfy the pre-req for AP courses.
(CTY folks are very accessible -- and helpful -- so don't hesitate to call with questions.)

Unfortunately, due to the limited number of courses available at Podunk High, our son can't really skip the science pre-reqs, as he'd run out of course options. BUT he's still contemplating taking the chemistry or physics next summer just to be prepared. I'm hesitant to encourage that as it would likely make the sloooow pace of regular classes even more frustrating.

-- -- --

Have your daughter read through the RealCty site for a better sense of the social side of things. Each campus has its own personalities, traditions, etc.

College Confidential is another great place to search for CTY-related discussions. (Not as awesome as DITD, of course... but still handy.)

Dandy

P.S.
The more I've learned about CTY over the years, the more I've wished I knew about it back in the day. The only experiences that came close were student gov't related, but those were only for a few days at a time.

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).


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.

One other point I want to make is that D didn't feel there was any competition among students. They do take tests and get an evaluation, but as we found out later, they don't give out letter grades.

Hi Dandy,
thank you for the sharing. I apprecite if you could tell us about what music camps are there for young boy.
Best,