I have a 10-year old boy in 5th grade public elementary school in northern NJ. We explored some summer academic residential programs and liked the JHU CTY Summer residential program. My son took their SCAT test and is eligible to apply. I don't know any people in my area who have first-hand experience with this program so I am hoping to reach a wider audience using this forum. Here are my questions.

1. How is the program? $3500 is a very steep price for a 3-week program, is it worth it?

2. Is a residential program suitable for a 10-year old? He is a mature boy and looking forward to living away from home for 3 weeks but being parents we are concerned. I assume he will be interacting with other 10 and 11 year old kids? I wouldn't be comfortable if older, high school kids are around.

3. How valuable did you or your child find the experience? Both from an academic and social, independent perspective?

I read that programs like this look good on a college application "resume" but how much sense does it make for a 5th grader?

As you can tell, I am slightly conflicted about the situation, not very sure if it is the right thing to do. While I am happy that my son is showing interest in an academic program rather than the usual recreational sports oriented programs, I am not sure if this is too early for such programs.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

Hi VANJ,

My son participated in JHU CTY last year at age 10. He loved it. Everyone is withing 1 or 2 yrs of each other, very diverse (lots of international students) and couselors help them. I was worried about my son because he can forget to zip up his pants or tie his shoes, but he was fine. I can't tell you whether it's worth the money, but it was very valuable to my DS and he's doing another jhu cty program this summer.

You can PM me if you need more info. I wouldn't over-estimate the value of programs on college resume (until they're in high school).