Does anyone have experience with intense academic summer programs for gifted teens? D15 did THINK at Davidson last summer and loved it, but is not thrilled about next summer's course offerings that were recently announced. She told me she would like to consider other options, but she does want something with some of the same pressure and intensity. I think she would like something in the sciences. Any suggestions?

JHU CTY - not as selective as THINK, but lots of fun.

I think she is a little wary of CTY. She is very active on some online forums they sponsor for highly gifted kids, and says she is not so sure about the east coast/pushy feeling she gets from some of the CTY kids. She liked THINK because she said they worked so hard they didn't have time to be "cliquey" We were talking today about some of the CTY science camps (although next year's offerings weren't up in her age group when I looked today). She is going to look at them and think about it.

Great suggestion for NSF. I am having a little trouble navigating the website to find summer programs for kids who do not live in that area (we are in the Midwest), but will look further. She certainly can travel for the right program.

The only foreign language she likes is Latin She has taken many years of French and even gone to Concordia Language Villages, but she has no love for it.

JHU CTY summer camps may be good for middle schooler. She may feel too restricted by the rules when she is a HS sophomore or junior. In opinion, she should try something more substantial and "intense", as you said.

If she is into math (even just a bit), she should try a math camp. There are plenty of to choose from. Find one that need a entrance exam which weeds out most kids who just want to have fun.

There are certain stereotype for girls who go to a math camp. Some girls don't care. My younger daughter went to a math camp in Boston area for two years. She wears it like a badge of honor. Like everywhere else, the girls can be cliquey. It requires some effects in order to have a good time. But the bonding is very strong even after 3 years. Most of them ended up in fabulous colleges on the east coast.

She is a good math student, A-/B+ in the honor math track at her school. She would probably get As if she processed math a little faster (she is 2E with a non-verbal learning disability). So while she is solid at math, she probably doesn't want to go to math camp. She does really like science (but more bio/chem stuff vs. physics). So something with a lab component would be great. I did notice that some of the CTY science courses have biology as a prereq, which I figured might skew the age group toward the older kids (which, as you noted above, would be good).

Carleton has a summer science program, but it looks like it skips around a lot (3 sciences in 3 weeks), so doesn't do any one thing in real depth. And might not have the intensity she wants. Sigh...

intparent:

Following are some summer programs that focus on Biology and Chemistry. Some of them become very difficult to get into if the student does not have prior research experiences. They are also pretty expensive except RSI which is free (even more competitive).

UC Davis Young Scholars Program
http://ysp.ucdavis.edu/

Research internship and HS Honor program at Boston University
http://www.bu.edu/summer/high-school-programs/

University of Chicago RIBS
https://summer.uchicago.edu/ribs.cfm

RSI at MIT
http://www.cee.org/programs/rsi

She would love RIBS, as she went on her older sister's University of Chicago college visit a couple of years ago and adored it. But spending $5000 on a summer program probably too much... She is a DYS, so that might improve her odds of getting into the UC program (which looks great!), but it is so expensive.

ssp is supposed to be very challenging and very good if she wants to try physics type stuff - prestigious too

http://ssp.org/home/index.php

my ds 14 took jhu cty neuroscience at baltimore last summer and said it was challenging. He's done 2 other summer institutes, one through jhu cty and one through duke and said this was the hardest.

check out www.cogito.org for summer programs--it's an incredible resource!

Has she checked out Duke TIP? The Field Studies and Institutes programs have a number of courses that she might enjoy. Financial aid may be available.

http://www.tip.duke.edu/summer_programs/field_studies.asp

How about Awesome Math summer program? They have program in Cornell and UC Santa Cruz.

http://awesomemath.org/summer-program/

Thanks for all the suggestions! She decided to go ahead with THINK (and Quiz Bowl camp ) for this summer, and just self study more for the USA Biology Olympiad. She ages out of THINK after this year, so will apply to some research programs for next summer. She seems satisfied, which is what is important.