Every year millions of kids sign up for summer camps, from the performing arts to calculus, spending their indispensable summer vacation time for a chance to boost their application for college. Summer camps now have even started to become more popular and, as freshman Thomas Christen says “They have become more important for colleges.”
Summer camps have now been seen as a key factor in your college applications as they could demonstrate important things about your passions or abilities outside of school. Yet, these camps, if you want a good experience, are costly, competitive or both. So, the actual necessity of these summer camps to get into a good college must be considered as they are big investments. This raises the question of how well summer camps work to get you into a college and if they raise your chances. When considering the validity of summer camps, many assumptions have been made about their place in college applications. According to Forbes,“These false beliefs fall into one of two buckets. The first is, ‘If my daughter attends Dream College Summer Session and does well, it means she is competitive with Dream College students, and every college will want her.’ Second, ‘Summer programs reflect a school’s official thinking about what students should be doing to get ready for college and for that college in particular.’… The summer faculty are typically adjuncts or graduate students hired for the purpose, and the other students are just there for the summer. Consequently, success in such a course does not signal anything to admissions officers about a student’s academic competitiveness, as much so it does their ability to pay tuition.” This not only means that all that time would be wasted but it would also mean a lot of money too. So, it is extremely important for those signing up to try to gain something valuable for themselves. While the camps’ prices do not fully reflect their value, there can still be some things gained.
There are still things that students can do to gain some value from the camps that they sign up for. What they acquire, however, is not specific to the camp or person, it is very dependent on your own circumstances and efforts. The best way to secure a worthwhile experience that could help you get into college, according to teenlife is a “program that will ‘boost’ a student’s application is wholly dependent on the student. For example, Dr. Endlich points out that students who are applying to a program that requires a portfolio (like art school) will want to look for a summer program that can improve their portfolio. He also mentions that students who have a field of study in mind, like becoming a physician, may want to see out programs that do a ‘deeper dive’ into that field. Taking a pre-med program for high school students can indicate a long-term commitment to your future.” Compared to the past as a child as well, summer camps have changed as a whole, with sophomore Sheala Delabarre stating, “I feel like compared to when I was a kid you need more dedication and work when joining a summer camp.” However, once this work and dedication is put into the camp, the outcome becomes much more favorable to just joining a camp to put on your transcript.
Many camps claim to be educational and are seen as pathways to college while others are just meant to be an opportunity for new experiences and fun. As all these camps garner greater reputations in terms of college applications, it is important to understand how influential they really are, especially as the prices for good summer camps have skyrocketed. Due to the pandemic specifically, it forced camps to increase in price, which has only further contributed to their price. According to CNN, “As demand surges, parents should prepare to pay more to secure a camp spot for their child. Rosenberg said camp fees are estimated to jump 10% to 15% this summer over 2021. Some of this is demand-driven… The summer camp industry, made up of over 15,000 camps, was already running at full capacity heading into the pandemic. In 2020, 82% of overnight camps and 60% of day camps didn’t operate at all. The loss of business forced some camps to shut down completely.” Junior Elliot McIntosh states that the whole reason summer camps have been rising in price now is “because they have been used for college more.” The sudden surge in price that has no signs of diminishing combined with the fact that many view summer camps as an important part of a well-rounded college application has created a high demand but also incredibly high price for these camps. Senior Angela Su agrees, stating, “Most camps now that are educational and more specified like a camp for math have become really expensive.” With such a hard time finding good camps, new methods to get into those camps have been created. Some of these strategies, according to CBS News are “Asking about financial aid, which many camps provide, along with payment plans, seeking a scholarship through a civic organization, [and] looking into the child and dependent care tax credit, which could offset up to $3,000 of summer camp costs per child.” With all these ways to try to help you get into camps, the pricing crisis is really highlighted. This issue can cause a lot of people who want to experience a good summer camp to be strayed away, so it is important to understand the benefits and worth of these camps before spending so much money.
Overall, summer camps may have become more expensive, but they can be detrimental to finding out what you want to do as an adult, or for bettering your college application. Just remember to not rely on the name of the camp, but what you do in that camp to help you with your college applications.
