Is the expensive experience worth it?
Experts, blogs, and college preparatory tutors always push for doing a course at the university of your dreams. Spending a few lakhs on a pre-college experience at an elite college has now become a norm for most applicants of that strata. Parents send their children for these 2-3 week summer programs, in the summer of grade 11 or 12. Applications for them begin up to 6 months in advance and children go through the struggles of applying for scholarships, financial aid, and travel to get the benefits of attending the course.
Now is all that worth it, or are the results of going for these programs futile? Through my experience at Oxford Summer School (when I was in grade 9) let’s try to understand that.
In the summer of 2019 (pre-covid), I went for a 2-week summer school at Oxford University. Amongst the different courses available, I chose to go for architecture. During our 9 am to 2 pm classes, we constructed 3-dimensional models of houses, sketched the layouts and plans for them, and dove into what a real architect would do. This course really highlighted architecture as a possible career choice for me.
The college Lady Margaret Hall was remarkable and the daisies and bluebells surrounding the campus just added to its beauty. Besides enjoying the campus and studying, we shopped, went to restaurants and explored many English cities. I had a great time.
But did this great time translate into future success? I’m not sure.
I agree that the value from a course for a grade 12 student is far greater than that for a grade 9 one. And yes, the courses chosen by a 17-year-old will be directly related to the subject they plan to pursue. But for the prestige of the course, I attended in 2019, do I see tangible benefits today? Was summer school a waste of money or a worthwhile exposure-building experience?