Most Summer Programs Won’t Help Your College Application. Here’s What Actually Matters
By Christopher Rim | Sep 09, 2026, 01:07pm EDT
Pre-college summer programs have turned into a million-dollar industry. A recent Daily Pennsylvanian investigation found that the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences alone generated an estimated $8 million in revenue from its High School Programs, Pre-College Residential, and Pre-College Online offerings, while Penn Carey Law’s three-week pre-college program brought in nearly another $1 million. Wharton’s Global Youth Program, meanwhile, drew 2,827 participants across its residential and online offerings this past summer, and before scholarships, those programs may have generated roughly $14 million.
These numbers reveal an important fact about pre-college summer programs that every family should note: many of these programs are pay-to-play opportunities that generate revenue for universities, not meaningful benchmarks of students’ skills or competitiveness in the admissions process. While some programs are genuinely prestigious and signal academic excellence, others say more about a family’s financial means than they do about a student’s capabilities.
But how can families tell the difference between programs that will stand out to admissions officers and those that won’t?
Two Categories of “Academic Summer Program”
Almost every academic summer offering for high schoolers falls into one of two categories, and while they may look similar on the surface, the distinction matters immensely.
Pre-college programs are run by universities, open to essentially any student who can pay, and built around exposing teenagers to campus life. Students engage in academic work related to their interests, live in a dorm, experience a taste of the college experience, and the school collects tuition. These programs rarely entail a competitive selection process beyond basic eligibility, and they exist primarily as moneymakers for the institution. This does not mean that students should absolutely not participate in them—programs like these can be great opportunities for a ninth or tenth grader to gain firsthand insights on a particular campus environment or explore an interest. However, families should know that they carry little weight in the application process, and are unlikely to boost a student’s profile. As such, a junior or senior hoping to demonstrate academic distinction through their summer choices generally shouldn’t pursue these types of low-threshold, high-cost programs.
Merit-based programs, by contrast, admit students competitively, with admissions committees evaluating transcripts, essays, recommendations, and sometimes interviews. These programs reject the large majority of applicants, and some of the most selective merit-based programs accept a smaller share of applicants than even the Ivy League schools. Because these programs evaluate students on the same academic criteria colleges care about, acceptance into these programs becomes a credential in itself, signaling that a student has been vetted by an outside institution and has been deemed a competitive applicant. Additionally, many of these programs offer scholarships to ease the cost for students.
Is a Merit-Based Summer Program Worth It
Merit-based summer programs can showcase some of the most compelling evidence of a student’s preparedness for college coursework. Here are three reasons why students should pursue competitive, merit-based opportunities this summer:
1. They provide students hands-on experience in their field of interest.
Top colleges are seeking candidates who are junior specialists in their field of interest, which means that they want to admit students who have hands-on experience in their area of study, rather than mere theoretical knowledge of the field. A merit-based summer program is one of the most accessible paths to gaining this kind of meaningful, tangible knowledge.
Because these programs are built around a cohort of students who have already demonstrated aptitude, the coursework and projects can move faster and dig deeper than anything available in a typical high school classroom, resembling the material students will encounter in the college classroom.
2. They offer third-party validation of a student’s capabilities.
Applicant pools at top colleges are full of students at the top of their class, with perfect grades and test scores. Being selected into a program that rejects most applicants tells an admissions officer that a student’s ability has already been assessed and confirmed by a subject-matter expert panel outside of their high school ecosystem. Additionally, going through these competitive admissions processes can simulate the college admissions process for students, helping them to assess their own competitiveness and practice compiling a compelling applicant profile.
3. They develop a student’s network.
Students who take these programs seriously and engage intentionally by speaking up, reaching out to faculty, and following up afterward walk away with academic mentors and recommenders who are known entities in their field. Additionally, these programs allow students to meet others who share in their interests and may be classmates or collaborators in the future. Attending a program doesn’t guarantee admission to the host institution, but a substantive relationship with a respected researcher or professor can have an impact on a student’s journey well beyond the application cycle.
Not every summer experience is created equal, and the price tag on a program says very little about its actual value to a college application. The programs worth prioritizing are competitive, rigorous, selective, and highly reputable. Such programs are worthwhile not only because they will help students stand out in admissions, but also because they provide rigorous instruction that sets students up for success in their college career.
Originally published on Forbes on Sep 09, 2026
