Every summer, thousands of high school students enroll in programs that promise to transform their futures. Most of them spend four to six weeks sitting in classrooms, listening to lectures, and completing worksheets that look suspiciously like the ones they just escaped from during the school year.
Then they go home with a certificate and a line on their resume that says the same thing as every other applicant in the pile.
The best summer programs do not work this way. The best ones put students in real situations - working on real projects, solving real problems, producing real deliverables - where the experience itself becomes the credential. That difference matters more than most families realize, especially when college application season arrives.
What Makes a Summer Program Actually Worth It
There are hundreds of summer programs for high school students. The price tags range from free to $10,000+. But cost is not the best indicator of value. Here is what is.
Tangible deliverables, not just certificates. The question to ask is simple: what will my student walk away with? A certificate of completion means nothing to a college admissions officer - they have seen thousands. A working product, a published piece of work, a portfolio project, a professional reference from a real mentor - those tell a story.
Mentorship from people who do the work. There is a meaningful difference between learning business strategy from a college professor who studies it and learning it from a founder who lives it. The best programs connect students with professionals who are actively working in their fields - startup founders, engineers, designers, executives - not just academics who teach about those roles.
Outcomes you can point to. After the program ends, your student should be able to clearly articulate what they did, what they learned, and what they produced. If the best answer is "I attended lectures and had interesting discussions," the program failed them.
A peer environment that raises the bar. The students around your teen matter. Programs that attract motivated, curious students create an environment where the default behavior is ambition, not coasting. Your student will rise (or fall) to the level of the people around them.
Types of Summer Programs Available
Not all programs serve the same purpose. Understanding the categories helps you find the right fit.
Academic Enrichment Programs. These are the most common. Universities like Stanford, Brown, and Johns Hopkins offer pre-college programs where students take courses on campus. They are useful for exploring academic interests and experiencing college life, but they are primarily classroom-based. The experience is more "school in summer" than anything else.
Community Service and Volunteer Programs. These focus on giving back - environmental conservation, community building, international development. They build empathy and perspective, which matters. But many of them are structured more as tourism than service, so it is worth asking what measurable impact participants actually achieve.
Research Programs. Programs like RSI (Research Science Institute) or SSP (Summer Science Program) place students in genuine research environments. These are excellent for students with strong academic interests in STEM, though the most selective ones have acceptance rates in the single digits.
Internship Programs. These place students in real work environments where they contribute to actual projects alongside professionals. The learning is practical and immediate - students see how businesses operate, how teams collaborate, and how their work affects real outcomes. This is where the gap between "learning about" and "learning by doing" becomes most visible.
Entrepreneurship Programs. Rather than working within an existing company, students build something of their own - a product, a business, a venture. This develops a different set of skills: creative problem-solving, resourcefulness, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to ship something real.
The strongest programs often combine elements of multiple categories. An internship that includes mentorship and produces tangible work product hits several boxes at once.
What Colleges Actually Look For
Here is something most families get wrong about summer programs: admissions officers do not care about the name on the certificate. They care about what the student did and who they became because of it.
The concept that admissions experts keep coming back to is the "spike" - a demonstrated depth of passion and capability in a specific area, rather than a shallow spread across dozens of activities. A student who spent the summer building a working app that solves a real problem for real users tells a more compelling story than one who attended three different prestigious-sounding programs.
Depth over breadth. One meaningful experience beats three surface-level ones. Admissions officers can tell the difference between a student who deeply engaged with something and one who was collecting resume lines.
Initiative and ownership. Did the student choose this experience because it mattered to them, or because someone told them it would look good? The students who stand out are the ones who can explain why they pursued a specific path and what it meant to them personally.
Impact and outcomes. What changed because of the student's involvement? Did they produce something? Influence something? Solve a problem? The more concrete the answer, the stronger the application.
Growth and self-awareness. The best essays about summer experiences are not "I attended X program and it was great." They are "I struggled with Y, figured out Z, and now I see this differently." Programs that push students outside their comfort zones generate these stories naturally.
This is why real-world experiences - internships, entrepreneurial projects, meaningful research - tend to produce stronger college applications than classroom-based programs. They generate the kind of stories, skills, and self-knowledge that admissions officers are looking for.
How to Evaluate a Program Before You Commit
Before writing a check, ask these questions:
"What will my student walk away with?" Look for programs that offer concrete outcomes - whether that is a portfolio project, a professional reference, real work experience, or skills they can demonstrate. The best programs give students something they can talk about in detail on college applications and in interviews, not just a certificate.
"Who is behind the program?" Look up the team. Do they have real-world experience in the fields they are teaching? The strongest programs are built by people who have actually done the work - founders, executives, industry leaders - and who bring that practical perspective into the curriculum.
"What do past students say?" Look for testimonials from real students and parents - especially video testimonials where you can hear directly from participants about their experience. Written quotes are helpful, but video gives you a much better sense of whether the impact is genuine. Pay attention to specifics: did students mention real projects, real growth, real outcomes?
"What does the daily schedule look like?" Is it classroom instruction, or is it structured around doing real work? The ratio of passive learning to active building tells you a lot about what the experience will actually feel like.
"What happens after the program ends?" The best programs do not end on the last day. They provide recommendation letters, alumni networks, portfolio support, or continued mentorship. That ongoing relationship multiplies the value of the initial experience.
Two Programs Worth Looking At
Nova School runs two summer programs specifically designed around the principles above - real work, real mentors, real deliverables.
The LEAD Internship is a 6-week summer program where students work at actual startups and companies. They are not observing or shadowing. They are assigned real projects, work alongside professional teams, and produce deliverables that the company actually uses. Students walk away with professional work experience, references from real employers, and a portfolio they can speak to in detail on college applications and in interviews.
The AI Entrepreneurship Program is a 4-week summer program where students build their own product from scratch using AI tools and vibe coding. They go through the full cycle - ideation, building, validation, monetization strategy - and finish with a working product they built themselves. No coding experience is required. The skills developed here - product thinking, clear communication, iteration, resourcefulness - are exactly what top colleges and future employers look for.
Need-based scholarships are available for both programs. Visit the summer programs page for current dates and pricing, or start your application.
These are not the only good options out there. But they represent the kind of program that produces real outcomes rather than just certificates - which is the standard every family should hold their summer program to.
Choosing the Right Fit
There is no single "best" summer program for every student. The best program for your student is the one that aligns with their genuine interests, pushes them beyond what they have already done, and produces something they can point to afterward.
Here is a simple framework: if your student can finish the program and clearly, specifically answer the question "What did you do this summer?" with something that makes people lean in and ask follow-up questions - that is a program that worked.
If the answer is "I attended a program and it was a good experience" - the program may have been fine, but it did not move the needle.
The summer before junior or senior year is one of the few extended periods where a student can pursue something deeply without the constraints of the school year. Do not waste it on something that looks impressive on paper but feels forgettable in practice. Find the program that gives your student a real experience, real skills, and a real story to tell.
You can explore Nova School's summer programs to see if they are the right fit, or start an application to secure a spot before they fill up.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should my student start looking at summer programs?
Start researching in January or February for the following summer. The most competitive programs fill early, and many offer early bird pricing for early applicants. For summer 2026, most application deadlines fall between March and May, but applying earlier gives your student more options and often a better price.
Are expensive summer programs worth the cost?
Price alone does not determine value. A $10,000 program that is mostly lectures and campus tours may deliver less than a $2,500 program where students do real work and produce tangible outcomes. Focus on what your student will actually do and produce, not the prestige of the institution running the program. Ask for specific deliverables, mentor credentials, and alumni outcomes before comparing price tags.
Do summer programs actually help with college admissions?
They can - but only if the experience is genuine and the student can speak to it authentically. Admissions officers are not impressed by program names. They are impressed by students who pursued something meaningful, developed real skills, and can articulate what they learned and why it mattered. A summer spent building a real product or contributing to a real company gives a student something concrete to write about - which is far more valuable than a certificate from a well-known institution.
What if my student does not know what they are interested in yet?
That is completely normal, and a good summer program can actually help with this. Programs that expose students to real work - whether through internships or entrepreneurship - help them discover what excites them (and what does not) much faster than classroom-based exploration. The key is choosing a program that offers breadth of exposure within a focused experience, rather than something so narrow that a student who is still exploring feels locked in.