Harvard Summer Secondary School Program

  United States

Cambridge

Term: Summer 
Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: June 22 - August 7

Description: Wondering what college is like?

Every summer, approximately 1,000 motivated high school students from the United States and abroad who have completed their sophomore, junior, or senior year experience college life at Harvard, America's oldest university. As a Secondary School Program (SSP) student, you will find Harvard Summer School challenging, rewarding, and exciting both academically and personally. You will test yourself by taking college-level courses along with undergraduate students and explore subjects not available at your high school. You will work with a distinguished faculty, use well-equipped labs, and study in the largest university library system in the world. In addition, you will learn to make choices and organize your time while becoming better prepared for college.

SSP participants learn from their fellow students as well as from faculty. You will meet and make friends with people from all areas of the United States and more than 90 countries around the world who typically attend Harvard each summer.

Discussing politics over dinner in Annenberg Hall, studying in Widener Library with classmates, and playing soccer or volleyball are only a few of the ways you will get to know other students at the Summer School.

For many, the Secondary School Program also provides their first experience of dormitory life. You will have the independence and freedom to set your own goals for the summer, but when you need advice or help, your resident proctor will be available.

By the time Harvard Summer School ends, you will have grown both as a student and as a person. Experiencing the responsibilities of college will give you the confidence to succeed as you finish your secondary school career and enter the next phase of your life--college.An important component of the Secondary School Program involves helping students navigate the college-application process, gain admission to the college of their choice, and enhance their performance once enrolled in college.

To assist students in making decisions about their academic future, we sponsor a college fair, host talks about college selection and admissions, schedule trips to New England colleges, and provide many other opportunities.

Most college prep workshops, talks, and trips are scheduled on a flexible and recurring basis so that SSP students don't miss out on these events because of class or exam conflicts. See a complete list of college prep activities.

A schedule of all SSP college prep activities will be available during Opening Weekend.

College Fair and College Visits
Colleges from around the country send representatives to meet students and provide information. Representatives come to the Harvard campus from Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, MIT, Middlebury, Rice, Smith, Stanford, Swarthmore, Tufts, the Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania, Washington University, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale, among others.

Trips to New England colleges provide an opportunity to tour campuses and speak with students and admissions personnel. In 2006, many SSP students visited Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth, and Yale.

Harvard College Admissions
Though attending the Secondary School Program is not a guarantee of admission to Harvard College, students can take advantage of being on campus by visiting the Harvard College Admissions Office and attending a talk given by a Harvard admissions officer. In addition, interviews are granted to qualified SSP students who live far from Cambridge.

Harvard Course in Reading and Study Strategies
This intensive, noncredit course helps students develop strategies for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of their reading, learning, and study. Students also learn techniques for managing time, preparing for examinations, and taking notes. The course meets one hour a day, Monday through Friday, for three weeks. Tuition is $150. For more information, please contact us.

College Prep Workshops
Many secondary school students take advantage of the noncredit SSP workshops, which provide background and instruction in several strategically important topics:

Writing the College Application Essay
College Financial Aid
Breaking Through "Writer's Block"
Speaking Up: Freeing Your Voice in Class
Time Management Skills
Preparing for and Taking Tests and Exams in College
Reading Strategically: When Is It OK to Scan, Skim, or Skip?
Reading Strategically: Remembering What You Read
Taking Effective Notes

Highlights: Secondary school students live together in Harvard College dormitories in and around historic Harvard Yard. Many dormitories are more than a century old, and recent renovations have made them safe and comfortable while maintaining their unique ambience.

Students live in double or triple rooms, equipped with a bed or bunk bed, mattress and pillow, dresser, desk, bookcase, and chair for each student. Additional furnishings, such as lamps, wastebaskets, and decorations, can be purchased on or off campus.

These rooms once housed such noted individuals as Henry David Thoreau, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Bill Gates, and Matt Damon.

All students eat their meals in Annenberg Hall and are on the meal plan, which covers three meals a day, seven days a week.

Residential advising. Carefully chosen resident proctors, who are Harvard College undergraduates and graduates, live with students and serve as advisors on all matters great and small. Proctors are available daily to offer support and guidance--helping students adjust to college and dormitory life, keeping general order, suggesting cultural and recreational activities, and helping students find their way around Cambridge and Boston.

Sophomores. Rising juniors (that is, students graduating in 2009), being as a rule younger than other SSP students, are housed together, have a higher ratio of proctors assigned to supervise and assist them, and observe a curfew.

Harvard Summer School offers a rich schedule of free films and concerts, dances, social gatherings, and lectures, as well as opportunities (for a modest fee) to travel to Cape Cod, Tanglewood (summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra), Newport (Rhode Island) mansions, and Maine beaches and shopping centers.

There are several activities specifically for secondary school students: the Trivia Bowl, in which three-member teams compete for several weeks until one team wins in an amusing and impressive final round; the Talent Show, the most popular summer event, in which SSP students perform for, and applaud, their talented peers (and proctors) in musical, theatrical, and dance performances; and two dances that draw more than 500 secondary school students.

SSP students are also welcome to perform with the Summer School Chorus, Summer School Orchestra, and Summer Pops Band. Chorus auditions are held during the first weekend, and tryouts for the orchestra are held during the first week of Summer School. Playing in the Pops Band is open without audition.

Students can participate in an extensive athletics program that includes intramural soccer, basketball, and volleyball, as well as a tennis tournament and a swim meet. There are facilities for volleyball, swimming, basketball, tennis, sculling, softball, and aerobics, with instruction available in some sports.

At the Activities Fair, held on the Sunday of Opening Weekend, students receive information about sports, trips, cultural activities, and opportunities for volunteer work with community-service groups.

Tuition
4-credit course: $2,475
8-credit course: $4,950

On-campus housing for eight-week session (room and board): $4,250

Health Insurance: $165

All Summer School students are required to have US-based health insurance that covers major illnesses and accidents. Students who do not have such coverage with a US insurance company must purchase it through the Summer School. For more information please contact us.

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to United States Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Transcript
• Written Application

Harvard Summer School Study Abroad Programs's Mission Statement: The Harvard Summer School makes Harvards academic resourcesa distinguished faculty, well-equipped laboratories, fine museums, and a world-class university library available to men and women of many ages, backgrounds, and nationalities through an intensive summer session of liberal arts courses in Cambridge and overseas. Our international student body includes Harvard undergraduate and graduate students, visitors from other colleges and universities, highly qualified secondary school students, adult learners, and nonnative English speakers seeking to refine their language skills. Students take courses to challenge themselves academically, meet degree requirements, prepare for graduate school, gain college experience, advance their careers, and pursue personal enrichment. Students who study at Harvard Summer School may reside in a supportive residential environment, commute to campus, complete courses via distance education, or participate in one of the faculty-led programs based abroad. Many come to experience the extraordinary environment of Harvard College academics, resources, and residential life. Harvard Summer School serves the University community by providing faculty with teaching opportunities that allow them to experiment with new materials and teaching methods. Students from many Harvard schools take advantage of the breadth of summer course offerings to meet requirements for concentrations and degree programs, and to create more flexibility within their term-time academic program. Harvard graduate students from abroad can work on refining their English language skills, and Harvard College students take advantage of the summer session to expand their cultural, social, and intellectual horizons by studying abroad.