Stuck for Summer Plans? Here Are Some Great Bay Area Options!

There are so many great, competitive programs and options available to students who are planning how to spend their summers. The tough part – how to decide!

You can spend your summer doing a variety of things, maybe it’s working part-time while taking an SAT course, perhaps you want to do an internship and then volunteer. Whatever you decide, it can be helpful to begin your planning by checking out some of the local options.

We’ve rounded up a few great programs below to help you make an informed decision. ***PLEASE NOTE: the dates provided below are for the year 2018. Please make sure to ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK for 2019 and beyond dates for camps and application deadlines. 

Disclaimer: Insight Education is not affiliated with any of the below programs. All information has been taken from the programs websites, which are linked in the descriptions so you can do further research. We strictly recommend contacting any program that you are interested in directly to confirm details, especially deadline dates and costs for the program.  

GeneCamp at Stanford is an incredible camp for local high school students that incorporates seminars with renowned scientists in the field to learn more about the science of genomics. If selected, the camp is free to participate in. The application opens on Feb 3 and is due by March 5. Check out their website for more information: http://med.stanford.edu/genecamp.html

Girls Who Code is another option that runs for 7 weeks over the summer, with locations in the Bay Area. The camps are free and focused for girls in 10^th and 11^th grade. You’ll learn computer science through real-world projects in art, storytelling, robotics, video games and more! Visit their website via this link. https://girlswhocode.com/summer-immersion-programs/

Hands On Bay Area have a great program called Bay Area Tomorrow which is a local volunteering program that connects you with local non-profit leaders. Plus, you’ll get 55 hours of community service in 2 weeks! See more here https://www.handsonbayarea.org/tomorrow

BlueStamp Engineering has programs in Palo Alto and San Francisco, ranging from 2 to 6-week options. The program is for high school students to build engineering projects they are passionate about. Applications are open now! Click here to find out more: http://bluestampengineering.com/

The Rosetta Institute has 2-week camps at UCB for students that are interested in Health and Biology. Students live on campus for the duration of the course, and fees range from $1980 upward. Check out their website for more detailed information:  https://www.rosettainstitute.org/

The Youth Service Corps – a great one for our Fremont Families! Students can work with the city, engage in their community and earn dozens of volunteering hours with the Youth Service Corps or Counselors In Training (CIT). More information here https://fremont.gov/346/Youth-Service-Corps

The Berkeley Business Academy for Youth. This program introduces youth from around the world to the disciplines and skills that make a business work. B-BAY students learn from professors who are at the top of their field and from youth mentors. More info here: http://haas.berkeley.edu/businessacademy/

SIP is a summer-long (10-week) research internship program for high-school students in STEM fields. UCSC faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers provide one-on-one mentoring of these high-school interns. The research projects are real in that they are not made up just for the high-school students; instead students are inserted into existing research projects here at UCSC. This is a highly competitive program. See more here: http://ucsc-sip.org/

There are also some interesting summer programs hosted at colleges around California!

UCSD hosts Academic Connections, an opportunity for high school students with a 3.3 or above weighted cumulative GPA to get a jump start on college experiences. Applications are open now and close on June 15^th, and have a $100 application fee. This program does require a financial investment, which includes tuition, course materials, housing and all meals, activities and SAT prep. See more about the program and costs here: http://academicconnections.ucsd.edu/

Santa Clara University has a young scholars program that allows students to explore the world of higher education in a 5-week intensive program that includes university courses, advising, and meetings with key people on campus. See more about the deadlines and fees here https://www.scu.edu/ysp/

Take some time to research what is a good fit for you, and talk to your family and trusted advisors. Your Insight counselor can help you decide which programs are a good fit, and share further programs from our vast database to suit your academic and career interests. Most importantly, we want you to have a fun and productive summer!

All the best,

Team Insight