Eagle Era

An overview of students enrolling in summer programs

By Suhani Thakkar

As students get back from their restful vacations and return to 7 AM alarms, many face a bigger challenge as they enter the second semester: summer program applications. Throughout the months of January and April, students rush to find summer activities to boost their college applications and give them an opportunity to pursue their academic interests over their 3-month break. However, while summer programs are a different experience for everyone, most students are ready to start this new chapter of their lives.

For many students, like Amvi Maheshwari (11), this is their first time applying to summer programs, so the process of applying seems intimidating. “It is all very overwhelming since I have to write so many essays and get so many letters of recommendation, all while still managing to keep up with my schoolwork.”

While students have different priorities when it comes to choosing a program, many base their decisions on the activities offered and the program’s acceptance rate, as did Grace Zhao (10). “I applied to schools with strong law or economics programs to show on my college applications that I am truly committed to pursuing law. I’m also more drawn to more selective programs because they tend to be more prestigious and offer more valuable opportunities.”

As many younger students rush to apply, many seniors are already alumni of various summer programs. For many like Prisha Mathur (12), these programs helped them truly understand what their major was going to be like. She explains, “The USC program I went to was really helpful since I got to meet a lot of industry professionals and get a real, first-hand glimpse of what being an animator was like.” 

Another Cosmos alumnus, Ruhika Goel (12), who is pursuing a computer science major at Cornell University this coming fall, said that this program really helped give her that final push towards this field. “Cosmos really helped solidify for me that computer science was something I truly enjoyed, and that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and as my major.”

For many people like Goel, however, summer programs go beyond academics; the community is what is most important to them. “The people that I met at Cosmos have really stayed with me. Getting to meet others who share your interests and collaborate on projects is truly an invaluable experience, and I am still very close with many of the people I met there.”

According to Mathur, her summer program helped her with her college application a lot. She explained, “In my opinion, my animation program was incredibly helpful since it really helped me build my skillset for my art portfolio and made it way stronger than it would have been otherwise.”