Summer Science Program (SSP)

Retrieved from: summerscience.org

Eligibility: Rising Juniors and Rising Seniors

Where: Various campuses*

When: June-August

Length: 5.5 weeks

Price: $3,950 (virtual), $6,950 (in-person). Financial Aid available

The Summer Science Program or SSP is one of the nation's oldest summer science camps (est. 1959) and offers camps in Biochemistry and Astronomy. There are two campuses for each of the programs with 36 students and 7 faculty being present for each campus. All programs are considered to be very intellectually stimulating with learning being extremely fast-paced. The program immerses students in high-quality and challenging research with a focus on collaboration.

Biochemistry

Projects in biochemistry focus on identifying fungal host inhibitors and exploring various enzymes. Students work in a team setting and conduct wet-lab research. The host campuses include Purdue University and Indiana University - Bloomington.

Astronomy

Projects in astronomy focus on determining the orbit of asteroids and like biochemistry, students also work in a team setting. The host campuses include the University of Colorado - Boulder and New Mexico Tech.

Admissions and Application

Students are required to take biology, chemistry, and algebra for the biochemistry and program and calculus and physics for the astronomy program. Admissions highly favor rising seniors although a few exceptional rising juniors being accepted every year. Furthermore, the program is competitive with an acceptance rate of 10-20%.

The application requires 5 mandatory essays (6 for rising juniors), two recommendation letters, an official transcript, and personal information.

SSP is fully funded by its alumni and former faculty and is associated with MIT. Regardless of whether or not an individual is accepted to the program, many of the application prompts for the program are identical to MIT supplements, making it great practice for senior year and college application season.

More information can be found here: https://summerscience.org/