Summer Discovery Avis 

Good organisation, child reported positive experiences throughout the program

My daughter loved all the evening activities and field trips that Summer Discovery arranged.
I also appreciate all of the quick responses I received from Summer Discovery.

Excellent program with solid learning experience from clinical hands-on and didactic standpoints. Great staff and fellow students!

As a parent I wasn’t really impressed, I don’t see how this was beneficial for my child attending this program. It was too expensive first and foremost. And for the money that someone pays don’t see what the benefit is.

I really enjoyed my time with my friends and learning about new things but I hope you guys can find more qualified people to teach.

Getting to meet staff and students from around the world, experiencing the best parts of campus and college life, learning from real world professors, and building lifelong connections made this summer an incredible experience. On top of the precollege experience, being in the mountains of New Hampshire and in the middle of nature made for a great summer camp experience with great outdoor hiking and canoeing. Within two weeks of my summer I felt that I already had a full summer experience.

Excellent academic experience and a wonderful intro to a college campus for my rising junior.

Summer Discovery was an amazing experience for me. I made a lot of really great friends that I still keep in touch with. Everyday was packed with multiple activities. There was a great balance between class time and fun time. The only comment I have is that not every student was allowed to go to the activities due to limited spots. It doesn’t make sense for all of us to pay the same amount to be there but then activities are whoever signs up first. The sign up list would come out while we were in class when most of us weren’t on our phones and then the activity would be full by the time class ended. If you don’t go to the activities there is not a lot to do because we couldn’t leave the doors without an RC. In conclusion, go if you will do the activities.

It organize a well program, I would be more happy if we can see the work which students did during camp like presentation video with share with parents or invite them to view.

The program put my son in a single room and then after the first night did not allow the kids to hang out in the common room of the dorm, but also required everyone to be inside in the evenings, so he spent most of his time alone in his very hot (no AC) dorm room. The rain and heat cancelled many of the afternoon group activities, but the kids also were not allowed to explore the campus or the town on their own. I was disappointed that such an expensive program seemed to lack communication with the kids as to what their options for socializing were. My son also said that the engineering program he participated in took place in one of the college classrooms, but that none of the maker space materials or tools were available to the Summer Discovery students. It didn’t seem as well run as some of the other comparable programs that work with their host colleges to ensure a quality experience for the students. This was a sub-par experience at a very expensive price. I would not recommend it.

Classes were great. Activities were awesome too!

The activity’s planned were rlly fun! I wish the classes let us know what we needed to know ahead of time (if you understand what I mean) for example in the aerospace class, i’m going into 10th grade and I didn’t know physics or trigonometry so it was hard to follow along because when i signed up for the class it didn’t say I needed to know this ahead of time. I also wish there were more hands on projects.

l enrolled my son in this summer program with very high expectations, especially considering that both he and his friend each spent approximately $24,000 to attend. Unfortunately, the experience fell far short of what we expected from a program associated with Yale.

One of the first concerns was the food. On orientation day, my son scanned the QR code for one of the meals and found an ingredient list containing around 60 ingredients. Because of this, he and his friend chose to order their own food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day instead of eating the meals provided by the program.

The housing conditions were equally disappointing. My son and his friend stayed together in one of the suites, and when they arrived, there was no air conditioning at all. They had to purchase fans themselves just to make the room bearable. The suite was also extremely dirty, covered in dust, and there was no room or suite cleaning provided by staff throughout their stay. The common areas became so messy that they found themselves asking other students to stop throwing trash around. We have photographs documenting these conditions.

Academically, my son enrolled in both the Business and Neuroscience courses. We were surprised to learn that neither instructor was a Yale professor, but rather teachers from other schools. The Business course was one of the primary reasons he chose this program, yet he came away feeling that he learned very little. Additionally, the two guest speakers were brought in over Zoom rather than in person. According to my son, the presentations were so unprofessional that even the Business instructor remarked that they would not be invited back in the future.

For the amount we paid, we expected a program that reflected the reputation of Yale. Instead, our son experienced poor housing conditions, food he did not feel comfortable eating, and an academic experience that did not justify the cost. We have photographs supporting the concerns regarding the accommodations, and we hope the program takes this feedback seriously so future students receive the quality of experience families expect when making such a significant investment.

What made my experience feel good was the fact that Dan was always there to help me whenever I was homesick. In addition, my teacher was very good for creative writing. The only tip I would give would be to add A/C to the dorms if possible. and also add some more activities to do outside

Good location good staff pretty good food nice thoughtful activities but too expensive for the experience

It was very fun and rewarding experience! I learned a lot during the classes, and made friends for life. I loved the evening activities, and the freedom we were given to relax during the day.

More than I expected it would be!!!

The campus was wonderful. The food was abundant. The course was a unique experience and provided lots of challenge. The final presentation was a great way to put the learning into practice, do research and teach classmates.
The website is not straightforward but the SummerDiscovery team answers emails from parents really promptly.

Truly the best summer of my life, not even in a corny way. Met so many amazing people and had the time of my life and discovered something about who I am. Recommend strongly.