You’re certainly not alone if the plans that you made for this upcoming summer (before Covid-19) have been canceled or are in flux. Pretty much everyone is dealing with rescheduling, shuffling things around, and an impending sense of panic regarding how to move forward. But fear not! While it’s obviously true that this summer is going to look different than we all had hoped, that doesn’t mean that it’s a total bust. The very last thing that you should do is throw in the towel.
The easy, and wrong, decision to make is to deem Summer 2020 your last opportunity to do nothing before your school starts again. And to all of the current juniors reading this, know that senior year alone is not going to get you back on track or into the colleges that you want to attend. Colleges have always cared about how you spend your free time, and this summer presents a unique opportunity to show them how you can shine without the extracurricular activities, constant group meetings, Olympiads, and sporting events. It’s a great time to dig into your areas of academic interests and work on passion projects that you wouldn’t ordinarily have time for.
With all of that being said, we’re not the only people on earth trying to figure out how to move forward. And with that, many colleges are still in the process of figuring out what to do with their summer programs. For the most part, they’re either being held on online – or not held at all. If you applied to a program that was canceled, you might not be completely out of luck. If you scored your dream internship, but that office is now closed, you can still find something worthwhile. We scoured the web for summer programs and classes that are still accepting applications (as of this writing) and are now being hosted online. Will the experience be the exact same as living on campus and attending lectures with soon to be friends? No, but we think they’re still worth considering. Summer 2020 is officially the summer of making the best of things, so keep reading if you’re looking for some inspiration.
This list is not exhaustive. Rather, we tried to focus on colleges that are offering a variety of courses and programs in multiple disciplines. These links will send you to one of two paths: either a summer program dedicated to a specific discipline or a list of courses that you can choose from. As options are certainly more limited than in previous years, we suggest that you look through the list with an open mind. If your area of interest wasn’t included in our list, Google it!
If you’d like to work with someone one-on-one, or need help creating your own personal project for the summer, contact us here.