Thread: Shad Valley vs. Harvard Summer School

I'm a Canadian student who is considering applying to Harvard Summer School. However, Shad Valley is also another option open to me. Just curious - in terms of college admissions, things that stand out on the common app, which one of these looks better? This quote off the Harvard Summer School website surprised me: "Courses with no application required Our nearly 300 courses are challenging, but most are open admission, which...

The Secondary School Program The consensus is that attending an ivy league summer school program is not particularly helpful because the schools know that all it means is that you have money and these programs exist pretty exclusively for the purpose of taking your money. You would probably enjoy it, but it's not going to be much different than Shad Valley unless the courses are much different.

Shad Valley is more selective, isn't it? If I got in, I would go. MIT lists Shad Valley as one of its recommended summer programs for Canadians.