Summer DiscoveryReviews of summerdiscovery.com

Very very average educational experience. Not challenging. Food was really very bad too unfortunately

This was our second experience with Summer Discovery, and communication was a recurring weak point. The prerequisites for the class my daughter took weren't listed in the course description and she didn't find out about them until two weeks before the program started. As a result, most of the tangible outcomes that were listed on the website were not achievable. Communication about day-to-day activities was also lacking. During the two-week session, we received virtually no updates. This echoed our previous experience the summer our son attended, when we got a few brief updates in the first days but nothing after that. Overall, we were very disappointed with the quality of the program, especially given the high price point. We expected a level of organization and communication that matched the cost, and this experience fell short on both.

It was just very disorganized with staff and students both not knowing what was happening and staff not having an understanding of the programming or schedule. Students had limited options to get to know one another and staff was not very friendly or outgoing. I was at Georgetown and we were there during the 4th of July but still did not get to have a fun 4th experience and were stuck on campus doing nothing. I would not recomend.

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.

I liked the trips and I learned a lot in class however, I felt unincluded due to the fact that there were not many other people like me there. I also did not enjoy having rumors spread about me even though I had done nothing to anyone, that's not really the programs fault though.

“We were very disappointed with this program. It was marketed as the ‘Berkeley program,’ giving the impression that classes would be taught by Berkeley professors, but in reality the camp simply rented the campus facilities for the summer — there was no actual affiliation with Berkeley faculty. Given the price charged, this felt misleading. Additionally, we were told kosher food would be available on-site for our son, but this was not the case. He had to order his own meals every lunch and dinner instead of being provided adapted meals as promised.