What Does the "College Experience" at a Pre-College Program Really Look Like?

Many pre-college programs promise high school students a preview of college life. Living in a dorm, taking classes on a university campus, and learning from college professors certainly looks like college. But how much independence students actually have can vary dramatically from one program to another.

In our experience, we've seen everything from programs where students are given nearly the same flexibility and responsibility as college freshmen, getting themselves to class, deciding when and where to eat, and managing their own free time, to programs where students remain with counselors for much of the day and follow a predefined group schedule. We've also encountered programs that emphasized extensive supervision in their materials (perhaps to reassure parents) but turned out to offer considerably more independence in practice.

It's often difficult to tell from program materials which model to expect. A few clues may help, although they're far from foolproof. Programs that accept younger students often provide more supervision. But other things you might expect to predict independence, including program length or the university hosting the program, don't necessarily do so.

We recently compared schedules, curfews, campus boundaries, and residential rules across this year's pre-college programs. The differences were striking—even among programs housed on well-known college campuses.

See how pre-college programs' daily lives compared →

If one is available, try to look for the residential handbook. The program website may promise an opportunity to "experience college life," but the handbook is more likely to spell out curfews, check-ins, rules for leaving campus, mandatory activities, meal arrangements, and other practical details.

As our children attended several pre-college programs over the years, we've had a few surprises about how structured or unstructured a program turned out to be. Interestingly, they have generally worked out well either way. When the academic content was engaging and the environment made it easy to connect with other students, the level of independence ended up being secondary to the overall experience.

That said, in our experience, older students (and students who have already attended several residential programs) may place more value on greater independence. It's therefore worth considering not simply whether a program offers "the college experience," but what kind of college experience your student is ready for and wants.

If the level of independence matters to your student, here are a few questions that can help you understand what the day-to-day experience will actually look like:

• How much unscheduled time do students have?
• Do students get themselves to classes and meals independently?
• Are students expected to participate in organized activities during their free time?
• Can students move around campus independently?
• Can they leave campus, and under what conditions?
• How often do counselors check in with students?
• Is there a curfew?

Explore Summer goes beyond the program description. We research what daily life actually looks like and summarize what we find alongside each program, including supervision and independence, housing and meals, arrival procedures, additional expenses, and other details families may want to know before choosing a program.