Center For Talented Youth | Teen Ink

Center For Talented Youth MAG

By Anonymous

   This summer I attended the Center for Talented Youth (C. T.Y.) summer program. C.T.Y. is run by Johns Hopkins University for students between the ages of thirteen and seventeen, who qualify by earning high scores on the SATs in seventh grade as part of a national talent search. C.T.Y. programs are run at several different colleges around the United States in two three-week sessions. Usually participants in C.T.Y. live at a college for three weeks, but commuter programs are available at some sites. There are a large variety of different courses to choose from in the humanities, mathematics, and sciencess. Each student picks one course for the entire session.

I attended C.T.Y. at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA and took a writing course. It was my first time at C.T.Y., and I was a little worried before going that all the kids would be nerds and that we'd never have any fun. I was totally wrong. They were all normal teenagers interested in normal teenage things. I met a lot of different kinds of people: athletes, artists, environmentalists, etc. The social atmosphere was great. Unlike school, which is often exclusive, this was inclusive. No one was ever left out because they were weird or different. I made a lot of great friends and still keep in touch with several. Although classes ran for five hours every day, there was still time to play sports or music, make art, or just hang out. During the weekends there were special activities, dances, and trips to the mall and movies. As for my course, I found it more interesting and challenging than normal school classes. The teachers respected our opinions and intelligence and we were able to discuss topics usually left untouched in school. Although the course was challenging, it was not difficult; we had plenty of time to complete homework during the two-hour evening study hall and had no tests. I feel I learned a lot in my course. I really enjoyed my experience at C.T.Y. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn over the summer but doesn't want to attend anything like summer school. n





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This article has 39 comments.


gailzhangcn said...
on Aug. 16 2018 at 12:15 pm
gailzhangcn, Quincy, Massachusetts
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
We had really bad experience with CTY, but not in terms of the actual camp teaching/learning, but with the admin part. We registered our son and paid a fee but due to time constraint, our son was not able to take the test at their specified time frame. Instead of allowing family another chance, they want us to register again and pay the fee again for a service we paid already and they never delivered. They refuse to give us a refund. After dozes of emails and phone calls, escalation to “manager”, the only thing they promised they will do is to add a reminder "if you don't take the test before the deadline specified, you will have to re-apply and repay the fee" which they failed to tell any customer before my complaint. We will not re-apply and will not go to CTP camp. This is an organization wants money out of your wallet, not sensitive to parent hard earned money. No camps in Boston area request parents to register twice and pay twice to just take a test to attend a camp. Their camp price is ridiculously high, much higher than a lot of overnight high quality camps in my area which is Boston provided by top schools.

I_miss_CTY said...
on Aug. 26 2016 at 8:54 pm
@MeteorInTheVoid To be honest, I am suffering from PCTYD as well. Which site did u go to?

on Aug. 24 2016 at 10:55 am
MeteorInTheVoid, Wilmington, Delaware
0 articles 0 photos 6 comments
I assume you already went... Sorry if this is intrusive but did you go to CTY? What did you take/where, if you don't mind me asking?

on Aug. 24 2016 at 10:54 am
MeteorInTheVoid, Wilmington, Delaware
0 articles 0 photos 6 comments
You are at Lancaster -but the rules depend on site and year, so not sure

on Aug. 24 2016 at 10:53 am
MeteorInTheVoid, Wilmington, Delaware
0 articles 0 photos 6 comments
OMGOSH A CTYER!!! Hi - I CTY you! Ok sorry I'm suffering from acute PCTYD, which explains a lot lol. Where did you go?

hehe;)4747 said...
on Jan. 17 2016 at 3:52 pm
Are we allowed to bring hair straighteners or hair curlers?

hehe;)4747 said...
on Jan. 17 2016 at 3:51 pm
I am not a picky eater, but can someone tell me about the food at cty?

hehe:)4747 said...
on Jan. 17 2016 at 3:48 pm
Hi, I'm applying for it!! Does anyone have some recommendations for which courses are the most fun?! I really can't decide.

Girlinthe852 said...
on Jul. 8 2015 at 10:46 am
Do you guys go shopping ? How much would you recommend is a reasonable amoutn of money to bring ? I live in China so a lot of the clothing lines aren't here , I'm thinking it would be a bit of a shame to go to the US and not go shopping :p

Kasen said...
on Jun. 23 2015 at 11:17 pm
There's definitely WiFi there.

on Jan. 1 2015 at 2:08 pm
Thefanatasticagirlie101 SILVER, Euless, Texas
6 articles 0 photos 59 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The best love is the kind that awakens the soul; that makes us reach for more, that plants the fire in our hearts and brings peace to our mind. That's what I hope to give you forever." ~The Notebook

That is so epic. I have always wanted to attend something like that. UTA has a similar program like that.

on Nov. 13 2014 at 11:40 pm
EleniAneziris DIAMOND, East Setuaket, New York
57 articles 0 photos 7 comments
I definitely concur.

on Sep. 22 2014 at 7:09 am
dgeileen PLATINUM, Livingston, New Jersey
31 articles 2 photos 107 comments

Favorite Quote:
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
― Oscar Wilde

Yay CTY! I went to lancaster this year too and it really was so much fun.

WaterFan said...
on May. 15 2014 at 11:38 am
I loved Evanston so much last year! It's amazing. I can't wait to go back now this year!

WaterFan said...
on May. 15 2014 at 11:37 am
You may want to include anything that you definitely need. -tons of jackets -food! (sweet stuff, yum) -clothes!  -

mcphee said...
on Jan. 8 2013 at 4:47 pm
please advise on what university you stayed at

on Jul. 11 2012 at 3:17 pm
i'm getting ready to pack for session two, but i can't remember what to pack (i like to have checklists you know?) and i can't find the checklist that cty puts up (i only have realcty's) can someone give me a link to cty's list? 

LiaBe PLATINUM said...
on Jun. 10 2012 at 3:18 pm
LiaBe PLATINUM, Bellevue, Washington
44 articles 3 photos 18 comments
I went to Loyola's CTY program last year and took a Creative Nonfiction writing course. Without a doubt it was the best summer program experience I've had in my life. I can't wait to go back this summer!

on Feb. 20 2012 at 10:28 am
PotterCullen BRONZE, Dobbs Ferry, New York
4 articles 0 photos 1 comment
It sounds like so much fun! I'm taking a fiction and poetry course at Franklin and Marshall this summer and i cannot wait!!!

@10u3tt3 said...
on Oct. 20 2011 at 8:59 pm

I went to CTY this past summer, and I have to say that personally I'm torn between it being one of the best or one of the worst 2 weeks of my life.

It was great because I learned. The teachers were amazing, and it was definitely greaet to learn something different than what you learn in school.

It wasn't all that great because I felt like the students there weren't interested in learning anything. Honestly, I felt like more than half my time there was wasted listening to their meaningless chatter about celebrities and other such things that I honestly don't care about. At all.

So it was okay. Honestly I learn so much more in school, and so CTY for me wasn't all that great of an experience. I don't think I'll be going back again next year. And also, the comment about inclusiveness? I personally thought that the kids were pretty excluding, especially compared to the people at my school. But I don't really blame them--they weren't intentioonally hostile towards each other, it's just that we didn't have any relatable interests.