John Locke institute summer school

[Binkywonky]

Anyone had a dc who has done this? What did they think?
It’s not cheap but it does sound a great experience. Slightly feel the info on the website is a bit minimal and that makes me a bit unsure eg it doesn’t say how many students attend. Also this year it’s being held in a boarding school a good drive out of Oxford so what do they do in the evenings for fun if they can’t wander round the town?

Don't know about John Locke but if your DC has an uni offer then they can do an LSE summer school course. LSE courses look fab and are at the same level as their undergraduate equivalents. If I was going to spend that money I would want more details (module descriptions, contact time, lecturer biographies).

No she’s L6 so not had offers yet.

I can't speak for the quality of the programme as DC didn't go in the end. DC entered the essay competition some years ago., After a few weeks, they contacted to say the essay was in the top 15% of entries and they would be awarded £500 off the summer school. But the summer school was full when DC phoned to enquire! Then DC's essay went on to win in its subject category and won £2000 towards any gap year programme. Sounds amazing, but when we phoned up, the gap year programmes (overseas) were about £10,000, plus £50 per day! There was an awards ceremony weekend Oxford uni, but you had to pay for that and relatively few can go anyway because a lot (most)? prize winners were from overseas..My impression of the organisation is that it's predominantly sales-orientated and they only call you back if you're going to buy a programme. Otherwise, calls are all filtered at reception and you will never get through and they never respond to emails. It's honestly feels like trying to get through to the secret service.

Having said all this, the summer school may well be very good. But in terms of the personal statement, I would suggest your DC enters the essay competition instead. Whether your DC wins a prize or not (there are quite a few commendations given out), it will give them something to talk about on the PS. If applying for Oxbridge, any relative benefit of going on a very expensive summer school is likely to be strongly contextualised in terms of uni admissions, whereas anyone on any income can enter the essay competition.

Thanks for the info. It’s not about PS nor about trying to get a foot in the door to Oxford. She just wants to do an academic summer school and this one sounded a decent length and good standard. She’s been given a place but is having a wobble as there just isn’t that much info given and as I say it’s stuck out of town.
What you say about lacking in info or contact feels similar to the sense we are getting.

Anyone else have any experience?

@Binkywonky did you end up doing this? I read a different thread about someone thinking about another academic summer programme - CATALYST (https://catalyst.winchestercollege.org/), which I'd heard good things about... but now thinking about this or possibly John Locke. If you have any experience to share... please do so! :)

Seriously don't do the ones you pay for