by Jaynab Akhtar, JIF ‘17
As a Joyce Ivy Foundation Summer Scholar, I was given the
opportunity to attend Brown University's Summer@Brown program for two weeks.
While I was thrilled and grateful to have received such an opportunity, I ended
up deciding to not attend the program. I took an online course with Brown's
Pre-College program instead.
And it was very much worth it.
Online summer programs at universities are not covered by Joyce
Ivy's scholarships, but they have their own benefits. Brown University's online
courses are very flexible; my Introductory Neuroscience class was five weeks
long, and I was required to login every day, but I could study and complete
assignments on my own time as long as I met submission deadlines. This
flexibility allowed me to secure an internship with a local research institute,
and I spent ten weeks analyzing trends in data collected by the U. S. Census Bureau.
I was also able to take part in training sessions for a freshmen mentoring
program at my high school, and even went on a family trip. (I visited the Grand
Canyon!)
Besides its flexibility, Brown's online summer program had
excellent instructors who were very helpful and available at reasonable times.
The assignments were easy to understand and engaging, and I ended up learning a
lot. Although it certainly wasn't the same as spending the summer at the
university itself, I found the online program to be very fulfilling.
Moral of the story: as a JIF Scholar, if you are unable to
attend your summer program, don’t let that dissuade you from taking advantage
of other opportunities and making the most out of what is available to you. You
are a strong, hardworking, and intelligent young woman who will be successful
no matter what you do!
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