Summer College Readiness Program

For high school seniors graduating this spring and going on to college in the fall.

2020 Application available here • Download 2020 Brochure here

Dates: Sunday, July 19 – Saturday, August 1, 2020
Cost: $3,825, plus $50 refundable damage deposit (cost includes double occupancy residence hall room, all meals, and activities)

Our Summer College Readiness Program, for college-bound high school graduates, is all about preparation—through practice and exposure—for that crucial first semester of college.

Even the most high-achieving students often face unanticipated difficulties in their first semester of college possibly putting them at risk for failure or struggle. Problems often arise not from a lack of academic abilities, but from the enormous jump in independence required in a college environment.

This program is designed to help students:

Learn to articulate individual learning issues that need attention
Identify the specific supports and accommodations they’ll need in college—and how to access them
Experience a typical introductory college-level lecture class
Learn and practice self-advocacy skills they’ll need to navigate through their freshman year
Apply organizational skills, helpful habits, and useful behaviors needed to succeed at college—and identify problem habits and behaviors that might surface during their first year

Students are immersed in a living/learning experience that offers a real “taste” of college life and the college-level work they will encounter in the fall. They develop a clear understanding of their personal learning strengths and needs, and discover how resources and self-advocacy can support their success in college.

The Summer College Readiness Program is offered on Landmark College’s rural campus in picturesque southern Vermont. The town of Putney is located just nine miles from historic Brattleboro, named one of the Top 10 Small Art Towns in America.

Note: For admission to this program, students must provide a letter of admission to a four-year college or university. A diagnosed learning disability is not required to participate in this program.

Questions?

Contact Carroll Paré
802-387-6885
summer@landmark.edu

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During this two-week program students will take three classes. Together, students will participate in the core lecture course designed to introduce them to college-level course expectations, for example:

Challenges of a lecture-style class
College-level reading load
Preparation for writing a research paper
Exam and quizzes
Applying concepts to individual cognitive processes

Each student will also take College Writing and Reading & Study Skills, where they will put into practice the skills and strategies from the lecture course.

College Writing will also include:

Helping students to understand the difference in expectations of high school level and collegiate level writing (summarization vs. analyzation)
Exploring various methods for completing an academic research paper
Introduction of effective organizational strategies for academic writing
Finding, using, and citing scholarly sources
Reviewing the revision and editing processes

Reading and Study Skills will also highlight:

Technology and non-tech-based study skills and strategies
Organization, note-taking, test prep strategies
Self-advocacy
Planning and goal setting
Post core lecture examination performance analysis

A fourth class period is built into the daily schedule to allow each student to have a free period. This is a time where they can experience having a chunk of time to figure out what they will do. Will they choose to take a nap, go to the library, go to the gym to work out, or seek out extra help from a professor?

Each class meets for 1 hour and 15 minutes, Monday – Friday. On the last day of the program, students will have self-advocacy interviews. Students prepare for these interviews as part of the Reading and Study Skills course.

Financial Aid is available and awarded upon acceptance. Financial aid applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. We encourage parents to submit an application for financial aid early.

“I appreciate the kindness and compassion of the Landmark faculty and staff. They ‘get’ these kids—they understand them. The Summer Transition Program was great preparation for the ‘real thing.’ My objectives were met: giving my son a taste of independent living in a college-like atmosphere.”

“It is a very beneficial program that really addresses each student’s individual style of learning and builds upon that to help them achieve success in the mainstream.”

“This program helped my son get a better handle on the work required at the college level. So far, so good at college! He feels ready to take on anything his professors throw at him. Thank you for a great experience!”

“Our son benefited very much having a dress rehearsal of what he might experience his freshman year and learning about advocating for his accommodations. It gave him confidence that he was, in fact, ready for college. And it helped us feel better about him leaving home. It was a reminder that he’s continuing to grow and achieve in spite of learning differences and personality differences.”

“Landmark’s Transition Program helped our son ‘own’ his learning needs and gave him the self-confidence to be his own advocate. Perhaps I helped get him ready for Landmark, but Landmark was the ever-so-important piece that got him to the next level of adulthood. You are simply the best at what you do.”

Specifics

Course Descriptions

Core Lecture Course—Exploring Conflicted Selves in American Literature:
This American Literature course will examine several works—short stories, poems, a play, and essays—from the late 19th century to the present that deal with difficult questions surrounding identity and the role it plays in the lives of Americans. More specifically, students will focus on how race, gender, nationality, social groups, religion, economic class, globalization and other factors complicate identity formation creating external and internal conflict (or crisis) as individuals navigate multiple forces vying to shape their identity. Students will learn and apply concepts from literary theory, psychology, and sociology to the analysis of texts and an analysis of their own identity formation.

Reading & Study Skills:
This course uses both non-technology and technology oriented approaches to teach students the study skills and strategies required in college—organization, active reading, note-taking and test preparation—and includes a post-test analysis of performance on the Core Lecture course unit exam to help students identify essential strategies for future college work. The course instructor functions as a type of academic advisor, working closely with each student to help them develop a plan on how to transfer the skills learned in this course to other types of courses and learning environments the student may encounter in their future endeavors.

College Writing:
This series of workshops is designed to help students understand what college teachers expect in terms of writing, give students an opportunity to practice several approaches to short writing assignments, and advance students’ understanding of writing structure and process. Students will practice writing-process strategies in the areas of generating, organizing, summarizing, analyzing, synthesizing, drafting, and editing. A major focus of the workshop is for students to develop and articulate an individual sense of their strengths and difficulties as writers and learners.