Explore Top Business Schools This Summer While in High School

As a rising high school senior in 2012, Brandy Peña wasn't sure what she would do after graduation.

The now-21-year-old wanted to attend college, but she says it was rare for residents of her hometown of La Joya, Texas, a small community near the U.S.-Mexico border, to leave home. Most people went to a local college, worked in the oil fields or got married.

But things changed for her after she completed a summer program at the highly ranked University of Texas--Austin McCombs School of Business before her senior year.

Most participants are minorities or the first in their families to go to college, Leticia Acosta, director of the Subiendo Academy, the program Peña participated in, said in an email.

Peña says the program exposed her to a college campus, new people and a different way of thinking. During the approximately weeklong leadership program, participants were placed into groups and asked to come up with a plan to fix a problem in Texas, like the state's ongoing water challenges. At the end of the week, they presented their proposals to policymakers at the state capital who voted on which plan they liked best.

[Learnhow to prepare teens for summer college prep programs.]

After experiencing the UT campus in the summer program, Peña says it felt like it was where she was supposed to be. She's now a junior at UT studying management information systems in the business school.

Several top business schools offer summer programs for high schoolers. The program Peña completed was for Texas residents and free, but sometimes these pre-college experiences can cost families several thousands of dollars -- though financial aid is sometimes available.

Families should research these programs carefully and have realistic expectations of what they can offer high schoolers, says David Mainiero, co-founder and director of operations at InGenius Prep, which offers private admissions counseling.

"From the parents that I've spoken to, they feel like it will give them some kind of competitive edge in the admissions process," he says.

While most parents know completing a high school summer program at a top business school won't help their child get into an MBA program eight years from now, he says, some parents think having the name of a top business school on an undergraduate application could help with admission -- and that's not true.

Lori Rosenkopf, vice dean and director of the top-ranked undergraduate program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says the admissions process for high school summer business programs is completely separate from the formal admissions process to the school. That's true elsewhere as well.

However, Rosenkopf says students who complete these kinds of experiences have a better sense of how to articulate their interests, and that can be helpful when crafting college essays.

Mainiero thinks parents should look at these programs as an educationally enriching experience that allows students interested in business the opportunity to explore the discipline, meet professors and network.

[See howteens take a bite out of business in high school incubator classes.]

"You get a really good feel for what it's like when you are trying to create something from nothing and try to turn it into a business," says Rudy Venguswamy, now 18. He completed a summer business program on entrepreneurship at the University of California--Berkeley Haas School of Business -- another highly-ranked business school -- before his senior year of high school.

During the program, he worked with a small group to create a business plan for a product the group designed. Their team was mentored by a current student at Haas and ultimately presented their plan to the other groups and program leaders.

He also got the chance to listen to lectures from Haas faculty.

"I also really loved the fact that you had a mentor that already had an idea of what business looks like," says Venguswamy, now a freshmen at Berkeley who intends to major in business and economics. "You get to connect with a lot of professors and also I really, really just enjoyed the collaborative environment there."

Mainiero, of the counseling organization, says families exploring summer business programs for high schoolers should be wary of camps run by private companies at top schools and should ensure programs offers students what they claim to provide.

[Parents:Ask these three questions when vetting teen summer programs.]

He says admissions requirements can indicate a quality program. And families should look at the faculty -- they should come from the school hosting the program or from other quality institutions and organizations, he says.

Peña, the Texas undergrad, says the program gave her a head start in college. The networking skills she learned helped her make connections her freshman year, which paid off -- she completed an accounting internship with Ernst & Young as a sophomore.

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Alexandra Pannoni is an education Web producer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at apannoni@usnews.com.