I’d be interested to hear what experience you have had. (It was recommended to us by the developmental specialist that evaluated our son.)
I know there are (or at least were) a bunch of Dopers who went through the program. I’m one, and it changed my life.
I was a pretty brainy kid, and was often bored in school. I also had a bit of trouble fitting in with other kids my age. Not that I didn’t have friends, but despite my friends I was always socially different and felt like an outsider. CTY taught me two incredible things. First, that it was possible to learn things at a level that’s interesting, fast paced, and exciting. And second, that there were tons of other kids out there like me, and lo and behold, we were all pretty normal, when there weren’t other people around to tell us that we weren’t.
I feel like today it’s slightly more hip to be smart and/or quirky, but at the time CTY really validated who I was.
I donate to their scholarship fund (a very small amount of money because I’m a pretty poor guy), and always encourage parents I meet who are thinking about it for their children to give it a shot.
(CTYer: Hampshire - 1993, Skidmore 1994-96)
I was a grad student at Hopkins in the late 1970s, when the program began and it was very hot–people were enthusiastic and energetic in getting it started, and I’ve since had both my daughters in some form of the program or other. Each of them got something it, from the application process onward.
I spent two summers in the CTY program at Connecticut College in middle school - I still remember those as two of the best summers of my life. They claim that their courses are college-level, and it wasn’t far off - the UN and theater courses I took were both first-rate. Also, the feeling of independence I got from living “on my own” was heady stuff - though of course, we actually were pretty tightly supervised.
It’s a great program - I can’t say enough good things about it.
I’m another CTY kid. Loved it. Changed my life. It was so great to be around other kids who were that into learning, and people came from such a wide background. It made me feel like less of a freak, that you could be smart and cool. At 13, you need to know that, I think.
Hamilton College 1994, Franklin and Marshall College 1995-1997.
I was in CTY at Goucher College in 1994, then spent two summers doing the program at Skidmore College and one at Dickinson College, which is the reason for the occasional negative comments I make about Pennsylvania. 
It’s a great program. I sometimes look back at that time and wish I’d been more daring and social with the other kids. But I was never a fan of regular summer camp, and I had a great time going someplace I could focus on writing and other pursuits like that. Devoting time to those things helped me a lot. It introduced me to the idea of writing about music, which became a favorite topic of mine, and introduced me to punk rock. I also became a very good Four Square player, although I wasn’t able to pursue it professionally.
How old is he? I went to the Young Students Program for 5th and 6th graders once at Goucher College in the mid 90’s. Academically, it was great but I actually had trouble socially. I was really nerdy at the time and I got picked on more at CTY than at regular school. (I went to a gifted program in school as well; I don’t know if one would be considered at a higher level than the other.) I think I would have had a better time if I had gone when I was a little bit older, but that might just be me.
I took a course called “Mathematical Reasoning,” which covered various material but was just generally about figuring out how to solve problems instead of just regurgitating stuff. My instructor was also the coach of the US Int’l Math Olympiad team. The other offered math course was “Math Sequence” which just advanced a student through one year of normal math in 3 weeks. I ran across some of the topics we covered at CTY later on in a 200-level discrete-math course.
Five summers. Loved it to the point where it’s not an exaggeration to call those three-week chunks the best times of my childhood. It was great academically, but even better socially, because it provides most kids with the chance to not be the weird kid who doesn’t quite fit in. I met one of my best friends at CTY my first summer, when I was ten years old. We’re still extremely close.
For the right kid it’s absolutely worth it, and when I make my millions someday, I plan on donating a lot of money to their scholarship fund (which is what allowed me to go).
There was a thread on Duke’s TIP program (which is similar in concept) that you might find useful as well - a lot of people also talked about CTY in that one, and of course you can’t search on TIP or CTY. I hunted it down for you - here
For the record, CTY stands for Center for Talented Youth.
As a middle-schooler I attended CTY summer programs for 2 or 3 summers (in LA area). They were great, both socially and academically. Granted, this was about 25 years ago.
Sorry to nitpick, but it’s Johns Hopkins. We Hopkins grads tend to be a little sensitive about that. 
As I mentioned in the previous TIP thread, I am on CTY’s advisory board, so my personal thanks to all who say nice things about our programs and those who donate for scholarships. CTY is a very large organization; it has grown tremendously since I did the summer programs in the mid-80’s, and it continues to grow and add programs all the time.
Cairo Carol, would your son attend a program in the US or an international program? Or would he do some of CTY’s on-line coursework? If you want to let me know what you are considering I might be able to pass on some additional information.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
I didn’t know you could donate to the scholarship! Thanks for the info.
–Dickinson College and Franklin and Marshall, 1984-1987
I never did, but I had friends who attended and really had wonderful, formative experiences.
Wow! Thanks guys, this motivates me to pursue it more aggressively (as you can imagine, it is a bit of a chore to sort through it from Indonesia, and it will wreak havoc with our summer plans if he does get into a summer program). But the comments above make it sound like it is worth it.
I know this is kind of an old thread but I’ve got questions and it seemed better to add to this one rather than start a new one. I had never heard of CTY but my 7th-grader just got recommended for it and I’m curious.
So she enrolls in the Talent Search, takes the SAT or ACT and…then what? Is the goal going to Summer Camp? It appears the location closest to us is UC Santa Cruz but is it a choice or could she end up on the other side of the country? Like I said, I had never heard of it, so the whole thing is a little confusing.