At the institute's Northridge campus this month, hundreds of teens hustled between classrooms, devoting five hours a day, five days a week to math, reading comprehension and writing classes and taking one full-length practice test each week.
Their goal is to boost their scores on the 2,400-point, three-part college entrance exam, helping their prospects at the nation's most competitive colleges.
"It's a lot of hours, it's intense, we have homework," said Julia, who hopes to study theater or pre-med at Georgetown University. "My parents are kind of making me, but I know it will be totally worthwhile when I take the SAT."
Mario, who attended Caltech's Young Engineering and Science Scholars summer program, said he hoped it would increase his chances of attending the school once he graduates from Santa Maria's Ernest Righetti High School.
The Caltech program, which attracted 67 applications in 2002, received 459 last year. Fewer than three dozen are accepted each year. The students then spend three weeks living on campus, taking classes, doing lab experiments and completing research projects. They also meet with university admissions officials, faculty and current Caltech students.
Students are also using their summers to take classes at local community colleges, so they can complete high school requisites, which will free up their schedules so they can take more electives or high-level classes.
At Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, 940 high school students took classes this summer, an enrollment that has nearly quadrupled since 1999.
"The jump is because high school students are starting earlier to work on their college degree," said Jenny McCue, spokeswoman for the college.
McCue, 36, said that when she was in high school, she spent her summers working and hanging out at the beach with friends.
Today's teens are different, she said.
"They're very ambitious; they seem to have a much clearer vision of what they are going to do with their lives than my peers did when I was in high school. They know where they want to go, they know where they want to be and they know what they're going to do to reach those goals. It's really impressive."
Tania Khodayar, 15, who will start her sophomore year at Mission Viejo High School next week, is among those students. Over the summer, she took an introduction to fine arts class to fulfill her arts elective requirement, which means the Laguna Hills teen will be able to take additional Spanish classes in high school or possibly intern at a doctor's office during her senior year. She also took an SAT prep class at Saddleback.
Tania, who hopes to attend USC or a University of California campus and become a surgeon one day, says she plans to take more courses next summer.
"I'll get another subject at school over with," she said.
Tania said she had been concerned that her busy schedule would cause her to miss out on time with her friends, playing tennis, visiting museums and having sleepovers.
"I was worried I wouldn't have time to enjoy summer -- I worked so hard over the school year," she said. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My best friend was in the SAT prep class with me."
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seema.mehta@latimes.com
