Decided to finally leave this review as I am now looking for camps to send the little guy this coming summer. He loves Battle bots so I thought it would be great to send him to ID tech after receiving a flyer after attending a Battlebots show in Las Vegas. After spending $1600, we were disappointed. He had a great time, but he didn't learn anything, or do half of what was advertised. They didn't get to play outside like was advertised, not much of a campus tour, didn't learn coding, and spent a large amount of time on Roblox. In fact, his closest friend from camp came from the Roblox class. We were supposed to get to witness the final competition, which we later found out took place before parents were allowed in, and there was no certificate ceremony as advertised. By the time parents were allowed in, the kids were just playing with the robot and passing the controller around. He didn't really seem to know any of the kids in his class, and the other kids seemed to just be parallel playing as opposed to collaborating as a class or teammates. We had invited his relatives for the last day, as it was supposed to be presented as this big event to witness what our kids had learned, but in the end I was grateful they weren't able to make it. I feel like I would have been embarrassed of what they would have seen. Also for the price, he didn't get to keep the robot. And the flashdrive he received? It was completely blank. His favorite part of the experience you ask? The cafeteria. read more

We had a decent experience a few years ago, but this year was a crazy waste of money. The Battlebots camp was mostly just break time sitting in front of the computer playing Roblox or other games. There was supposed to be a coding element, but the counselors said they would do all of the coding, and the kids learned nothing. Then the counselors dropped the ball and failed to do the coding that was needed. The assembly work done for the bots was much easier than a basic LEGO set, so I'm not sure what engineering-interested kid could possibly learn anything from this camp. CoderSchool in Berkeley is half the price and actually teaches coding. read more

My sons have done three ID Tech camps at Stanford: 1. Lego NXT in 2011 (9 year old camper) 2. iOS Game Development in 2013 (11 year old camper) 3. Racing Game Development in 2013 (9 year old camper) There were some notable highlights and lowlights; overall I'd describe our experience as "pretty good." Given that there are not a lot of other comparable tech camp options for kids this age, there is a decent chance we will be back. Highlights: - Exposure to computer programming in a dedicated environment - Socialization with other kids who think science and programming is cool - Counselors are bright and try hard to keep things fun/light - Campers learn some new specific technical skills they can take home - My boys had fun and were happy to go each day Lowlights: - Not much direct instruction (8:1 counselor ratio sounds great, but in reality counselor spends most time trouble shooting and with whoever's further behind) - Our counselors were not very experienced with the software in question (in all 3 classes, they couldn't answer my son's questions once past the basics) - Fair number of technical problems with no backup solution (e.g., wifi out in iOS class, so kids couldn't download; NXT brick breaks and no replacement available) - Poor check-in/out process -- took 30-45 minutes to get them out each day - Very expensive relative to other camps in the area; not always obvious why read more

Don't be fooled by the beautiful campus and overjoyed camper who is eager to play video games all day in camp. ID tech camp emphasizes pleasing the child's desire to play mine craft and other Computer games all day long. Sure, they have mini projects they completed to show at the end, but it lacks depth that the instructors don't discipline the students to work harder on projects. Rather, the students want to finish their assignments so they can play multiplayer mine craft or watch the older kids play bloody gore video games. Save your money and find another computer camp where you child can play games all day for way cheaper! I am not a strict mom who doesn't allow my child to have fun at camps. But at $1,000+ later, I am sadden that these businesses prey on parents' hard earned money. One star for the beautiful campus locations and amazing marketing and website! read more

My older son has been going to this camp since age 11. He learned C ++, Java, Web and Game Design and many other things I do not understand because I do not speak Nerd. My son went to the day and overnight camps. My son is very quirky kid and naturally, I was little bit worried but he did great thanks to very supportive and enthusiastic staff. ID Tech camp has very small instructor to student ratio. The quality of instruction and supervision my son received was simply amazing. Every day my son would tell me how happy he was in this camp. He loved the instructors, the subject matter, equipment, food and all the social activities as well as his camp mates. He formed some really good long distant friendships. Staying overnight at Stanford dorms and spending time on that beautiful campus inspired him to graduate High Shoo early. However, ID Teach camp is great place not only for kids who breath and live code like my older son. My younger son also went to ID Camp. While he is not planning to be computer scientist, he very much enjoyed learning how games are designed and had an excellent time. ID Tech is not a cheap camp but I consider my money very well spent . ID Tech allowed my older son to dvelop his interest and aquire real skills.The skill my son leared in this camp allowed him to do many interesting and cool things in life such as Robotics team, making pocket money as web master and teach support, volunteering at Mindcraft conference, internship with a gaming company and understanding of computes beyond simply playing "Halo" for hours or posting on Facebook. ID Teach teaches kids skills they can use IRL! +1 to ID Tech. Like. He is entering college at 16 and is planning to major in Computer Sceince. read more

The tuition of this camp is ridiculously high. I think they are trying to make you think that your kids will be going to Stanford for college if you send them to a summer camp located on the Stanford campus and also feed them food from the Stanford cafeteria. That sells. But other than the Stanford halos, it's just another Minecraft camp, and over-priced. My son has been to a couple other ones and they are all similar enough. Basically, the kids get to play lots and lots of Minecraft. They play one-on-one or as teams. They love it, because they don't get to do that at home, at least not all day. There is very little instruction, very little programming. The "instructors" actually don't know more than the kids do, some of them very skilled players. Yes, my son had a great time, but he would have as much fun at any other Minecraft camp too. Not worth the money. read more

ID Tech summer camp has been nothing but a wonderful experience for our family. My 11 year old son attends both the Stanford and UC Berkeley locations and has found the instructors to be both knowledgeable and entertaining. We find the cost commensurate with the quality of instruction and individualized attention. We do not hesitate to sign him up for different courses. Today, however, we had a misstep in communication. To be completely honest, I was absolutely livid when I called the Campbell Headquarters to complain. I spoke with a supervisor, Jamad (Sp? apologies), who handled my tirade with professionalism and courtesy (well beyond his years). Not only did he remain calm and composed, but he asked appropriate questions. He balanced excellent customer service all while protecting corporate interests. We knew that ID Tech hired skilled instructors, however, I was pleasantly surprised to learn they also put much effort into training their customer support staff as well. Without hesitation, I can say that ID Tech Summer Camps are the absolute best in customer service. We have loved this camp for content and quality, but we also learned that when something goes wrong they handle it. read more

I was having my daughter do an online coding camp due to social distancing. It was ok at the start and it went downhill. The homework they had assigned was really hard for her and I spent many hours helping her every day. At the end the teachers were barely helping her. She never really finished the coding class as on Friday. Her code had problems and the teachers did not help. I believe this was a waste of time; she was so frustrated at the end. I tried emailing them as well but they did nothing to help. I think this place has a bad teaching strategy and having a teacher not know how to help when there are problems is a problem. They were also just looking at there own script that they had for the next steps and they only follow that script even when you want to do something else. I do not recommend going to the camp. read more

My son has gone to the summer camps for the past four summers and has had a great time every year. He signs up with his friends and he says he likes how their lunches are really good and they have ample time for free play. For me as a parent it does seem a good balance between class projects and free play as he does seem to learn new perspectives in tech. read more

We enrolled our son in IJAM2V - Minecraft Modding with Java Coding in February 2020. It is not cheap but there was quite a bit of content planned. First of all the camp was cancelled as advertised and switched to online due to COVID. The partial refund provided was less than 1/3 of the total price - for what turned out to be 5 days of 2 hours of online 'camp'. Even though most of the content was not taught, it was marked as taught by the instructor. I work from home and every day my son explained to me that they had only covered one of 3 or 4 topics listed for the day. At the end of 'camp' the instructor invited the kids to reach out to her with any questions during the duration of summer. She said her e-mail was listed along with other details in the dashboard. Recently our son ran into a problem with one of the block code files and decided to ask the instructor why it was generating error messages. He e-mail was nowhere to be found so we reached out to the ID Tech Camps 'customer service' (what a misnomer!) and they replied that due to security reasons communicating with an instructor is not allowed but we could pay for a private lesson and the questions (about error in one of the files they provide!!!) can be answered. Greedy, rude people. Do not recommend them. read more

My 12 year old son has been going to ID Tech for the last two years and plans to go again this summer. Every year it is the highlight of his summer! The staff are very friendly and encouraging to kids of all ability levels. Any time we've had an issue or special request, the staff has been more than happy to accommodate and work with us. My son has gone from knowing nothing about video games (other then he loved playing them!) to creating several of his own. His skills have improved each year, and he has a total blast! It's not the cheapest camp in town, but you do get what you pay for here, and their scholarship programs are wonderful for anyone who needs a little extra help. read more

My kids attended Scratch and Minecraft camps during the summer of 2015. They learned nothing in the Scratch camp and they definitely improved their gaming skills in the Minecraft camp but they really didn't pick up any programming skills or concepts (just some cool commands to use in Minecraft). The cost was incredibly high so you'd think this would be an education camp but it was not for us and I was extremely disappointed at what they learned. Why 2 starts instead of 1? Because the kids still had fun and they enjoyed eating at the salad bar in the Stanford cafeteria. read more

This is part one of a two part review of ID Tech Camp's programming lab at Stanford. I felt compelled to write a review about Jason, an employee at headquarters. Jason was immensely helpful and patient on the phone as I worked through the right program and location for our 16-year-old. We live in Chicago and our son had attended a previous program at nearby Lake Forest College (wonderful!) This time we wanted Max to stretch his wings and be in a different environment. Jason was simply outstanding as he listened to a brief description of our son and narrowed in on Stanford. Jason is one of the best active listeners I've come into contact with. He went well beyond "good" customer service to anticipate my questions and help ease my concern about sending our first of four sons across the country on his own. I can't say enough terrific things about him. What an incredible ambassador for ID Tech Camps! read more

My 11 year old son attended the minecraft camp at Stanford. Major disconnect between content of course and what actually went on....we thought he would be creating mods and programming instead he was doing game design(!) - that probably would have been OK except that instead the kids were left playing the game for large chunks of time...the tool they used was not the best they could have been using- many of the kids were suggesting more functional, easier to use tools - my son was not the only kid under the impression that they would be programming - at least one other ( out of 8? ) thought they would be programming mods. In addition the counselors left the kids to their own devices a lot which mean't the kids were left playing minecraft for large chunks of the day. I talked with the camp director about moving him to the programming unit but was told it was full and that the java programming prerequisite meant that he would not be eligible anyway...they referred me to corporate...and that's were things got interesting...as it became clear that they were a well oiled 'no refund' scripted marketing machine. Talking to a 'rep' got the 'no refund but here is a credit towards a camp next year' spiel...which I declined - escalated to supervisor who was very well rehearsed in this process; the angle is that the error is unit selection on the part of the parent..my experience as a business person is that whenever a company has a complaints process structured that well, that means that there are a lot of them - which is never a good sign... this is not an organization focused on creating a good service with high customer satisfaction...it's a revenue maximization machine....proceed with caution... read more