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Meera Gupta, a fourth-year neuroscience student and Kaplan student advisor, leads an SAT prep cla

At a time when grade point averages exceeding 4.0 are no longer exceptional and UCLA admittees receive an average of 1333 on the SAT, many students are turning to formal SAT preparation courses and summer camps to maintain a competitive edge in the college admissions process.

Preparing for college entrance exams has become more of a necessity for incoming freshmen. The question has become how, rather than if, a student will choose to prepare for the SAT, said Dan McGrew, director of pre-college programs for Kaplan Test Prep.

“It is an important part of the admissions process and the average score is on the rise,” McGrew said.

Third-year microbiology student Jacob Song, a teacher at the Kaplan Test Prep Center in Westwood, said that many of his SAT prep pupils are looking to get into competitive schools such as the UCs.

“One of my former students is now a freshman at UCLA,” Song said.

Max Sherman, a Montclair Preparatory High School junior and Kaplan test prep participant, worries that a low SAT score could damage his chances of getting into his prospective schools: Richmond University, San Diego State, George Washington University and UC Santa Cruz.

“I don’t like standardized tests, and I’m afraid that my SAT scores could hurt my chances of getting into the college I want, even though I have a good GPA,” Sherman said.

Kaplan offers a range of options for high schoolers to utilize, ranging from books and online resources to private tutoring sessions and classroom-style SAT courses. But traditional courses are not enough for some students and concerned parents.

For students who want to take their application preparation one step further, companies like Education Unlimited provide a more intense option: college preparatory summer camps.

For $1,725 to $1,990, Education Unlimited offers 10-day college admission preparatory camps at UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Stanford and the University of San Diego.

Students who attend these camps take SAT classes, write their personal statements with a writing coach, and receive personal counseling about the application process.

In addition, the camps give students a chance to spend time at a campus they are interested in attending, according to Megan Sawyer, camp coordinator for Education Unlimited.

These summer camps have run for 10 seasons, and they attract 40 to 80 students each session.

“The camp is designed to provide a comprehensive look at the applications process,” Sawyer said.

“The camp is intense, but there is recreation in the evenings and a mid-week off-campus excursion.  For instance, the UCLA camp might go to Third Street.”

For some, these camps offer a way to bolster test scores while relieving some of the stress of the application process on parents and students.

“Parents are much more aggressive now about getting the college admissions process started early,” Education Unlimited division coordinator Byron Arthur said.

Sharon Roseme, a parent whose daughter attended an Education Unlimited camp at Stanford, said her daughter increased her SAT scores by 200 points, completed a draft of her personal statement, and enjoyed the experience.

However, not all students share their parents’ positive attitudes about the camps.

“It was all my mother’s idea,” said Sandy Tsang, who attended Education Unlimited’s College prep camp at Stanford and is now a student at UC Berkeley.

“It was just an expensive, almost useless thing ... they used the same techniques as the Princeton Review book,” Tsang said.

Tsang was unimpressed by the college counseling the camp offered, and ultimately ended up scrapping the essay she wrote there.

“I did get a feel for being on a college campus, but overall it was not that helpful,” Tsang said.

The high price, narrow focus and time investment these camps demand also make some skeptical about their value.

“Anything you can do to make your application stand out is to your benefit,” said Elena Turner, college counselor at El Camino Real High School. “But if you can afford (these camps) you should do something that will make your application stand out more, like going to Mongolia.”

While students and parents alike may be stressing over SAT scores, UCLA Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Relations Vu Tran said that the most competitive applicants have a well-rounded portfolio of honors and AP courses, GPA, test scores and extracurricular activities.

“I can guarantee that if you have high test scores but a low GPA, you will not be as competitive,” said Tran.