15 Camps for High School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 11 min read
If you’re a high school student, structured camps give you a chance to explore your interests while building new academic and creative skills. You have access to college-level academic training, can work closely with instructors, collaborate with peers, and learn in an environment designed to challenge you. Depending on the camp you choose, you might focus on subjects like engineering, creative writing, medicine, or architecture, gaining insight into areas you may want to explore further in college.
How are camps different from other high school programs?
While there are similarities with other programs for high school students that provide academic and extracurricular enrichment, camps typically focus on a single subject with greater specialization. They usually run for shorter periods and are frequently hosted by independent organizations or specific university departments. This format makes them ideal if you want to explore a new topic or strengthen your understanding of a familiar one in a focused, engaging setting.
In this blog, we’ve narrowed down a list of 15 camps for high school students, focusing on prestigious choices that offer advanced, hands-on training. We’ve made sure to include options across diverse subject areas from debate to nuclear engineering, providing a strong starting point for your search, irrespective of your interests or goals for the summer.
If you are interested in AI camps, check out our blog here.
15 Camps for High School Students
Location: Florida State University
Cost: $150/week
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 25 students
Dates: June 2-26 | Students may attend any or all of the four weeks offered
Application Deadline: TBA
Eligibility: Rising 9th to 12th grade students
The Florida State University’s iCamp, funded by the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program, trains high school students in computer science and technology. You’ll study IT, graphic design, computer science, and engineering, with a focus on how these fields can lead to successful careers. The camp focuses on hands-on work, so you’ll participate in projects including developing phone apps, creating online advertisements, and designing games using AI. You’ll also gain exposure to college life through touring the campus, working with FSU professors and students, and meeting advisors from the FSU Career Center to plan for your future.
Location: Remote , you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Cost: Varies depending on program type; full financial aid available
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort
Program Dates: Varies by cohort: summer, fall, winter, or spring; options range from 12 weeks to 1 year
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate a high level of academic achievement
Lumiere’s Research Scholar Program is a rigorous, one-on-one research program tailored to high school students looking to gain expertise in a specialized field with valuable work products to leverage in future work and college applications. You’ll select a research area from 12 main disciplinary options, with the ability to choose a preferred sub-field or create a customized course of study, and be paired with a Ph.D.-level mentor working in the field. Over the course of 12 weeks, you’ll pursue an in-depth study of your chosen discipline before developing a research project focused on your main area of interest. You’ll complete an independent research project under the guidance of your mentor, culminating in a final research paper that can be submitted to student journals and serve as a starting point for ongoing research. The topic area choices include economics, data science, engineering, psychology, and international relations, among others. You can find more details about the application here.
Location: UIUC Grainger College of Engineering, Urbana, IL
Cost: $1,000 (Residential) or $600 (Commuter); scholarships offered
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 25%-40%
Dates: June 22-28
Application Deadline: Late March; rolling admissions afterwards if space remains
Eligibility: 11th-12th grade | Geared towards underrepresented students in STEM, but all students are welcome to apply
UIUC’s College of Engineering hosts students for a week-long camp to explore the specialized field of NPRE — Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering — through hands-on work and on-site industry visits. You’ll study topics such as nuclear fusion and energy production, detecting and measuring radiation, and real-world applications of NPRE from medical research to homeland security. You’ll study under a UIUC professor, learning through lectures, group discussions, and simulating nuclear engineering through coding. You’ll also tour UIUC thermo-fluid dynamics labs, plasma manufacturing centers, and field trips to the Hybrid Illinois Device for Research and Applications and Constellation Clinton Power Station.
Location: Oxford, Cambridge, Singapore, Sydney, Toronto, and Boston
Cost: Varies; financial aid available
Application Deadline: Multiple summer cohorts with rolling admissions
Program Dates: 2 weeks during the summer
Eligibility: Students aged 13-18 currently enrolled in middle or high school
The Academic Insights Program provides high school students with an opportunity to take undergraduate-level classes at universities around the world. You will work with academics from universities like Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard in classes of 4-10 students. You will attend university-style lectures and 1:1 weekly sessions with your tutor. The program includes practical experiences such as dissections in medicine, robotic arm building in engineering, or moot courts for law. You can choose from over 20 subjects, including architecture, artificial intelligence, business management, and computer science, among others. By the end of the program, you will complete a personal project and receive written feedback and a certificate of completion. You can find more details about the application here.
Location: Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, and Remote
Cost: $1200; scholarships available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not provided; however, each project option supports 1-15 students, with most clustered at the low end of the range
Dates: June 8-21
Application Deadline: TBA
Eligibility: Rising 9th to 12th grade students
The STEM Research Academy is a dual in-person and remote camp for high school students. When you apply, you’ll select your preferred research options from a yearly project list and be paired with a professor based on your skills and interests. You’ll start the program with a week of conducting a remote literature review, gaining a comprehensive background in the research area. In the next two weeks, you’ll join your professor/mentor on campus to focus on intensive research work across experimentation, data collection, and analysis. You’ll return home to work remotely for the final week, designing an academic research poster and receiving guidance from your mentor to publish your personal research findings in a student journal.
Location: Penn State University, University Park, PA
Cost: $1,500 ($1,700 after April 30)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not provided
Dates: July 5-10
Application Deadline: TBA
Eligibility: High school students
Penn State’s Bellisario College of Communications hosts three camps for high school students each year, focused on project-based learning in Broadcast Journalism, Film Production, or Social Media and Content Creation. In the Broadcast Journalism Camp, you’ll study TV news and sports journalism, practicing skills in journalistic writing, researching, and compelling storytelling. In the Film Production Camp, you’ll learn about careers in screenwriting, directing, acting, and cinematography. In the Social Media and Content Creation Camp, you’ll analyze how strategic content development can boost engagement, marketing, and career development. Each camp culminates in a final project in your chosen medium: a complete broadcast-style news or sports story, a series of three short films, or a collection of social media content related to campus events and community life.
Location: Online or in-person at Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, PA; University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE; St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX
Cost: Depends on program; ranges from $600–$5,695; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 30–300 students, depending on the camp; 1:4/5 faculty to student ratio
Dates: July 13 – August 2 (LD Flagship) | June 29 – July 12 (LD Philadelphia & Austin; PF Philadelphia 1 & Austin) | July 13 – 26 (PF Philadelphia 2) | July 21 – August 1 (LD Online) | June 30 – July 11 (PF Online)
Application deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–12
High school students active in their school debate teams can hone their skills through the National Symposium for Debate’s Debate Camps, while also experiencing university life by living on a college campus. You’ll focus on your preferred event — NSD offers camps in both Public Forum (PF) and Lincoln-Douglas (LD) — in a small “lab” of students at a similar skill level. You’ll be coached by professional debate instructors and nationally ranked debaters, spending the day in a combination of case writing workshops, cross-examination practice, argumentation drills, and daily practice rounds. You’ll finish the camp by competing in a final tournament alongside your lab peers and other campers at a similar experience level.
Location: UIUC Grainger College of Engineering, Urbana, IL
Cost/Stipend: Residential: $1,000; Commuter: $650
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 25-40%
Dates: July 20-26
Application Deadline: Late March; rolling admissions afterwards if space remains
Eligibility: Grades 10-12 | Students from underrepresented groups are prioritized
The Grainger College of Engineering at UIUC hosts the City Designers and Builders Camp for high school students interested in civil engineering, environmental science, and sustainable infrastructure. You’ll study Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) under UIUC faculty in the field, focusing on areas including construction methods, applications of robotics to building, autonomous transportation, and hydraulics. You’ll additionally learn how climate change, air and water quality are impacting the field of CEE, and how smart structures, sustainable material selection, and environmental hydraulics can create a more sustainable future. You’ll participate in hands-on work, lab projects, and field trips to sites like energy farms and UIUC CEE facilities.
Location: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Cost: $3,750 (residential) | $750 (commuter)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not available
Dates: July 27 – August 4
Application deadline: Rolling enrollment
Eligibility: Middle and high school students who are at least 12 years old
High school students who compete in World Schools Debate can prepare for the upcoming season at Cornell’s week-long International Debate Camp. You’ll be mentored by debate coaches, advanced college debaters, and Cornell faculty in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Each day, you’ll attend workshops to learn argumentation skills, practice speeches and case writing, and complete drills in rhetoric and rebuttals. You’ll have the opportunity to attend office hours with coaches to ask questions one-on-one and receive additional guidance on the day’s topics. You’ll also supplement your study of debate skills by attending lectures in fields commonly addressed in debate topics across politics and social justice.
Location: The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ
Cost: $1,900
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not provided
Dates: July 20-25
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions beginning February 3
Eligibility: High schoolers ranking in the top 30% of their class with an interest in engineering and/or medicine | 1 year of high school-level math and science required
TCNJ hosts students interested in both medicine and biomedical engineering for a week-long camp focused on professional development and hands-on work. You’ll complete projects including lab experiments and device design in TCNJ’s biomedical engineering facilities, with a focus on drug delivery, medical devices, and neural engineering. The activities and focus areas include building an ECG monitor, studying kidney diffusion, neuro-prosthetic design, and analyzing the mechanical properties of blood flow. In the evenings, you’ll network with biomedical engineering professionals working in medical device design, learning about industry applications of your study and future career paths. At the end of the program, you’ll present the outcomes of your design projects to the rest of the cohort and TCNJ biomedical engineering faculty.
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA, or Online
Cost: $2,000 (in-person) or $1,500 (online); financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 24 students
Dates: June 15-26 (in-person) or July 6-17 (online)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions ending May 31
Eligibility: Rising 9th-12th grade students | Students must be familiar with basic algebra and set theory
Taught by Stanford Computer Science professor Michael Genesereth, who authored the primary Introduction to Logic undergraduate textbook, the Stanford Intrologic Summer Camp provides a comprehensive training in college-level formal logic. You’ll study topics across propositional logic and analysis, direct and natural deduction, relational analysis, and functional proofs through a combination of lectures, projects, discussions, and logic exercises. You’ll learn how formal logic methods can be applied in fields across computer science, math, social sciences, philosophy, and law to strengthen problem-solving skills and writing structured proofs. The course material covers topics and questions in the International Logic Olympiad, allowing you to simultaneously prepare for the competition.
Location: Penn State University, University Park, PA
Cost: $1,100
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not selective
Dates: July 19-23
Application Deadline: Registration deadline is June 16
Eligibility: Rising 9th-12th graders and rising undergraduate freshmen
The Architecture and Landscape Architecture Summer Camp for high school students provides an on-campus learning experience at Penn State University to study architectural design and structure through coursework and project-based learning. You’ll study under faculty members of the Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, following an accelerated curriculum beginning with an introduction to architecture and physical modeling, to complex abstract spatial conditions. You’ll work on a design project through both hand-drawing and physical modeling, which culminates in a final exhibition and presentation of your project and design process. You’ll also visit active architectural project sites, tour the campus, and work in Stuckeman studio facilities.
Location: UMD Philip Merrill College of Journalism, College Park, MD
Cost: $125
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not provided
Dates: July 7-11
Application Deadline: Rolling; registration opens in March
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9-12
The University of Maryland hosts a unique camp for high school students in Sports Journalism, providing academic training, career preparation, and opportunities to learn from multiple industry professionals. You’ll study journalistic writing and reporting skills, play-by-play sports broadcasting, social media management for athletic teams, and eSports production through a combination of lectures and workshops. To discuss paths in Sports Journalism at the college level, you’ll additionally attend a campus tour and college application workshop with UMD’s undergraduate recruitment coordinator. You’ll hear from sports journalism professionals each day, including the Washington Commanders’ social media manager, sports journalists from The Washington Post, ESPN producers, and more.
Location: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Cost: $100
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not selective
Dates: June 9-13
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions ending May 1
Eligibility: Grades 11-12
Florida State University’s Entrepreneurship Summer Camp gives high school students an industry-focused academic experience in entrepreneurship and startup development. You’ll learn skills in launching a business of your own, from creating a novel business idea, building a team of co-founders, developing strategic pitches, and evaluating viable business models. You’ll work alongside a group of peers under the guidance of FSU Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship professors to create a startup idea and deliver a venture pitch at the end of the camp. You’ll also attend guest lectures from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, attend field trips in the area, and meet with a different restaurant owner at lunch each day (while enjoying their food).
Location: Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, MI
Cost: $2,050 (1 week), $7,265 (3 weeks), or $10,350 (6 weeks); financial aid offered
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very competitive
Dates: One, three, and six-week camps are offered in June - August
Application Deadline: January 15
Eligibility: Grades 9-12 | Advanced skills in your intended study area are expected; applications have rigorous portfolio requirements
The Interlochen Arts Camp is one of the best-known summer camps for students with a high level of achievement in visual and performing arts, music, and creative writing. You’ll apply to your preferred specialization — multiple options are available in each focus area — and pursue advanced study under professional instructors, artists, and performers in the field. Music students can focus on their primary instrument or group-based performance styles like the Advanced String Quartet; acting students can study repertory acting to produce and perform a full-length play in Acting Company Production; Creative Writing students can hone in on two preferred genres across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program in which students work one-on-one with a mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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