15 Competitive AI Programs for High School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 3 hours ago
- 10 min read
Programs such as summer schools, research immersions, and pre-college initiatives are strong options if you want to explore your academic interests in greater depth during high school. These experiences introduce you to college-level academics and campus environments while helping you build research, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. They also offer access to mentors, faculty, and peers who can shape your academic direction and expand your network over time.
Why should I participate in a competitive AI program in high school?
If you are interested in artificial intelligence, structured programs can help you move beyond introductory concepts and engage with topics like machine learning, data science, and AI ethics in a more rigorous setting. You may work on projects, learn research methods, and develop technical and analytical skills that are not typically covered in standard coursework. Participating in a competitive program can also strengthen your college applications by demonstrating initiative, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to succeed in challenging academic environments.
To help you identify the strongest options, we have narrowed down a list of 15 competitive AI programs for high school students.
If you’re looking for online research internships, check out our blog here.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; financial assistance offered
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Multiple sessions, including summer, spring, fall, and winter cohorts, are scheduled each year
Application deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students; accepted students typically have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4.0
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students across a broad range of subject areas. The program pairs high school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not officially disclosed; estimated to be less than 5% (can vary by year)
Dates: June 20 – July 18
Application deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors who are at least 16 years old
Carnegie Mellon’s AI Scholars is a fully funded, merit-based program for rising high school seniors that focuses on building practical AI and computing skills through an intensive four-week experience. You will engage in college-level coursework, research projects, faculty-led lectures, and industry exposure, alongside structured college-preparation sessions covering admissions, financial aid, and student well-being. The program emphasizes project-based learning, allowing you to collaborate with peers on real-world challenges that culminate in a capstone symposium presentation, and to engage with industry professionals through tech site visits and mentorship. Set within a college campus environment, AI Scholars can offer you early exposure to academic, professional, and peer networks in technology.
Location: Various sites, including London, Singapore, Oxford, Sydney, Toronto, and Tokyo
Cost: Varies according to program; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Two weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: Multiple summer cohorts with rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school students ages 13–18.
The Academic Insights Program allows high school students to experience university life firsthand. You will live on campus and study in small groups of 7 to 10 students, and learn from tutors from top universities like Oxford and Cambridge. You can explore a wide range of subjects spanning 20+ options, including AI, business management, architecture, computer science, economics, medicine, and philosophy. The courses are experiential and focus on hands-on learning; so, you may conduct dissections in medicine, design a robotic arm in engineering, participate in a moot court for law, or build creative writing portfolios and business case studies. At 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.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: ~2.5% of applicants selected | 100 students per year
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost: None
Dates: June 28 – August 8
Application Deadline: December 10
Eligibility: High school juniors who meet the RSI academic prerequisites
MIT’s Research Science Institute is a six-week, cost-free program that combines STEM coursework with independent research. You will begin with a week of lectures covering topics across science, engineering, and math. The next five weeks are dedicated to individual research conducted under the supervision of experienced mentors. Projects may involve experimental work, theoretical modeling, or computational research, including AI-related investigation. You will produce a formal research paper and deliver an oral presentation at an academic conference. Field trips to science and tech facilities are part of the experience.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective | 12 students per year
Location: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
Cost/Stipend: $25 application fee | $750 stipend
Dates: June 21 – August 6
Application Deadline: February 16
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and at least 17 years old by the start date.
The Anson L. Clark Scholars Program at Texas Tech University is a seven-week residential research experience designed for a small group of high school juniors and seniors. You will work closely with a faculty mentor on an independent research project in a field of your choice, which can be computer science or AI-related domains. Daily work varies by discipline and may involve data analysis, lab research, or literature-based investigations. The program also includes weekly seminars, discussions, and field trips. You will submit a final written research report at the end of the program.
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; small cohort of ~30 students selected each year
Dates: July 9 – 30
Application deadline: April 9
Eligibility: Rising 11th-grade students who come from low-income backgrounds and live and attend high school in the U.S. or Puerto Rico
Princeton AI4ALL is a selective program for low-income rising 11th-grade students that focuses on building ethical awareness and practical understanding of artificial intelligence. The program combines faculty-led lectures, mentored research projects, field experiences, and career development activities to introduce you to both technical AI topics and their societal implications. You will engage with ongoing research in Princeton’s AI labs, collaborate on small-group projects centered on AI’s social impact, and receive mentorship from faculty, graduate students, and senior researchers. The curriculum also includes professional development workshops, community-building activities, and a structured field visit to Washington, DC, highlighting the intersection of AI, public policy, and governance, with students presenting their research findings at the conclusion of the program.
Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn/New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free; $1000 stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; exact rate not officially disclosed
Dates: June 1 – August 14
Application deadline: February 21; applications open on January 6
Eligibility: Rising juniors and seniors attending NYC schools are eligible to apply.
ARISE is a fully funded, 10-week summer research program that provides high school students with structured training and hands-on research experience in various STEM fields, including AI. The program begins with four weeks of preparation focused on lab safety, research methods, and college-level writing, followed by six weeks of mentored research placements in NYU laboratories, where you will contribute to active faculty-led projects. You will gain extensive lab experience, develop communication and professional skills, and present your work to the NYU community and at a public poster symposium hosted at the American Museum of Natural History. In addition to research exposure, the program offers college application support, access to an alumni network, opportunities for continued mentorship, and a $1,000 stipend upon successful completion.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: ~5%
Location: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Cost/Stipend: No tuition | $2,450 residential fee for students needing university housing | Stipends available
Dates: June 29 – August 7
Application Deadline: February 5
Eligibility: High school juniors who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and at least 16 years old when the program starts.
The Simons Summer Research Program is an on-campus STEM research program for high school students. It offers research opportunities across fields, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. During the program, you will join a Stony Brook University research team and engage in research while gaining experience in using laboratory techniques and tools. You will also attend faculty talks to learn about STEM fields and engage in workshops to refine your research skills. At the end of the summer program, you will submit and present a research abstract and poster.
Location: Virtual or in-person at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Cost: Virtual: $4,120 | Residential: $9,800; need-based financial aid is available.
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: Virtual: June 15 – 26 | In-Person: July 19 – 31
Application deadline: February 6
Eligibility: Current 9th-grade students
Stanford AI4ALL is designed to broaden access to the field of artificial intelligence and introduce you to the tech’s societal impact. You will learn alongside a diverse, global cohort through lectures, live demonstrations, team-based research projects, and career-focused workshops. Guided by researchers from the Stanford AI Lab and industry practitioners, you will explore advanced areas such as computer vision, medical AI, natural language processing, and robotics, while examining real-world applications in fields including healthcare, disaster response, and poverty alleviation. Through mentorship, research exposure, and guest lectures, you will build foundational knowledge and perspective to pursue future study and careers in STEM.
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Cost: $2000; need-based financial aid is available.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; selection based on academic record.
Dates: One week in the summer
Application deadline: Early Action: January 11; regular: March 1
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10 – 12
The MIT Jameel Clinic AI & Health Summer High School Bootcamp is a one-week program for high school students that introduces the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare. Grounded in MIT’s hands-on, interdisciplinary approach, the program combines daily instruction from faculty and researchers with collaborative group projects that culminate in a final evaluated presentation. You will receive focused exposure to core areas such as machine learning applications in health, clinical AI systems, and AI-driven drug discovery, alongside Python programming instruction tailored to different experience levels. On successfully completing the program, you will receive a certificate of completion signed by the instructors.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Application Fee: $45 | Program Participation Fee: $2,400; need-based financial aid is available.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 50 students/year
Dates: Session A: June 15 – 26 | Session B: July 6 – 17
Application deadline: February 20; applications open on December 15.
Eligibility: High school students over the age of 14
This two-week virtual summer research internship introduces high school students to artificial intelligence applications in medicine through a project-driven format. The program combines foundational and technical lectures with mentored research activities, collaborative group work, and structured interactions with Stanford student leads, researchers, and external experts from academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Emphasizing independent problem-solving, you will work on applied research projects in AI and medicine with limited guidance, developing both technical and research skills. On completing the full internship, you will receive a Certificate of Completion and an opportunity to continue engaging in AI–Healthcare research during the academic year.
Location: Wharton San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Cost: $8,959 + $100 non-refundable application fee; full and partial need-based scholarships are available.
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: July 5 – 17
Application deadline: Priority deadline: January 28; final deadline: March 18
Eligibility: High school students currently enrolled in grades 9 – 11; selection is based on a record of academic excellence and demonstrated interest in tech advancement and leadership.
Held at Wharton’s San Francisco campus, the AI Leadership program offers high school students a focused introduction to artificial intelligence as a transformative force in business and society. Over nine days, you will engage directly with AI and generative AI tools through faculty-led instruction, applied projects, and exposure to industry perspectives, including site visits within San Francisco’s technology ecosystem. The program emphasizes foundational AI concepts, real-world business applications, ethical considerations, and collaborative problem-solving, culminating in a capstone project that applies AI tools to a practical challenge. On successfully completing the program, you will receive a Wharton Global Youth Certificate of Completion.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Application Fee: $45 | Program Participation Fee: $2,000; need-based financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 50 students.
Dates: Session A: June 15 – 26 | Session B: July 6 – 17
Application deadline: February 20; applications open on December 15.
Eligibility: High school students over the age of 14
This virtual two-week bootcamp introduces high school students to the application of machine learning in healthcare through a curriculum designed for students with varying technical backgrounds. The program combines online learning modules, guided discussions, collaborative breakout sessions, and interactive activities, alongside expert-led sessions featuring professionals from academia, industry, government, and the nonprofit sector. You will examine core machine learning concepts, evaluation methods, practical challenges, and emerging areas such as foundation models and generative AI in healthcare. You will receive a Certificate of Completion upon completing the full program.
Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn/New York, NY
Cost: Tuition: $3,180 | Housing Fee: $654
Acceptance rate: Selective; acceptance rate not officially disclosed
Dates: Session 1: June 15 – 27 | Session 2: July 6 – 17 | Session 3: July 20 – 31
Application deadline: May 15; applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Eligibility: High school students over the age of 15 who have taken precalculus and have some programming experience
NYU Tandon’s Machine Learning summer program introduces high school students to the core computer science, data analysis, mathematical, and logical foundations underlying machine learning and artificial intelligence. The curriculum examines how machine learning principles are applied in areas such as image and video recognition, voice-controlled systems, autonomous vehicles, traffic optimization, and medical diagnostics. Through applied instruction, you will build an understanding of key machine learning concepts, learn the fundamentals of neural networks, and develop model evaluation and validation skills. You will also apply ML techniques to practical, real-world problems.
Location: Virtual, hybrid, or in-person at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
Cost: $25 application fee + $1,299 tuition; need-based waivers available
Acceptance rate: Selective; exact details not officially disclosed.
Dates: June 18 – August 12.
Application deadline: February 15.
Eligibility: High school students over the age of 15
ASSIP offers high school students the opportunity to participate in research while working with researchers from George Mason University and partner institutions. If selected, you will work closely with faculty researchers across disciplines, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, learning how to use advanced tools and technologies while contributing to active research projects. The program emphasizes the development of scientific writing, communication, and creative problem-solving skills, alongside structured exposure to STEM career pathways through discussions and interactions with researchers. On successfully completing the program, you will earn three college credits from George Mason University.
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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