Free Summer Programs for High School Students
Updated: 6 days ago
TL;DR
This list covers 32 verified free summer programs across STEM research, medicine and health, and leadership, media and the humanities. Most cover tuition, housing and meals in full, though a few carry application or enrollment fees that no waiver touches, and more than a dozen pay a stipend ranging from $700 a week at the Smithsonian to $3,600 at the Broad Institute. The bigger filter is geography: more than half restrict eligibility by city, county, school district or partner network. Deadlines cluster between October and February for the following summer. If you would rather build a mentored research project than just attend a program, Lumiere's Research Scholar Program is worth a look.
Free summer programs give high school students a way to explore research, medicine, leadership, and the arts at some of the country's most recognized institutions without the tuition price tag that comes with most pre-college programs. The list below covers 32 verified programs, organized into three areas: STEM and engineering research, medicine and health research, and leadership, media, and the humanities.
Are free summer programs actually free?
Mostly, but not always. Of the 32 programs on this list, most cover tuition, housing and meals, but a few charge additional fees that are not covered.
You might have to pay application fees: Numerous free programs have application fees that cannot be waived, or might be waived depending on financial need. The Research Science Institute is free once you are in, but it charges a non-refundable $75 to apply, and notes that waivers may be available to students with demonstrated financial need. Stanford's SHTEM internship charges $95 and does not waive it. Stanford SIMR charges $50 and waives it for households under $80,000.
Charges in addition to tuition might not be covered: Commuter programs including Stanford SIMR, Rockefeller's SSRP and Princeton's Laboratory Learning Program provide no housing at all. At these programs, you’ll have to cover your travel and accommodation.
Some programs offer a stipend: There are a few programs that do not charge anything and offer a stipend. The Broad Summer Scholars Program pays $3,600, the Smithsonian's Natural History internship pays $700 a week, and DukeREP pays between $2,000 and $4,000.
How to apply to free summer programs
Deadlines and eligibility restrictions are typically the most important factors.
Work backwards from the deadline: Start shortlisting programs and preparing your application in the fall itself. The Research Science Institute closes in December for the following summer. Telluride's TASS closes in December, and Rockefeller's SSRP closes in January.
Check citizenship, age and GPA: Look at the eligibility to figure what programs you can apply for. LLRISE takes US citizens only and does not accept permanent residents. Both MD Anderson programs require you to be 18 by the first day. NASA's Office of STEM Engagement requires US citizenship, a 3.0 GPA and a minimum age of 16.
Line up recommenders early: Your recommenders can take time to write the letter and send it over and it’s crucial they do so before the deadline. DukeREP asks for recommendation letters by February. Yale's Discovery to Cure needs a school nomination in mid-February before you can apply at all.
Do free summer programs help with college applications?
Yes, especially when you have a solid output by the end of the program.
Selectivity is more important than a famous name: Admissions readers value programs that are known to admit highly qualified students. A program that admits a limited number looks better than an open-enrollment week, even if it’s at a famous university. It’s helpful to get an idea of what admissions officers look for as you prepare for college admissions.
Focus on the output of the program: A research paper, a poster, a published byline or a working prototype gives you something to write about in an essay and something specific to list in an activities section. Per our own admissions report, students that finished our program and had a full research paper were 4x more likely to be admitted to a top university than the typical applicant.
A supervising mentor becomes a credible recommender: Mentors at your program can talk about your academic skills, research acumen, and performance at the program in great detail. Programs that pair you with a mentor can help you have a valuable recommender for your applications.
How we selected these programs
We checked every program on this list against four criteria before including it.
Verified cost, including all fees: We checked official program pages for application fees, enrollment fees, and what a stipend actually covers.
Eligibility requirements: We checked grade level, age, citizenship and geographic restrictions for each program, since these shift between cycles.
Current dates and deadlines: We used the most recently published cycle for each program.
A substantive output or placement: We favored programs where you finish with research, a portfolio, published work or a lab placement over programs that end in just a certificate of attendance.
Section | Top programs | Cost | Best for |
STEM, engineering & technology research | Free (a few non-waivable fees, e.g. $95 SHTEM application) | Students who want free, highly selective lab research or engineering placements at top universities and national labs | |
Medicine & health research | Stanford SIMR, Johns Hopkins JHIBS, NIH SIP, Broad Summer Scholars, Duke DUNE | Free (several pay a stipend, e.g. $3,600 at Broad, $700/week at Smithsonian) | Students pursuing biomedical, clinical, or health research, including several stipended options |
Leadership, media & the humanities | Telluride TASS, Princeton Summer Journalism Program, USC Bovard Scholar, JCamp (AAJA), CLARIFY | Free (Notre Dame's Leadership Seminars charges a non-waivable $225 in fees) | Students interested in journalism, civic leadership, or college-access programs paired with counseling support |
STEM, Engineering & Technology Research
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free; $75 application fee (fee waivers available for financial need)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: ~100 students selected annually; roughly 2-3% acceptance rate against 3,000+ applicants
Dates: Six weeks, late June through early August; most recently confirmed June 28 - August 8, 2026. 2027 dates not yet published.
Application deadline: Applications typically open in November and close in mid-December (2026 cycle deadline was December 10, 2025)
Eligibility: Current high school juniors only (rising seniors not eligible); must turn 16 by July 1; US and international students welcome
RSI combines a week of intensive STEM coursework with a five-week mentored research internship in an MIT lab, run jointly by MIT and the Center for Excellence in Education since 1984. It's widely regarded as the single most prestigious STEM research program open to high schoolers, and it's entirely free even though it's also one of the hardest to get into.
Who it's best for: A junior with strong STEM credentials already who wants the single most competitive research credential available, and is comfortable with a roughly 1-in-40 admit rate.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost/Stipend: Fully funded; free of cost beyond travel to and from Pittsburgh
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; recent cohorts have run around 100-130 students
Dates: Six weeks, mid-June through early August, preceded by a required virtual "Jumpstart"; most recently confirmed June 20 - August 1, 2026
Application deadline: February 1 (fixed admissions decisions released mid-April)
Eligibility: Current high school juniors, US citizens/permanent residents, 16+ by program start; targeted at students underrepresented in STEM
SAMS pairs math, science, and a faculty-mentored research project with a credit-bearing "Student to Scholar" college-transition course. No option exists to pay out of pocket; every accepted student's tuition, housing, and meals are covered, with financial documentation required rather than optional.
Who it's best for: A rising senior who wants a fully-funded residential STEM experience with built-in college-application support, not just lab time.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free (no tuition or fees)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; exact rate not published
Dates: Three-week, full-day program, typically mid-to-late July; specific 2027 dates not yet posted
Application deadline: Opens February 1; early admission deadline in March, final deadline in April
Eligibility: NYC-area residents (five boroughs plus nearby cities like Jersey City, Newark, Hempstead) in grades 9-12; no prior coding/cybersecurity experience required
CS4CS was created to broaden participation in cybersecurity, historically underrepresented by women and minorities in the field, and covers digital forensics, cryptography, and ethical hacking. The program is funded by a partnership with DTCC (The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation), which is what keeps it tuition-free.
Who it's best for: An NYC-area student with zero cybersecurity background who wants a genuine on-ramp into the field without needing to already know how to code.
Location: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free (tuition, housing, and meals covered; students pay only for their own transportation to MIT)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; MIT does not publish an exact rate
Dates: Six weeks, late June through early August; recent cycles have run late June-early August
Application deadline: Applications typically open in the fall for the following summer
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors, with a focus on students from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds; US-based
Formerly known as the Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science, MITES is run by MIT's Office of Engineering Outreach Programs and has a 50-year track record, with many alumni going on to attend MIT itself. Students live on campus, take faculty-taught coursework, and work alongside a strong alumni network that persists well beyond the program.
Who it's best for: A rising senior from an underserved background who wants the credibility of an MIT-run residential program at zero cost.
Location: Virtual (school year) + NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (residential component for top performers)
Cost/Stipend: Free; residential component (lodging, meals, transportation) fully covered for those invited
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open online course; only top-performing teams from the virtual "Moonshot" phase (roughly 50 of several hundred) are invited on-site
Dates: Year-long: online course starts in fall, virtual Moonshot challenge in early summer, on-site residential experience in summer; most recently confirmed 2025-2026 cycle running through summer 2026
Application deadline: Applications for the 2025-2026 cycle closed September 27, 2025; next cycle opens similarly in fall
Eligibility: Texas high school juniors only; US citizens
Note this program was recently renamed from "High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS)" to "Texas Aerospace Scholars (TAS)"; same NASA/Johnson Space Center program, new name. It's a genuine year-long commitment, not a single summer session: an online course, then a competitive virtual challenge, with the coveted on-site trip reserved for standout teams.
Who it's best for: A Texas junior willing to commit to a full academic year (not just a summer) for a shot at an in-person NASA facility visit.
Location: Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free; local NYC transit costs covered, need-based stipends available for other travel
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 32 students/year, roughly 3-4% acceptance rateDates: Seven weeks, late June through mid-August; most recently confirmed June 22 - August 2026
Application deadline: Opens mid-October, closes January 2
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors, 16+ by program start; no geographic restriction, though the program recommends Tri-State (NY/NJ/CT) ties since housing isn't provided
Students join a small research team (4 teams of 8-10) mentored by scientists from Rockefeller, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Weill Cornell Medicine, working in dedicated RockEDU labs. It's commuter-only; there's no housing support, so it's most realistic for students who can arrange their own NYC-area accommodation.
Who it's best for: A junior or senior who can commute to or stay in NYC and wants Ivy-adjacent biomedical research prestige without any program cost.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; exact rate not published
Dates: Three weeks, mid-to-late July; most recently confirmed July 2026
Application deadline: Applications typically due by May 1
Eligibility: High school students in 9th-11th grade at time of application; open to US and international students; preference to rising juniors/seniors and first-generation/underrepresented students, but open to students of all genders
Hosted by Stanford's Physics Department and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, SPINWIP covers quantum physics, astrophysics, and cosmology while teaching Python. No prior physics or coding knowledge is required, making it one of the more accessible entry points into advanced physics topics on this list.
Who it's best for: A 9th-11th grader anywhere in the world with zero physics/coding background who wants a genuine (not watered-down) introduction to cutting-edge physics research.
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Cost/Stipend: Free (no tuition; housing and transportation not provided)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 3,000+ applications annually for a limited number of placements, estimated under 5% acceptance
Dates: 5-6 weeks over the summer, scheduled around individual faculty projects
Application deadline: Opens mid-February, closes mid-March
Eligibility: Local NJ high school students only (must live and attend a local NJ high school), 16+ by mid-June; recent graduates who haven't yet turned 18 may also apply
This is a genuine research placement, not a summer-camp-style program; students are embedded directly in ongoing Princeton faculty research and closely supervised, with no academic credit or letter grade attached. It's explicitly a local community outreach program, not a national residential one: there's no housing, and students are expected to commute from the surrounding area.
Who it's best for: A local New Jersey student who can commute to Princeton and wants to contribute to a real, ongoing lab project rather than a specially-designed student curriculum.
Location: JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MDCost/Stipend: Unpaid (no cost to participate)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Under 10% (per official APL statement); ~15-20% per one third-party estimate
Dates: Intensive summer session begins last week of June; optional academic-year continuation available
Application deadline: Opens January 1; this is the only application window for the calendar year
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors residing in Maryland; on-site required except Calvert/Charles County students, who are virtual-only
ASPIRE pairs students with individual APL staff mentors on real technical projects rather than a fixed curriculum, requiring 30-40 hours/week on-site all summer. The selection process explicitly does not prioritize the highest GPA or most STEM experience; APL states it's looking for persistence and creative thinking over polished resumes.
Who it's best for: A Maryland junior or senior who wants genuine, unstructured project ownership at a national lab and isn't put off by an unpaid, full-time summer commitment.
Location: Microsoft campuses in Atlanta, GA or Redmond, WA
Cost/Stipend: Paid, $18-20/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; exact rate not published
Dates: Four consecutive weeks, early July through early August; most recently confirmed July 7 - August 1, 2025
Application deadline: Tentatively February-March
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors only (rising college freshmen) who live and attend school within 50 miles of Redmond, WA, or within specific Atlanta-area school districts (APS, DeKalb, Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton, Douglas counties); must have completed pre-calculus or equivalent
This is a genuine paid corporate internship rather than an academic enrichment program; students work on real Microsoft product teams exploring software engineering, product management, and UX design. Eligibility is restricted to graduating seniors already accepted to a bachelor's program, which makes this the narrowest-audience entry on this list; it's really a bridge program into college, not a mid-high-school opportunity.
Who it's best for: A graduating senior in the Atlanta or Seattle metro area headed to a four-year program who wants paid, resume-building tech experience before starting college.
Location: Meta headquarters, Menlo Park, CA
Cost/Stipend: Paid (per Meta's public program description; exact rate not confirmed via direct fetch)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; exact rate not published
Dates: Six weeks, mid-June through late July; most recently confirmed June 16 - July 25, 2025
Application deadline: Not consistently published; check Meta's careers site directly each cycle
Eligibility: Restricted to current high school sophomores who are full-time residents of specific Bay Area communities (East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, North Fair Oaks, Redwood City); minimum 2.0 GPA; no prior tech experience required
Meta Summer Academy is a hyper-local outreach program, not a nationally-open one; eligibility is limited to a handful of named Bay Area communities near Meta's headquarters. This is one of the narrowest eligibility windows on this list geographically, worth flagging clearly so readers don't apply expecting a national program.
Who it's best for: A 10th grader who specifically lives in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, North Fair Oaks, or Redwood City and wants early, paid tech exposure at a major company.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: Various NASA centers nationwide, or virtual
Cost/Stipend: Paid; stipend varies by NASA center and session length (stipends can begin around $8,200 for a full session, prorated for shorter placements)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; NASA receives 16,000+ applications across all OSTEM programs each cycle
Dates: Three sessions per year (spring, summer, fall); summer session runs roughly June-August
Application deadline: Rolling by session; Spring 2027 deadline September 14, 2026; Summer 2027 deadline February 26, 2027
Eligibility: US citizens, grades 9-12, minimum 3.0 GPA, at least 16 years old
NASA's Office of STEM Engagement runs the umbrella internship program spanning space science, aerospace engineering, AI, and robotics at NASA centers across the country. Interns are paid federal placements, not volunteer positions; this is one of the only entries on this list where high schoolers work directly within a federal agency.
Who it's best for: A STEM-strong 9th-12th grader anywhere in the US who wants a paid, resume-defining federal internship and is prepared for a genuinely competitive national applicant pool.
Location: MIT campus and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA (residential)
Cost/Stipend: Free; students pay only for their own transportation to MIT
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; exact rate not published
Dates: Two weeks, mid-to-late July; most recently confirmed July 12-25, 2026
Application deadline: Applications typically open January 8, close mid-March
Eligibility: US citizens only (permanent residents not eligible); rising high school seniors (current juniors)
LLRISE has students build their own small Doppler and range radar systems from scratch under the guidance of Lincoln Laboratory scientists and engineers; a genuinely hands-on hardware program rather than a lecture-and-lab-tour experience. US citizenship is a hard requirement with no exceptions, including for permanent residents, which is stricter than most other entries here.
Who it's best for: A US-citizen junior with an interest in RF/radar engineering who wants to physically build working hardware, not just study theory.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Medicine & Health Research
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA (commuter; students must arrange own housing)
Cost/Stipend: $50 application fee (waivable for household income under $80,000); free once selected; limited need-based stipends available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: ~50 students accepted annually; highly selective
Dates: Eight weeks, June through late July; most recently confirmed June 8 - July 30, 2026
Application deadline: February 21
Eligibility: Current high school juniors or seniors, 16+ by start; US citizens/permanent residents; strong preference for Bay Area students who can arrange local housing
Students spend eight weeks embedded in a Stanford biomedical research lab across immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology, and other tracks, mentored by graduate students and postdocs. Stanford is explicit that non-Bay Area applicants are disadvantaged in selection because the program provides no housing, so this is realistically strongest for students with a family connection to the Bay Area.
Who it's best for: A junior or senior with Bay Area housing already arranged who wants biomedical lab research at one of the most recognized names in the field.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD (in-person) or virtual
Cost/Stipend: Free; in-person interns receive an hourly stipend plus transportation support, virtual interns receive a $500 honorarium
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; in-person cohort typically 5-6 students, virtual cohort larger
Dates: In-person: 8 weeks, late June through mid-August (most recently confirmed June 26 - August 14 in a recent cycle); virtual: shorter, roughly 5 weeks
Application deadline: Rolling/annual; check projectpipelinebaltimore.com for current-cycle dates
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors; in-person track prioritizes Baltimore-area students from underrepresented backgrounds; virtual track open more broadly
JHIBS (part of "Project Pipeline Baltimore") pairs students with Johns Hopkins neurology faculty for genuine lab research in brain and mental health science, with a virtual option for students who can't commute to Baltimore. The in-person and virtual tracks have meaningfully different lengths and stipend structures, so applicants should confirm which track they're applying to before assuming program details.
Who it's best for: A Baltimore-area student from an underrepresented background who wants paid neuroscience lab experience, or any student willing to take the shorter virtual track.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: NIH campuses, primarily Bethesda, MD, plus other NIH sites nationwide
Cost/Stipend: Paid/stipended
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; roughly 1,200 of 7,000+ applicants selected across all SIP levels, only about 200 of those are high schoolers
Dates: Minimum eight weeks, typically May/June through August
Application deadline: Rolling; electronic deadline mid-February for a given cycle
Eligibility: Narrowed in recent years; the dedicated High School SIP (HS-SIP) was discontinued and folded into general SIP, so only graduating high school seniors turning 18 by the program start now qualify; current juniors and underclassmen are no longer eligible
NIH's flagship Summer Internship Program places students directly in NIH labs working alongside leading biomedical researchers. This is a significant staleness catch worth being explicit about: many older sources still describe a broader "high school program," but the dedicated high-school track has been discontinued; only graduating seniors (effectively equivalent to incoming college freshmen) can now apply.
Who it's best for: A graduating high school senior, not an underclassman, who wants access to NIH's main campus research environment before starting college.
Location: Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL
Cost/Stipend: No fee mentioned on the official program page; free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; exact rate not published
Dates: Runs June through December, per the official 2026 program page (June 2 - December 3, 2026), with a mandatory June orientation
Application deadline: Application window November 1 - December 31
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors enrolled at a school in Duval or St. Johns County, Florida, for the upcoming academic year
SPARK places students in Mayo Clinic Florida research labs across biochemistry, cancer biology, neuroscience, and other tracks for a minimum of 25 hours/week, continuing into the school year after the summer ends. This is a strictly local program; eligibility is limited to two specific Florida counties, not statewide or national.
Who it's best for: A junior or senior enrolled in a Duval or St. Johns County, FL school who wants sustained (not just summer-only) mentored research at a top medical center.
Location: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free; $3,600 stipend plus partial transportation reimbursement
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; fewer than 20 students accepted annually
Dates: Six weeks over the summer, exact dates vary by year
Application deadline: Not consistently published; students apply during their junior year
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors attending a high school in Massachusetts within commuting distance of the Broad Institute; B or better in science and math; US citizens, permanent residents, or DACA recipients
BSSP pairs students with Broad Institute scientists on genomics-adjacent research in cancer biology, psychiatric disease, and infectious disease. The $3,600 stipend is specifically designed to widen access for students who couldn't otherwise afford to give up a summer job, and the program explicitly encourages students with limited prior STEM exposure to apply.
Who it's best for: A Massachusetts rising senior within commuting distance of Cambridge who has a B-or-better in science/math but not necessarily prior lab experience.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: NIH main campus, Bethesda, MD
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published; targeted specifically at high schools with large low-income populations
Dates: Five weeks, full-time, over the summer
Application deadline: Check training.nih.gov for current-cycle dates; historically opens in the winter
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors from schools with a large population of financially-disadvantaged students; commuting distance of Bethesda, MD (DC/MD/VA area)
HiSTEP focuses on career exploration and skill-building; leadership, professional development, and STEM-M career pathways; rather than an independent research project, distinguishing it from HiSTEP 2.0 (a separate, more research-intensive follow-on program for HiSTEP alumni and seniors). This is explicitly a pipeline program, not a hands-on lab placement, so set expectations accordingly for readers.
Who it's best for: A DC/MD/VA-area sophomore, junior, or senior from a lower-income school who wants a structured introduction to biomedical career pathways, not necessarily hands-on lab work.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Cost/Stipend: No cost mentioned; free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; exact rate not published
Dates: 8-10 weeks, starting late May; most recently confirmed June 2 - August 8
Application deadline: January 14
Eligibility: High school students eligible only if 18 or older by the first day of the program; effectively graduating seniors; college and medical students also eligible
DACCPM (Division of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Medicine) places students in clinical and lab research on topics like opioid pain management and perioperative immune function, culminating in a poster presentation and a published abstract in the CATALYST Summer Program book. This restricts to 18+ high schoolers specifically, which in practice means graduating seniors rather than juniors.
Who it's best for: A graduating senior turning 18 by early summer who wants clinical/lab research experience at a top cancer center before starting college.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: Rice University, Houston, TX
Cost/Stipend: Free (free tuition and parking)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published
Dates: Three weeks over the summer
Application deadline: Applications typically close in early April
Eligibility: Current 10th and 11th grade students, Houston area residents
Made possible by the PATHS-UP (Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for Underserved Populations) research initiative, students work hands-on with medical devices like pulse oximeters and accelerometers, building an introductory wearable-health prototype. Explicitly designed to break down financial barriers for underserved Houston students, this is one of the more accessible medical-tech entries on the list.
Who it's best for: A Houston-area 10th or 11th grader interested in the intersection of engineering and healthcare, with no prior device-building experience required.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Cost/Stipend: Paid (per third-party corroboration, roughly $680/week; official page does not itemize stipend)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; only 10 students accepted annually
Dates: 8-10 weeks, starting late May
Application deadline: Check mdanderson.org for current-cycle deadline
Eligibility: Current senior students only, must be 18 or older by the first day of the program; Texas public, private, charter, or home high school; interest in Allied Health
This places a small cohort directly in MD Anderson biomedical research labs under a full-time faculty mentor, emphasizing foundational research principles over a single narrow project. Like the DACCPM program above (a separate MD Anderson offering), eligibility is restricted to graduating seniors who are already 18; this program is not open to juniors or younger seniors.
Who it's best for: A Texas graduating senior, 18 by the program start, interested specifically in Allied Health career pathways rather than physician-track medicine.
Location: Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid per the official program page; one third-party source cites a $2,400 completion stipend; confirm current terms directly
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; only 10-12 students accepted per year, from 250+ applicants
Dates: Six weeks, June through mid-July; most recently confirmed running through July 17-19
Application deadline: Check winshipcancer.emory.edu for current-cycle dates
Eligibility: Rising or graduating high school seniors only, 16+ by program start; juniors are not eligible
Students are paired one-on-one with a Winship physician or lab researcher on an active cancer research project spanning basic, translational, and clinical science, alongside field trips to the CDC and Emory's Proton Therapy Center. This program has run continuously since 2001, giving it one of the longer track records on this list, and admits only seniors.
Who it's best for: A rising or graduating senior specifically interested in oncology research who wants one-on-one physician mentorship rather than a broader lab-team placement.
Location: Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; under 12% acceptance rate
Dates: Six to eight weeks, late June through early August
Application deadline: Check medicine.yale.edu/obgyn/discovery for current-cycle dates; nomination-based, typically due mid-February
Eligibility: Nomination-only; a school representative must nominate the student (each school may nominate up to two); currently open primarily to Connecticut high school juniors, 16+; program has drawn nationally/internationally in past years but recent cycles have prioritized CT students
Founded in 2003 by Dr. Gil Mor, DTC places students directly in Yale biomedical labs studying reproductive science, oncology, and related fields, working alongside a Principal Investigator. Important to note: this program is distinct from Wayne State University's separate "Discovery to Cure" program (founded later by the same researcher after his move to Michigan); both are legitimate but separate.
Who it's best for: A Connecticut junior whose school will nominate them, who wants hands-on lab research at a Yale-affiliated medical school.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Leadership, Media & the Humanities
Location: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and University of Maryland, College Park, MD (locations rotate by year)
Cost/Stipend: Free; tuition, housing, meals, books, and most travel costs covered; additional financial aid available to replace lost summer-job income
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; exact rate not published
Dates: Six weeks, late June through late July; most recently confirmed June 21 - July 25, 2026
Application deadline: Opens October 15, closes December 3
Eligibility: High school sophomores and juniors, age 15-17 at program dates; open to US and international students; applicants choose one of two tracks: TASS-CBS (Critical Black Studies) or TASS-AOS (Anti-Oppressive Studies)
TASS is a fully-funded humanities and social-science seminar built around "democratic community" living; students take a daily college-level seminar while also making collective decisions about community activities and budget. The program covers essentially all costs, including replacing income a student would have earned at a summer job, which is an unusually deep level of financial support.
Who it's best for: A sophomore or junior anywhere in the world drawn to humanities/social-science discussion (not STEM) who needs the summer to be genuinely cost-neutral, including lost work income.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (hybrid: virtual workshops + 10-day residential)
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; up to 40 students admitted annually
Dates: Multi-week hybrid intensive: virtual workshops in June/July, culminating in a 10-day residential session in late July/early August
Application deadline: Opens by Thanksgiving, closes in January
Eligibility: High school juniors from limited-income backgrounds
PSJP pairs a summer journalism intensive with a full year of one-on-one college counseling through senior year; students report on real stories, publish in the Princeton Summer Journal, and get an assigned college adviser who helps with the entire admissions process. The year-long counseling component distinguishes this from most other journalism programs on this list; it's really a college-access program built around journalism, not just a journalism camp.
Who it's best for: A limited-income junior interested in journalism who wants a full year of individualized college-application support alongside the summer program itself.
Deep dive: Our full review of this program
Location: USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles, CA
Cost/Stipend: Free (funded by Annenberg parents and alumni); daily breakfast/lunch and transportation support included
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 26 students annually
Dates: Three to four weeks (length has varied by cycle), typically starting late June/early July
Application deadline: April 19
Eligibility: High school students (ages 14-18) who reside and attend high school in specific communities surrounding USC; Boyle Heights, Compton, Crenshaw, East LA, and roughly a dozen other named neighborhoods
AYA exposes students to first-year college-level coursework in communication, journalism, and public relations, with a heavy emphasis on college advising and essay preparation from USC's admissions team. Eligibility is neighborhood-specific, not citywide LA; a student must live in one of the named surrounding communities, which is worth stating precisely since "USC-area" could otherwise be misread as all of Los Angeles.
Who it's best for: A 14-18 year-old specifically from one of AYA's named LA neighborhoods (not LA broadly) who's interested in media/communications careers.
Location: USC campus, Los Angeles, CA (three-week residential intensive) + year-long remote mentoring
Cost/Stipend: Free; USC covers transportation for students from outside Southern California
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; roughly 50 students per cohort
Dates: Three-week summer intensive, typically mid-July through early August; continues with year-long admissions coaching through senior year
Application deadline: Mid-January
Eligibility: High-achieving, financially disadvantaged high school juniors nationwide
Bovard Scholars addresses "undermatching" (the tendency of strong, low-income students to avoid applying to selective colleges) by combining a three-week USC campus intensive with a full year of individualized college and financial-aid coaching. This is a college-access program first, not a subject-specific academic program: there's no research component; the entire structure is built around admissions and financial-aid navigation.
Who it's best for: A high-achieving, low-income junior anywhere in the US who wants intensive help navigating selective-college admissions and financial aid, not subject-matter research.
Location: Oxford College of Emory University, Oxford, GA (residential)
Cost/Stipend: Free (no cost mentioned; local community outreach program)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 60 students annually (30 each from two partner counties)
Dates: One week, typically mid-to-late July
Application deadline: Check oxford.emory.edu for current-cycle dates
Eligibility: Rising sophomores and juniors from Newton County School System and Putnam County Charter School System, GA (and, in some years, Hall County's Ivester Early College Academy)
Students live on campus for a week, sample college-level courses taught by Oxford faculty, and get an introduction to campus life and college readiness. This is unambiguously a hyper-local outreach program, not a national one; eligibility is restricted to two or three named Georgia county school systems. Important distinction: this is separate from Emory's paid "Summer Ox-perience Pre-College Program," a different offering open more broadly at real tuition cost; don't conflate the two in final copy.
Who it's best for: A rising sophomore or junior specifically enrolled in Newton County, Putnam County, or (some years) Hall County GA schools who wants a free glimpse of college life.
Location: Two tracks; Online College Prep Workshop (virtual) or Residential Leadership Summit (Kenya)
Cost/Stipend: Free; tuition-free with housing, meals, and academic materials covered for the residential track
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Online track admits ~240 students; residential Kenya summit admits ~110
Dates: Online: 6 days, mid-July; Residential (Kenya): 9 days, mid-August; students choose one track, not both
Application deadline: Mid-to-late January
Eligibility: African secondary school students, ages 14-18, citizens or permanent residents of an African country (refugees living in an African country also eligible); not a US-student program
YYAS focuses on university admissions preparation, leadership, and 21st-century skills for African secondary students, with the residential track adding an immersive in-person leadership component in Kenya. This is the only program on the entire list not aimed at US-based students; it's specifically for African secondary school students, which is worth noting clearly since it appeared in a US blog's "international students" listicle rather than a dedicated African-programs source.
Who it's best for: A secondary school student anywhere in Africa (not a US-based international student) who wants free college-prep and leadership training, choosing either a fully virtual or a Kenya-residential track.
Location: Washington, DC (one-week seminar) + one of ~18 US/Puerto Rico cities for a four-week community practicum
Cost/Stipend: Free; paid four-week community practicum; meals/accommodations/travel covered for the DC seminar week
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; up to 24 participants selected via competitive process
Dates: One-week DC seminar plus a four-week practicum; exact dates vary by year
Application deadline: Check latino.si.edu for current-cycle deadline (recently April 10)
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors nationwide with interest in the arts, sciences, or humanities as they relate to Latino communities and culture; open to students of any race/ethnicity, no Spanish fluency required
YAP combines a week-long DC seminar at the Smithsonian's Latino collections with a paid four-week interdisciplinary internship at a museum or cultural institution in one of roughly 18 partner cities. Despite its Latino-culture focus, the program is explicitly open regardless of race or ethnicity; no Spanish language requirement exists, a detail worth stating plainly since the program's framing could otherwise be misread as restricted.
Who it's best for: A graduating senior anywhere in the US interested in museums, arts, or Latino history/culture, regardless of their own ethnic background.
Location: Washington, DC (in-person, once-weekly commute) or fully virtual
Cost/Stipend: Free; unpaid, but provides up to 60 community-service hours
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published; small, selective cohorts
Dates: Four weeks, June through July
Application deadline: Late April
Eligibility: US citizens, permanent residents, or visa holders in grades 9-12; in-person track requires ability to travel to DC once weekly
Interns research and recommend items from the Library's collections and help build out a new youth-learning exhibition space, with both an in-person (weekly DC visits) and fully virtual option. This is one of the few entries offering genuine flexibility between in-person and remote participation; a student who can't easily get to DC still has a real path in via the virtual track.
Who it's best for: A grades 9-12 student interested in history, museums, or library science who wants a low-stakes, flexible (virtual-friendly) research internship.
Frequently asked questions: free summer programs for high school students
What are the best free summer programs for high school students?
The strongest free programs combine a selective admissions process with a research placement. MIT's Research Science Institute takes around 100 students a year against a 2 to 3% admit rate, and Rockefeller's Summer Science Research Program takes 32. On the humanities side, the Telluride Association Summer Seminar covers tuition, housing, meals and travel, and will also replace income you would have earned at a summer job.
Are there free online summer programs for high school students?
Yes, several programs on this list run fully remotely. Stanford's SPINWIP covers quantum physics, astrophysics and cosmology over three weeks. The Library of Congress internship and Johns Hopkins' JHIBS both offer virtual tracks alongside their in-person ones. Virtual options are worth prioritising if you live outside the metro areas where most free residential programs cluster; you can check out more online programs to fully consider all your options.
Are free summer programs less impressive than paid ones?
No, and in many cases the opposite is true. Several of the hardest programs in the country charge nothing, including RSI, Stanford's SIMR and the Telluride seminars. What an admissions reader responds to is how selective the program was and what you produced during it, not what it cost. Structured paid options like the Lumiere Research Scholar Program work on the same logic, giving you a mentored project and a finished paper rather than a certificate.
Can you get college credit from a free summer program?
Rarely, and you should not choose a program on that basis alone. Notre Dame's Leadership Seminars offers one transferable college credit, and Carnegie Mellon's SAMS includes a credit-bearing college transition course. The output you leave with, whether that is a paper, a poster or a published byline, carries more weight on an application than a single transferable credit would.
Are there free summer programs for freshmen and sophomores?
Yes, though the pool is smaller than it is for juniors. NASA's OSTEM internships, NYU's CS4CS and the Library of Congress internship all accept students across grades 9 through 12. Telluride's TASS and the AAJA's JCamp take sophomores and juniors, and Meta Summer Academy is restricted to sophomores specifically.
Are there free summer programs for low-income or first-generation students?
Yes, and several are designed for that group. Princeton's AI4ALL is means-tested, requiring free or reduced lunch eligibility, fee waiver eligibility, or household income under $60,000. The Princeton Summer Journalism Program, USC's Bovard Scholars and Stanford's SMYSP all restrict eligibility to limited-income or first-generation applicants and pair the summer with a full year of college counseling. Telluride's TASS goes further by replacing lost summer-job income for admitted students.
Stephen Turban is the co-founder of Lumiere Education and a graduate of Harvard College, where he earned an A.B. in Statistics before beginning a PhD at Harvard Business School. A former McKinsey & Company consultant and former researcher, his research has been covered by the Harvard Business Review, The Economist, BBC News, Freakonomics Radio, and the Washington Post. In his articles for Forbes, he writes on what students and professionals can learn from high school research, high school passion projects, critical thinking, and mentorship. At Lumiere, he leads a selective research program where students work one-on-one with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper. Connect with him on LinkedIn.