15 Math Programs for High School Students in Iowa
- Stephen Turban
- 7 hours ago
- 9 min read
If mathematics is a subject you enjoy and want to pursue further, participating in a math program during high school can help you explore the field in greater depth.
Math programs introduce you to different ways of thinking about mathematical problems. You may study proofs, explore mathematical patterns, and examine topics such as number theory or problem-solving strategies. This kind of experience helps you understand how mathematics is studied in college and research environments.
Iowa provides several opportunities for high school students who want to study mathematics outside their regular classes. Universities and educational organizations host programs where you can explore advanced mathematical ideas while learning from experienced instructors.
Why should I do a math program in high school?
A math program helps you develop stronger reasoning and problem-solving skills while working on more complex questions than typical classroom exercises. It also allows you to see how mathematical arguments are developed and communicated.
Participating in one of these programs can strengthen your academic profile when applying to colleges. It shows that you actively explored your interest in mathematics and spent time developing your skills beyond the classroom.
With that in mind, here are 15 math programs for high school students in Iowa!
15 Math Programs for High School Students in Iowa
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Cost: Varies. Full financial aid is available.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November).
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer (June - August), Fall (September - December), Winter (December - February), and Spring (March - June).
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate a high level of academic achievement (Note: accepted students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4)
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 that you can explore as a high schooler. 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: Iowa City Public Library
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not available
Dates: Typically across July
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Upper-elementary through high-school students; recommended prerequisite is at least Algebra I for camp material.
Iowa City Math Circle runs camp-style sessions where you spend several days working through mathematical puzzles and proof-based challenges. The sessions revolve around problems that require careful reasoning and discussion. You might examine patterns, test conjectures, or build a proof step by step with guidance from instructors. Many sessions include small-group work where you compare different solution strategies and explain your reasoning to others. The goal is less about finishing a worksheet and more about understanding how mathematicians actually think through unfamiliar problems.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies. Full financial aid is available.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Application Date: Multiple deadlines throughout the year for the Spring, Summer, and Fall cohorts.
Dates: The spring and fall cohorts run 15 weeks, while the summer cohort runs 10 weeks (June-September).
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, and more! Horizon is one of the few research programs for high school students that offers you the choice to engage in either quantitative or qualitative research. Once you select a particular subject track, Horizon pairs you with a professor/PhD scholar who acts as a mentor throughout your research journey. As a participant, you will be expected to develop a 20-page research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student and detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects. Apply here!
Location: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Cost: Cost: $450 through June 26; $500 for late registration (financial assistance available).
Application Deadline: June 26
Program Dates: July 12-16 or July 19-23
Eligibility: Designed for high school students who are going into their junior or senior year.
RISE with WiSE at Iowa State University introduces you to different STEM fields through workshops and lab-based activities. During the program, you rotate through sessions that highlight engineering design, computing, and applied mathematics. Activities often involve building prototypes, analyzing data, or solving design challenges that rely on quantitative reasoning. Faculty members and current STEM majors guide the sessions and explain how similar methods appear in university research and industry projects. The experience gives you a short but focused look at how mathematics connects with engineering and scientific work.
Location: Iowa State University, IA, U.S.
Cost: $3000
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 19-31
Application Deadline: December 15
Eligibility: High School Students (ages 15–18)
The STEAM Innovation program at Iowa State University is built around collaborative projects that combine science, engineering, and mathematical modeling. Early sessions introduce design thinking and problem-solving frameworks before moving into group work, where you develop a project idea and begin testing solutions. Throughout the program, mentors guide discussions about how data, measurements, and analysis shape design decisions. Campus tours and lab visits also show how similar approaches appear in real research settings. At the end, you present your project and explain the reasoning behind the solution your group developed.
Location: Peru and the Galapagos Islands (travel program departing from Iowa).
Cost: Estimated at $7,000 (includes airfare, accommodations, meals, transportation, activities, and college credit)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions. Apply through the Worldstrides link
Program Dates: June 8-18
Eligibility: Youth in grades 9–12 who are interested in STEM or STEM careers.
STEM in Motion at Iowa State University is a travel-based academic program where you study STEM topics while traveling from Iowa to Iceland. The program connects science, engineering, and mathematical modeling through project-based work. As you develop project ideas and build prototypes, mentors guide you through using data, measurements, and quantitative analysis to test and improve your designs. Throughout the experience, you apply mathematical reasoning to understand how technical decisions are made in real research and engineering settings. At the end of the program, you present your findings and reflect on the ideas explored during the trip.
Location: Belin-Blank Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Cost: $7,500 and a non-refundable application fee of $95; Financial aid available
Application Deadline: February 16
Dates: June 17 – July 24
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10 and 11 can apply
The Secondary Student Training Program at the University of Iowa gives you a mentored research experience where you work directly with university faculty on an academic project. Some placements include departments such as Mathematics and Business Analytics, where you use data analysis and mathematical methods as part of the research process. You spend full workdays in the research environment while developing a formal research paper under the guidance of your mentor. The program concludes with a symposium where you present your findings and explain the methods used in your research.
Location: Belin-Blank Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: Research proposal deadline: January 12
Dates: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students from the Heartland Region, including Iowa and Nebraska, can participate in Heartland-JSHS.
The Heartland Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is a regional research competition where you present original STEM research to judges and scientists. Mathematics and computer science are included among the core research categories for presentation. If your project involves mathematical analysis, modeling, or complex data work, you present your research through an oral presentation or poster session. Judges evaluate the quality of your methodology, analysis, and explanation. Strong projects may advance to the national Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.
Location: MacLean Hall, University of Iowa, IA
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: March 23
Dates: April 12
Eligibility: high-school-aged women, their teachers, and parents or guardians
Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day at the University of Iowa is a one-day program where you explore advanced mathematics through workshops, talks, and collaborative problem-solving sessions. Activities are led by university mathematicians and graduate students who introduce ideas often not covered in regular high school classes. Throughout the day, you work through mathematical puzzles and discuss different solution strategies with other participants. The event also includes talks about careers in mathematics and academic pathways in the field.
Location: University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA
Cost: Free
Application Deadline:
Dates:
Eligibility: Low-income and/or first-generation students (whose parents have not earned a bachelor’s degree) in grades 9–12, or rising 9th graders from East High, West High, or Expo, who are interested in pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math) careers.
The Upward Bound Math and Science program at the University of Northern Iowa supports students who want to prepare for college in STEM fields. During the program, you participate in coursework, tutoring, and projects that strengthen your preparation in mathematics and science. The program includes a summer component on campus where you work on academic activities and research projects with faculty guidance. Support continues during the school year through academic advising and tutoring.
Location: Online
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: November 18
Dates: Annual program from Jan to December
Eligibility: High school juniors and sophomores (including home-schooled)
PRIMES-USA is a year-long online math research program run by MIT for high school sophomores and juniors who live outside the Greater Boston area. You work on original research with guidance from MIT faculty, grad students, or local mentors. The program starts with a reading phase where you study advanced math material and write a short report to show your understanding. Once accepted into the research phase, you meet regularly with your mentor to explore open problems, write proofs, and build your results. You submit progress reports, write a final paper, and present your work at the PRIMES Fall Conference. Many students also end up publishing their research in journals or presenting at national math conferences.
Location: Online
Cost: Not mentioned
Application Deadline: Not specified
Dates: Session One: June 10–14
Eligibility: Applicants must be rising 9th through 12th graders and must be at least 14 years old
The Illinois Institute of Technology offers this online math program to help you explore areas of mathematics that most high school classes don’t cover. You’ll learn about topics like the infinitude of primes and how math applies to real-world problems, from web search algorithms to space imaging. The program focuses on building your problem-solving skills, introducing you to advanced ideas, and helping you see how math works outside textbooks. You’ll also practice writing and explaining your work using proper notation and clear reasoning, the way it’s done in higher-level math.
Location: Online
Cost: $3,580
Application Deadline: February 2
Dates: Session One: Online – June 15 – July 3; Session Two: Online – July 6 – July 24
Eligibility: Applicants must be rising juniors and seniors. Additionally, students should have strong math grades and a teacher recommendation.
At SUMaC, you spend three weeks exploring advanced math through daily problem sets, live discussions, and guest lectures. You take one of two courses, either Number Theory and Abstract Algebra or Algebraic Topology, both focused on building proof-based reasoning. You work closely with Stanford teaching assistants, collaborate with other students, and hear from professionals who use math in research and industry. To get in, you need strong math grades, test scores, a teacher recommendation, and your performance on the SUMaC entrance exam. Join their mailing list to keep updated.
Location: Online
Cost: Free core version for teachers and students; paid DeltaMath Plus and DeltaMath for Home subscriptions are also available.
Application Deadline: Year-round resources
Program Dates: Year-round
Eligibility: High school students
DeltaMath is an online mathematics practice platform used by many teachers and independent learners. The system generates large sets of math problems covering topics from algebra and geometry to calculus. As you solve problems, the platform provides immediate feedback and step-by-step explanations so you can understand mistakes and correct them. Because the problems are generated automatically, you can keep practicing a concept until the method becomes clear.
Location: Online
Cost: Plans start at around $64/month for the core program; higher-tier options are available
Application Deadline: Year-round
Dates: Year-round
Eligibility: High School Students
Thinkster Math is an online tutoring program focused entirely on mathematics practice and coaching. You solve problems on digital worksheets while the system records the steps used in your solution. A tutor reviews your work and explains mistakes during one-on-one video sessions. By analyzing how you approach each problem, the tutor can help you improve your mathematical reasoning and develop more accurate solution methods.
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.
Image Source - Horizon Academic Research Program logo