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11 Pre-College Summer Programs for High School Students

Writer's picture: Stephen TurbanStephen Turban

If you're a high school student planning to apply to college soon, consider participating in a pre-college program during the summer. Pre-college programs are educational experiences that allow high school students to explore specific academic and career interests, gain essential skills, experience college life, and maybe even earn college credit!


How do you pick a pre-college summer program?

These programs are usually offered by colleges as a pre-college program, summer session, or summer enrichment opportunity. Colleges offer a range of programs for high schoolers, ranging from less competitive to more selective. To search for programs offered by a university near you, try looking up the name of the university and adding “programs for high school students”. You can also check out our blog posts on various summer programs at Harvard, MIT, Yale, and Brown!


Pre-college opportunities can take place throughout the year or during the summer. We’re focusing on summer programs in this piece. Since we’ve covered some of the most competitive programs separately, we’ve looked at a broader set of programs in this article.


Pro tip: Pre-college programs do not have ‘high prestige’ value on their own. It’s the highly selective or selective programs that will leave an impression on admission officers. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider other programs at all! Most pre-college programs have their place in a student's profile. They can provide a head start on credit requirements or help you up-skill, and you can use the knowledge you gain to come up with a research project of your own (which could help you in the college application process).


Now that you know what to look out for, here are 11 pre-college summer programs for high school students!


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 PhD 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.


Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort.

Duration: Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year.

Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!

Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate a high level of academic achievement.

Program Dates: Varies by cohort: summer, fall, winter, or spring.

Cost: Full financial aid is available!


The Bovard Scholars program helps students develop critical thinking skills and research aptitude while refining their career goals and assisting them with college application prep. This fully residential program spans 3 weeks and is known for its excellent student-to-staff ratio (3:1). You will be assigned a coach to guide you through application processes at different universities, competitive exam prep, and career guidance even after the program ends. The program also includes events with industry leaders, group activities, scholarship databases, and goal-setting exercises.


Cost: Completely free of cost

Application Deadline: January 13

Program Dates: July 10 – 29

Location: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Eligibility: Juniors in high school


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. 


Location: Virtual 

Application Date: Multiple deadlines throughout the year for the Spring, Summer and Fall cohorts. 

Program 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.


This MIT pre-college program lets high schoolers take 5 college-level courses across 6 weeks and develop their academic, research, critical thinking, and personal skills. The program exposes students to sessions, discussions, and 1:1 guidance with mentors in STEM. You will learn the importance of STEM as a solution to real-world challenges and work with your knowledge to build a better world. At the end of the program, you will receive a report highlighting your strengths, areas of improvement, skills, and opportunities, a guide that can help you draft a stellar college application and be a better college student. Over 30% of MITES alumni have been admitted to MIT!


Cost: Free of cost

Application Deadline: February 1

Program Dates: Late June through early August

Location: MIT, Cambridge, MA

Eligibility: All high school students in their junior/senior year. MITES strongly encourages first-generation students, students from ethnically and racially underrepresented groups, and high-achieving students from low economic backgrounds to apply


If you're looking for an intensive program with a strong focus on STEM, the Summer Science Program is a great addition to your summer before college. SSP lets you engage with college-level courses and lab work in multiple STEM subjects. SSP is a highly selective pre-college program, with just 36 students being selected each year. Subjects offered at SSP include Astrophysics, Genomics, and Biochemistry. Alongside your courses, you can also engage in research projects under the guidance of a mentor as well as extracurricular activities such as field trips, guest lectures, and social events.


Cost: $8,400, generous financial aid offered

Application Dates: February 3, for international applicants and March 3, for US citizens

Program Dates: Mid-June to end of July

Location: Based on your course, you will attend the program from New Mexico State University, University of Colorado Boulder, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Purdue University, and Indiana University

Eligibility: High schoolers aged 15-18


A pre-college and scholarship program, the Rural Scholars Academy aims to support students from rural backgrounds in their journey at Washington University. The program runs for a week and exposes students to the fundamentals of design thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving, all skills essential for a successful college career. You will also attend discussion sessions, lectures, and activities to develop your interpersonal, leadership, and academic skills.


Cost: Free of cost

Application Dates: March 1

Program Dates: July 16 - 22

Location: Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Eligibility: High-school students aged 15 or more who attend a high school within the WashU Pledge territory are eligible to apply


Harvard’s pre-college program is a competitive opportunity. You can choose from over 90 courses, and you will participate in extra-curricular activities in and out of the classroom. The program requires you to put the same effort into your courses as any college student and prepares you for an academic career at top institutes. You can choose from courses offered in categories such as Business, Leadership, Speech, Writing, Literature, Public Health, Law, Politics, Philosophy, Psychology, Medicine, STEM, Ethics, and History. We’ve done a deep dive into summer opportunities available at Harvard.


Cost: $5,300 + $75 (Application Fee)

Application Deadline: February 22

Program Dates: Session 1: June 26-July 8; Session 2: July 10-July 22; Session 3: July 24-August 5

Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Eligibility: Open to all high school juniors and seniors


The most popular option for high school students considering studying at Yale over the summer is the “Yale Young Global Scholars” program (aka YYGS). The program focuses on exposing students to a college-like environment with academic courses, social activities, and collaborative learning experiences. An acceptance from YYGS reflects well upon your student profile, as the program is competitive, with an acceptance rate of 34% and applicants from around the world. We’ve done a deep dive into the best opportunities available at Yale. Pro tip: YYGS hosts useful webinars on college admissions, tuition, academics, and more! You can either attend these sessions live or watch recordings. Check them out here.


Cost: $6,250

Application Deadline: January 10

Program Dates: Session 1: June 18 - 30; Session 2: July 2 - 14; Session 3: July 16 - 28

Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT

Eligibility: Open to all high school juniors and sophomores


Brown University offers multiple summer programs, but Summer@Brown is one of their more welcoming offerings for high school students. As a Summer@Brown participant, you can choose from their catalog of 300+ non-credit courses, engage in community activities, college-readiness workshops, and more! We’ve done a deep dive into the summer opportunities available at Brown. Pro tip: If you are seeking to earn college credit at Brown, check out Brown’s competitive Pre-Baccalaureate program. This program is open to rising high school seniors or recent graduates ready to tackle the rigors of credit-bearing undergraduate studies.


Cost: Residential Students (includes room and board): $6,124; Commuter Students: $4,330

Application Deadline: May 12

Program Dates: The residential 1-week program is offered in multiple sessions between June 25 and July 28.

Location: Virtual/Brown University, Providence, RI

Eligibility: Open to all high school students


Carnegie Mellon offers a 5-week pre-college program for high school students interested in STEM research. As a SAMS student, you will learn essential skills in research before the program starts, and you will attend seminars, discussions, lab sessions, and meetings before attending the program's conclusion at the symposium in August. The program is fully funded and highly selective, accepting 110 students out of 16,000+ applicants.


Application Deadline: March 15

Program Dates: July 1 to August 5

Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Eligibility: You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. and a high school student above the age of 16 to apply


A pre-college program for students interested in medicine and medical research, Georgetown University's summer course offers 1-week intensives and 2-week and 4-week sessions, based on your pace of learning and availability. In this pre-college program, you will be introduced to clinical research, ethics in research, and medical research in cancer. The course lets you work on a capstone research project of your choice, an excellent way to demonstrate your motivation and relevant skills in your college application. With guided projects, mentorship by researchers, and career guidance, this program is a good remote option.


Cost: $1,495, scholarships available

Application Dates: January 1

Program Dates: Multiple sessions offered between February 5 and March 5

Location: Virtual

Eligibility: Open to all high-school students



Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

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