10 Prestigious Economics Programs for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- Aug 31
- 7 min read
For middle schoolers aspiring to get into economics, enrolling in a prestigious economics program at an early stage is a great way to be a step ahead of everyone. With a specialised focus on economics, the best economics programs tailor the curriculum to suit the sensibilities of early teenagers and opt for a hands-on approach towards learning.
These programs also serve to engage students in critical thinking, research work, presentations, and other review mechanisms in order to train students for what lies ahead! With an array of introductory economics programs available for students, there remains little chance for starting troubles to crop up!
Here’s a list of 10 prestigious economics programs you could consider applying to as a middle school student:
10 Prestigious Economics Programs for Middle School Students
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Varies for different cohorts. Winter cohort deadline is November 16
Application Deadline: Varies for different cohorts, more details here.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
Fee: Varies; financial aid available
Location: Virtual
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a research program providing middle school students the chance to undertake advanced research. The program provides 1-on-1 guidance from PhD mentors from top universities like Harvard, Columbia, and MIT. You are encouraged to pick your subject of interest, which can range anywhere from artificial intelligence to history. Over 8 weeks, this virtual program lets you dive deep into your chosen subject, build high-standard research skills, and complete your own project by the end. Beyond gaining specialized knowledge, you also build the confidence to think critically, innovate, and approach both theoretical and practical academic endeavors with independence.
Acceptance Rate: Selective.
Dates: Varies according to the program, more details here.
Application Deadline: May 16
Eligibility: Students in grades 7-11
Fee: Varies according to the program; financial aid available.
Location: Multiple locations, more details here.
The catalogue of summer programs at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) has much to offer middle school students who aspire to study economics. In courses centred on fields like microeconomics, game theory, and economics. Typically spread over 3 weeks, the on-campus courses focus on offering a combination of hands-on learning & the traditional classroom setting. In the Fundamentals of Microeconomics course, students engage with basic concepts like supply & demand curves, market structure, price elasticities, externalities, public goods, and more. In the Game Theory & Economics course, you will learn about the usage of economic theory in determining decisions in situations like bidding behavior, bankruptcy, monopolies & oligopolies, and more! For a student to be eligible to apply to any program, they must achieve qualifying scores on the CTY assessment.
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: June 9 - June 20 (Cohort I), July 14- July 25 (Cohort II).
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort; more details are available here.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
Fee: Varies, financial aid available
Location: Virtual
AI Trailblazers by Veritas AI is a 2-week online summer program for middle school students. While the program primarily strives to introduce and train students in machine learning and artificial intelligence, it also undertakes a practical approach by encouraging students to use AI to solve real-world problems, including those plaguing the field of economics! In virtual sessions spanning a total of 25 hours, students team up with their mentors to explore the fundamentals of artificial intelligence through subjects like Python programming, exploratory data analysis, image classification, neural networks, AI ethics, and more! Capping the mentor-to-student ratio at 5:1, the program also ensures that the particular needs of students are met earnestly. For their final group project concerning the use of AI in Economics, students could creatively apply the advancements in AI to study economic data and come up with innovative propositions, thereby also undergoing practical training at an early stage in their careers.
Acceptance Rate: Not selective, but limited spots available to students from each nationality.
Dates: July 13 - August 3
Application Deadline: Unavailable
Eligibility: Students aged 13 - 18 years.
Fee: $8800 (not including $500 enrollment fee)
Location: Yale University, CT
Yale University's annual summer program caters to both middle school and high school students aged between 13 and 18 years. During the 3-week residential program, students are expected to choose one academic option and one elective option from a diverse list of subjects, thereby enabling students to gain academic ground in multiple fields. The range of academic options from varying disciplines made available to students also includes business & entrepreneurship, which delves into basic concepts in economics like pricing and selling to upgrade the students’ general entrepreneurial skills. The academic itinerary of the program also includes cultural trips, workshops, and other hands-on activities!
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: June 29 - July 18
Application Deadline: April 15
Eligibility: Students in grades 8-12
Fee: Varies; scholarship available
Location: Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Georgetown University’s Economics Policy Academy offers an on-campus program in Economics for middle school and high school students. In daily academic programming between 9 AM and 4:30 PM for a duration of 3 weeks, you will engage in guest lectures, hands-on training, off-site activities and group discussions, and more! The curriculum includes a variety of fundamental concepts in economics, ranging from globalisation & microeconomics to developmental economics & fiscal policy. Students are also encouraged to take up other co-curricular activities after the conclusion of formal classes. With domestic and international students in attendance, the program also creates opportunities for students to meet like-minded peers and forge valuable connections.
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: June 9 - June 20
Application Deadline: March 1
Eligibility: Middle school students
Fee: $3,640 for California residents, $4,160 for others
Location: UC Berkeley, CA
The Middle School Entrepreneurship Program by Berkeley Business Academy For Youth (B-BAY) is a course in entrepreneurship for middle school students through a curriculum that is inclusive of concepts in economics and finance like supply & demand, profitability, financial reporting, and more! Through classroom sessions by professors & PhD candidates and guest lectures by corporate leaders, students upgrade their knowledge of business and economics while also developing essential individual skills. Importantly, the program also presents you with a chance to test your research and presentation skills through individual and group projects.
Acceptance Rate: Not Selective
Dates: Varies as per local JA chapter.
Application Deadline: Varies as per local JA chapter.
Eligibility: Students aged 11 to 14
Fee: Typically Free
Location: Varies as per local JA chapter.
Junior Achievement USA’s Economics For Success 2.0 program trains students in upgrading their skills in personal finance and overall work readiness. The organising team consisting of volunteers from the local JA chapter will set the duration of the program, typically spanning for six or more instructional contact hours. Through these sessions, students learn the importance of setting financial goals, using their income efficiently, optimally planning their budget, and more! Besides this, the interactive sessions also enable the development of interpersonal skills among students.
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Self-paced (Approx. 5-10 hours per week for 4 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling basis.
Eligibility: Everyone is eligible to apply for this course.
Fee: Free ($99 to earn a certificate)
Location: Virtual
Berkeley X’s Fundamentals of Economics is the introductory course from a three-part course for first-time learners. Focused on Data Science & Economics, the course serves as a Connector Course that helps students understand the linkages between concepts in data science and economics. In this course, you will engage with basic concepts in economics like demand, supply, equilibrium ,and taxes through programming. In precise terms, the self-paced course trains students to graph basic equations used in microeconomics and write simple code in Python. Taking the Data 8X program is a prerequisite for attending this course.
Acceptance Rate: Not Selective
Dates: Self-paced (Approx. 5-10 hours per week for 10 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling basis.
Eligibility: All individuals are eligible to apply for this course.
Fee: Free
Location: Virtual
The Principles of Economics course by Stanford Online is an economics course that caters to participants of all ages. Typically requiring a commitment of 5-10 hours every week for a period of 10 weeks, the online course delves into fundamental concepts in economics like demand & supply, equilibrium models, financial & capital markets, employment & unemployment, productivity, economic growth, labour markets, international trade policy, and more! Thus, by focusing on subjects from multiple fields in economics like microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, and the role of the government in regulating the economy, students cover a wide range of introductory material throughout the course.
Acceptance Rate: Not Selective
Dates: Multi-length courses throughout the year, more details here.
Application Deadline: Varies as per the program.
Eligibility: Students aged 13 and above
Fee: Up to $1,795
Location: Virtual
Rice University’s The Business of Economics is a pre-college online program, available in the form of multi-length courses throughout the year. Typically having at least 20 hours of total instruction time, the course delves into subjects like markets, prices, costs, inflation, labour economics, loanable funds, energy supply & demand. For assignments and projects, students work under the guidance of a mentor who ensures that their individual needs are met efficiently. In the Capstone Project, students are presented with an opportunity to rein in their learning to curate a presentation on stagflation, while being expected to form appropriate policies to revive the economy in the said scenario.
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 where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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