10 STEM Summer Programs for Gifted Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
Gifted students who want to level up their academics can consider applying for STEM summer programs. STEM includes a range of fields and subjects for you to choose from based on your interests. These programs allow you to explore your interests, expand your knowledge, and develop practical skills.
Because they are designed for gifted students, these programs are rigorous and challenging while also providing the support you need. Held in the summer, they are a good way to get a head start before the new school year begins. Here are 10 STEM summer programs for you to check out.
10 STEM Summer Programs for Gifted Middle School Students
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: 8 weeks, varies by cohort
Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 to 8
Middle schoolers interested in STEM research may find Lumiere’s Junior Explorer Program suitable. This is a mentored program that pairs you with PhD mentors from prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and Princeton, who are specialists in their fields. To help you cultivate research skills, you will learn to read and interpret academic literature, build research questions, and create outputs such as a high school-level research paper or case study. You benefit from feedback and writing coaching sessions that help you polish your critical thinking and scientific communication skills. Lumiere also offers a Junior Research and Publication Program for students who wish to publish their research in academic journals in 16 weeks.
Location: Online
Cost/Stipend: Fully funded
Dates:
Summer: July 6 to 24
Fall: August 26 to December 9
Application Deadline: March 25
Eligibility: Low-income students in grades 6 or 7 who reside in and attend school in the U.S., with family income under $90,000
SMSSP is designed for ambitious middle schoolers with its challenging coursework. The program is held over the summer and fall terms. You attend interactive classes in the summer regarding your chosen track. In the fall, you attend weekly meetings that involve debates and discussions on the topic. The available tracks you can choose from include Democracy & Dissent, Discovering Geometry: From Flatland to the Fourth Dimension, History through Graphic Novels, and Real-Life Applications to Mathematics. You also receive guidance to apply for other prestigious programs and schools.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates:
Spring cohort: 25 hours over 10 weeks, weekends
Summer cohort: 25 hours over 2 weeks, weekdays
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
Middle schoolers interested in technology can consider Veritas AI’s AI Trailblazers program. It teaches you the fundamentals of AI and machine learning. These subjects are taught through instruction in diverse topics such as Python, data analysis, regression, image classification, neural networks, and AI ethics. The theory you learn must then be applied to a practical project of your own choice. Here, you solve a real-world problem in a specific field using technology. Previously, students have built a machine-learning model to classify music genres and a machine-learning algorithm to provide a custom list of educational resources based on selected specifications.
Location: Columbia University, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive
Dates:
Summer session: July 6 to 31
Academic year session: October to May
Application Deadline:
Summer: April 15
Academic year: November 1
Eligibility: Students in grades 7–12 interested in medicine or related STEM fields, with at least an 80% grade average, especially in math and science
S-PREP is a high school and college preparatory program. Students interested in medicine and related STEM fields can explore advanced curriculum through this program. To foster a passion for STEM, the program teaches topics like Anatomy, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Brain & Cognitive Science, Ready for PreMed, Physics, Psychology, Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus and Statistics. Furthermore, you receive support with preparing for standardized tests. You can also partake in college preparation and career development workshops, college & academic counseling services, field trips, and college tours.
Location: New York City, NY
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: July 6 – 31
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Rising 7th and 8th graders who are NYC residents
If you’re interested in engineering, NYU’s SoSC may be a suitable option for you. You will discover concepts in engineering, sustainability, and urban design in the context of NYC. The program teaches you coding, microcontroller programming, electronics, circuitry, hardware, and more. You study environmental and urban science to understand how technology can solve real-world challenges. Working in groups, you will develop and demonstrate a solution for a practical problem.
Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT
Cost/Stipend: $75. Full scholarships available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 7–14 students per class
Dates: June 23 – July 30
Application Deadline: February 26
Eligibility: Middle school students enrolled in public and parochial schools in New Haven, CT
The Ulysses S. Grant Foundation offers a 6-week program for motivated middle schoolers. The coursework prepares you to succeed in college. You take humanities and investigations classes in the morning and an elective in the afternoon. The humanities courses include art, writing, poetry, and philosophy. The investigations classes typically cover STEM subjects like biology, chemistry, finance, and architecture. Outside the class, you have time to socialize and access to a range of resources.
Location: United States Military Academy, West Point, NY
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates:
June 2 – 6 for 6th and 7th graders
June 9 – 13 for 8th and 9th graders
Application Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–9 who are U.S. citizens
West Point’s summer STEM workshops are for academically talented students. Meant to increase participation in STEM fields, these workshops last for a week and cover different topics. You can expect to partake in hands-on activities and experiments to develop practical skills. You will complete enquiry-based projects. Thus, the program is a way for you to polish your critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
8. dynaMIT
Location: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: Fully funded
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: To be announced
Application Deadline: To be announced
Eligibility: Rising 6th–9th grade students
dynaMIT is a free STEM program for middle schoolers. This is an entirely student-led program. MIT undergraduate and graduate students design and execute the program. They act as mentors and guide you through science experiments. Because it is held at MIT, the program gives a taste of college life. This is an opportunity to explore STEM subjects at no cost.
Location: New York City, NY
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: July 6 to 31
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Rising 7th and 8th graders who are residents of NYC
Like SoSC, SONYC is organized by NYU for middle schoolers. This program focuses on noise pollution and sustainability. You sample and study sound waves around NYC and analyze how they affect the lives of urban residents. The program also teaches you coding and programming. To solve a real-world challenge related to sound pollution, you will build a smart technology that you will present at the culminating expo. In this way, you also sharpen your communication skills.
Location: Online or in person at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Cost: $990 to $6,025, depending on duration
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Small classes
Dates: Varies by course
Application Deadline: One week before the start date
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 to 12; additional academic criteria vary by course
Northwestern’s Center for Talent Development offers a variety of programs for gifted students. You can choose a program depending on your interests including in STEM. These programs have varying eligibility criteria depending on how rigorous they may be. Nevertheless, you can expect to encounter a challenging curriculum that advances your knowledge. You also develop field-specific skills that help you in your future career.
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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