Ultimate Guide for the MIT Think Scholars Program - Everything You Need to Know
Updated: Oct 21
Updated October 2026
TL;DR
MIT THINK is a science and engineering competition for high school students, run by MIT undergraduates. You submit a proposal of up to 10 pages for a project you want to build. Up to six finalists receive up to $1,000 in reimbursed project costs, weekly mentorship, and an all-expenses-paid trip to MIT. To apply, you need to be a full-time high school student with permanent U.S. residency, and the official guidelines list no application fee. Dates for the next cycle are TBA. Last year, applications ran from November 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026. If you want a PhD mentor to guide you through your own research project, you can apply to the Lumiere Research Scholar Program.
If you have an idea for a science or engineering project but no lab, budget, or mentor to help you build it, MIT THINK is worth a close look. You send in a written proposal, and if you’re one of up to six finalists, THINK gives you up to $1,000 in funding and weekly mentorship to bring your idea to life over one semester. Since your proposal carries the whole application, knowing what reviewers look for makes a real difference. This guide covers who can apply, key dates, how proposals are scored, and practical tips for writing a stronger one. If you’re still comparing options, check out our list of research competitions for high school students.
What is the MIT THINK Scholars Program?
MIT THINK is an outreach program at MIT that accepts research project proposals from high school students across the U.S. and gives a few of them mentorship and funding to build their idea. It's run by undergraduates as part of MIT TechX, the largest technology club at the Institute.
A group of MIT undergraduates started the program in 2008. THINK stands for Technology for Humanity through Innovation, Networking, and Knowledge, and its goal is to help motivated students with big ideas who need support to make them happen. You can propose any science, technology, or engineering idea, from software to hardware to lab-based work.
Who is eligible for MIT THINK?
You can apply if you meet these requirements from the official guidelines:
You're a full-time high school student at a public, private, or home school when you apply.
You have permanent U.S. residency during the academic year. You don't need U.S. citizenship, but U.S. citizens living abroad can't apply.
You submit one proposal per academic year, on your own or with one partner.
If you're an international student without permanent U.S. residence, you can't apply right now.
MIT THINK at a glance
Detail | What you need to know |
Program | |
Run by | MIT undergraduates, as part of MIT TechX |
Location | You apply online; finalists are invited to MIT in Cambridge, MA |
Cost | No application fee listed |
Funding | Up to $1,000 in reimbursements per project |
Acceptance rate/cohort size | Acceptance rate not published; up to six finalists per year |
Application Deadline | TBA (previous cohort: applications closed on January 1) |
Program Dates | TBA (previous cohort: finalists chosen in February 2026, projects completed by June 2026) |
Eligibility | Full-time high school students with permanent U.S. residency |
What you submit | An online form, a proposal of up to 10 pages, and a video interview if you're a semifinalist |
When is the MIT THINK deadline?
The next cycle's dates are TBA. Here's how the previous cycle ran so you can plan ahead:
Applications open: TBA (previous: November 1, 2025)
Deadline: TBA (previous: 11:59 p.m. EST on January 1, 2026)
Finalist decisions: TBA (previous: February 2026)
Finalists' trip to MIT: TBA (previous: February 2026)
Project completion: TBA (previous: June 2026)
That gave you about two months from opening day to the deadline, and part of that falls over winter break. Reading, planning, and budgeting all take time, so start your background research now and keep checking think.mit.edu for the new dates.
Is MIT THINK free, and what do finalists get?
The official guidelines don't list an application fee. If you become a finalist, you can be reimbursed up to $1,000 for project costs, and your full budget has to stay at or below that amount. Since the money comes as reimbursement, it's worth emailing think@mit.edu to ask how repayment works before you buy anything.
As a finalist, you also get:
An all-expenses-paid trip to MIT, where you meet professors in your area of interest, tour research labs, and sit in on MIT classes
Weekly mentorship meetings with MIT student mentors
Networking with sponsors, MIT students, faculty, and alumni
Once you complete your project and turn in a final report, you're named an MIT THINK Scholar.
How do you apply to MIT THINK?
You apply in three steps:
Fill out the Google Form with your personal details and short-answer responses. The short answers cover your personal interest in the project, which used to be its own section in the proposal.
Decide whether to work alone or with one partner. If you have a partner, one of you fills out the form once and adds the other person's information.
Upload your proposal as a PDF.
The formatting rules are strict, and ignoring them can get you disqualified:
Use 12-point Times New Roman or Arial.
Double-space with 1-inch margins. 1.5 spacing isn't allowed.
Keep it to 10 pages. Your references don't count toward that limit.
Cite any image or diagram you didn't make yourself, and put tables and figures in the body of your text.
Use APA style, with in-text citations and a References section at the end.
If you have questions, email think@mit.edu.
What should your MIT THINK proposal include?
Your proposal follows a set outline:
Title: Your project name, your name, and your school.
Abstract: Up to 250 words on the problem, your goals, and how you'll carry out the project.
Idea: The problem and why it matters, backed by published research. Explain what current solutions do, where they fall short, and how yours improves on them.
Plan: Your steps, with diagrams or calculations where they help. Include the materials and support you need, milestones and how you'll test your work, at least three risks with a plan for each, a timeline, your progress so far, and how THINK's funding will help. If you have a partner, explain how you'll split the work.
Budget: A table listing each item, the quantity, the cost, and supplier links. Estimate anything with a variable cost.
References: Every source you used, in APA format.
One part matters more than the rest. You have to explain what THINK's funding and mentorship will do for your project, because proposals that skip this won't advance. If academic writing is new to you, our guide on how to write a research paper in high school covers literature reviews, methods, and citations.
How is MIT THINK judged?
A panel of MIT undergraduates scores your proposal on five criteria:
Impact: Is your problem relevant, important, or interesting?
Innovation: Is your solution creative, and how does it improve on existing work?
Clarity: Are your goals, methods, and timeline easy to follow, and can your results be measured reliably?
Feasibility: Can you finish within budget and in one semester?
Benefit: How much will THINK's funding and mentorship help you finish?
Keep these five words next to you while you write. If a paragraph doesn't support at least one of them, cut it.
How to win MIT THINK: 10 tips for a stronger proposal
Nothing guarantees a spot, but these tips follow the official guidelines and what Lumiere mentors see in strong proposals.
Pick a problem you can put numbers on. Say how big it is and who it affects. Some of the best ideas come from problems you run into every day.
Read before you settle on a solution. Search journals and databases, and cite what you find. Reviewers want to see that you know what already exists.
Keep the scope realistic. Your plan has to fit one semester and $1,000. Improving a small device you can actually build will impress reviewers far more than a huge idea with no clear path.
Write your "why THINK" answer early. Be specific about what the funding and mentorship will let you do.
Make your milestones measurable. "Improve the app" is vague. "Test it with six users and list five changes" gives reviewers something concrete to check.
Plan for at least three risks. Include safety risks if you're working with hardware or biological materials.
Check the format twice. Font, spacing, margins, page count, and image citations all matter.
Show what you've done so far. A rough prototype or early data shows you can follow through.
Get feedback on your drafts. A teacher, researcher, or mentor can catch weak logic before the reviewers do.
Prepare for the interview. Know your proposal inside out and be ready to explain why the problem matters to you.
What a Lumiere finalist learned from the process
To understand the entire process from somebody who has actually done it, we spoke to Lumiere alumnus and MIT Think finalist, Ojas Gupta.
Ojas worked on a multi-modal low-cost elemental analyzer using LIBS, using osteoporosis as a test case. Besides osteoporosis diagnostics, this non-invasive chemical analyzer could also be used for daily health monitoring and early detection of numerous chronic diseases.
He spent about two months on his application, including two weeks of nearly full-time work over winter break. Most of that time went into finding the right idea. Once his research was done, the writing came quickly. He split brainstorming into two parts: finding a problem worth solving, then finding a solution. A quick chat with a doctor confirmed the problem was real, and hours on Google and PubMed led him to the laser-based approach. He also built a rough prototype before he submitted and kept collecting data right up to his interview.
His Lumiere mentor set him a weekly brainstorming schedule and helped him figure out which ideas were realistic. In the interview, he said, the reviewers mostly wanted to see that he understood his proposal and cared about the problem.
His cycle ran online, and since his project was so specialized, he did most of the technical work on his own. He finished it the following summer and presented it at an international conference that fall. His advice: think of THINK as a stepping stone, and plan for conferences and publishing from day one. Keep in mind that this is one student's experience from an earlier year, so yours may be different.
How does MIT THINK compare with other top science competitions?
If you're weighing MIT THINK against other big names, the main difference is what you submit. Some competitions accept an idea you haven't built yet, while others expect finished research.
Program | What you submit | Who can apply | Cost | What top entrants get | Deadline |
A proposal for a project you haven't built yet | Full-time high school students with permanent U.S. residency | No application fee listed | Up to $1,000 in reimbursements, weekly mentorship, and a trip to MIT | TBA (previous cohort: November 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026) | |
A finished, original research project plus a detailed application | High school seniors | No application fee | Top 300 scholars receive $2,000 each; the top award is $250,000 | November 5, 2026, 8 p.m. ET | |
A finished project, entered through an ISEF-affiliated fair | Students in grades 9 to 12 who qualify at an affiliated fair | Varies by local fair | Over $9 million in awards, including two $75,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Awards | Set by your local fair; ISEF runs May 8 to 14, 2027, in Los Angeles | |
A proposal for a DNA experiment to run in space | U.S. students in grades 7 to 12, alone or in teams of up to four | Free | The winning experiment is carried out on the International Space Station; finalists work with MIT and Harvard mentors | TBA (previous cohort: closed April 10, 2026) |
If you have an idea and need help building it, MIT THINK and Genes in Space are the best fit. If you already have finished research, look at Regeneron STS if you're a senior, or Regeneron ISEF through your local fair. For more options, see our list of science research competitions for high school students.
Is MIT THINK prestigious, and is it worth applying?
We rate MIT Think as a very selective competition. Upto 6 finalists are selected each year. Even if 100 students apply every year (it’s probably more), that would give the MIT think acceptance rate of 6% or less.
It's a weaker fit if you already have finished research, since competitions like Regeneron STS and Regeneron ISEF are built for that. You also can't apply without permanent U.S. residence. Even if you don't make the finals, writing a serious proposal teaches you how real research gets planned and funded, and you can reuse that work for other competitions.
Want one-on-one help with your own research?
If you'd like steady support while you develop a research idea, the Lumiere Research Scholar Program pairs you with a researcher from a top university. In the 12-week Individual Research Program, you meet nine times with a PhD fellow or postdoc and twice with a writing coach, and you finish with a college-level research paper. The program is fully virtual, and need-based financial aid is available if you qualify. The Winter Cohort deadline is November 15, 2026.
More related guides from Lumiere
STEM Competitions for High School Students: More science, math, and engineering contests to add to your list.
The Ultimate Guide to the Genes in Space Challenge: A closer look at another competition that judges your proposal.
Research Competitions for High School Students: A broader list that includes contests for finished research.
Questions you might still have about MIT THINK
1. Can my project be purely software, or do I need access to a lab?
It can be purely software. The sample proposal in the official guidelines is a computational project that only budgets for a graphics card. As long as your plan fits one semester and $1,000, you don't need a lab to apply.
2. Will I come out of this with a published paper?
Not automatically. Finalists finish by turning in a detailed final report and presenting their results to the program team, fellow finalists, and other MIT students. If you want to publish, you can use that report as a starting point for submitting to a journal or conference later.
3. How much time does the project take if I'm picked as a finalist?
Plan for about one semester. Decisions come out in February, and projects are due in June, with weekly mentor meetings, weekly progress reports, and a final report by the end of spring. If you want options that fit more easily around school, check our list of online STEM competitions for high school students.
4. Do I need to live near MIT to take part?
No. You apply online, finalist mentorship happens over video calls, and the trip to campus is fully paid for when it runs. If you'd like a research experience you can do entirely from home, the Lumiere Research Scholar Program pairs you one-on-one with a PhD mentor to write your own research paper online.