13 Free Computer Science Summer Programs for High School Students
If you’re an ambitious high school student either looking for an introduction to CS or to dive deeper into the subject, then this list is for you! We’ve put together 10 fully paid, competitive CS programs for high school students ranging from summer to year-long research programs. Opting for dedicated programs such as these is a great way to learn more about a subject, gain hands-on experience, and show demonstrated interest in your college application.
Here are 13 free CS programs you should consider applying to:
1. Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost:
Need-based financial aid is available for AI Scholars. You can apply here.
Application deadline: On a rolling basis. Winter cohort deadline - December 1, 2024
Program dates: Various according to the cohort
Program selectivity: Moderately selective
Eligibility: Ambitious high school students located anywhere in the world. AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI Scholars program or exhibit experience with AI concepts or Python.
Application Requirements: Online application form, answers to a few questions about the student's background & coding experience, math courses, and areas of interest.
Veritas AI, founded and run by Harvard graduate students, offers programs tailored for high school students who are passionate about artificial intelligence. Students who are looking to get started with AI, ML, and data science would benefit from the AI Scholars program. Through this 10-session boot camp, students are introduced to the fundamentals of AI & data science and get a chance to work on real-world projects.
Another option for more advanced students is the AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase. Through this program, students get a chance to work 1:1 with mentors from top universities on a unique, individual project. A bonus of this program is that students have access to the in-house publication team to help them secure publications in high school research journals. The fellowship encourages students to explore interdisciplinary approaches, enabling them to merge AI with various fields such as finance, medicine, sports, environmental science, and more! You can also check out some examples of past projects here.
2. Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation
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
Students must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement. (Note. students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4)
No previous knowledge of your field of interest is required!
Program Dates: Summer cohort runs from June to August, Fall cohort from September to December, Winter cohort from December to February, Spring from March to June
Cost: Full financial aid available!
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 computer science, data science, AI and ML, psychology, physics, economics, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here!
Location: Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)
Application deadline: March 1, 2024
Program dates: June 22, 2024, to July 20, 2024
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors. You must be a sophomore when submitting your application
Rising high school juniors can apply for CS Scholars, a four-week summer residential program at Carnegie Mellon University. Here, students study college-level coursework and also attend sessions that focus on reading them for college admissions (personal statement writing, applying for financial aid, preparing your portfolio, etc). Course material includes learning to code using Python, and using this framework to explore data structures, algorithmic components, and problem-solving techniques. Carnegie Mellon may invite outstanding CS Scholars to attend their AI Scholars program for high school seniors, which is also fully funded.
Location: Virtual
Application Date: May 21, 2024 for the summer cohort, and September 25, 2024 for the fall cohort
Program Dates:
Summer seminar - June 24, 2024 - September 2, 2024
Fall seminar - October 23, 2024 - February 19, 2025
Lab dates are flexible, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance.
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, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! It is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers a choice between quantitative and qualitative research!
Once you select a particular subject track and type of research you’ll be paired with a professor or Ph.D. scholar (from a top university) who will mentor you throughout your research journey. You’ll work to create a 20-page, university-level research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student.
This program is a solid opportunity for you to pursue a research program in highly specialized fields, under the guidance of a top scholar. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student, as well as detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects and on college applications. Apply here!
5. MIT PRIMES
Location: Virtual, with occasional travel to the MIT campus (Cambridge, MA)
Application deadline: November 30, 2024
Program dates: February 1, 2025, to January 15, 2025
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: All high school students living within the Greater Boston area
MIT PRIMES is a year-long research program where advanced high school students work on either individual or group research projects in mathematics, computer science, or biology and are mentored by MIT graduate or postdoctoral students. The program is highly competitive and, to apply, students must solve a set of questions based on their chosen research interest. You can see previous years’ problem sets here. The program is split into four phases: advanced reading, active research, independent study, and write-up. Students must be able to commit a minimum of 10 hours per week to independent study and research.
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
Application deadline: January 15, 2025 (tentative)
Program dates: June 2025 - July 2025
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Young girls who are rising high school seniors can apply for the program
MIT’s Women Technology Program (WTP) introduces high-achieving high school girls to engineering through a four-week, hands-on summer residential program where they learn about the discipline through classes taught by female graduate students, lab work, and team-building exercises. Interested students can attend either the mechanical engineering track or the electrical engineering and computer science track.
Note: MIT will not have a 2024 cohort for the electrical engineering and computer science track, which will return in 2025
Location: Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX)
Application deadline: February 15, 2024
Program dates: June 16, 2024, to August 1, 2024
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Applicants must be at least 17 years old by the program’s start date (they can be either rising high school seniors or have recently graduated high school)
The Clark Scholars Program is a highly selective and prestigious seven-week summer residential program that accepts only 12 students per cohort. Additionally, Texas Tech pays students a $750 stipend at the end of the program. Successful candidates can choose a research area of interest and benefit from one-on-one mentorship by Texas Tech faculty. Students can choose either the Computer Science or Electrical and Computer Engineering track. Previous Clark scholars’ research projects include Sonnet Xu’s “An Interactive 3D Visualization Tool for Dynamic Synaptic Networks” and Anqi Hu’s “Optimal GPU Frequency Selection: Using Workload-Unique Power and Performance Predictions.” You can see a list of research projects here.
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
Application deadline: March 31, 2024
Program dates: July 8, 2024, to August 4, 2024
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors
The Beaver Works Summer Institute is a four-week summer program for ambitious high school seniors to improve their STEM skills and knowledge through dedicated courses. Some courses include online and in-person components. For computer science, students can choose between
Serious Game Development with AI Use machine learning and game-like modeling to implement socially relevant policy interventions
Embedded Security and Hardware Hacking Learn about programming in Python and C, assembly language, and cryptography. Students will also design a secure system for an internet-based home door lock
Cyber Security in Software Intensive Systems Learn about the different elements involved in cyber security, including intelligence, network defense, digital forensics, malware analysis, and offensive security
Location: New York University (New York, NY)
Application deadline: April 14, 2024
Program dates: July 8, 2024, to August 2, 2024
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Rising high school students in grades 9,10, 11, and 12 who are New York City residents
CS4CS is a four-week summer program for NYC high school students to discover computer science and cybersecurity. During the program, students learn about fundamental cybersecurity concepts like white-hat hacking, cryptography, stenography, digital forensics, privacy, and data usage. You will also learn about technologies used to detect and prevent cyber threats, how to trace threats to their source, learn to code, and how ciphers are used in network security, among other topics.
Location: University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)
Application deadline: January 7, 2024
Program dates: June 9-15, 2024, and July 7-13, 2024
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Rising high school students in grades 10, 11, and 12
The Academy for All with UT Computer Science is a week-long residential program that teaches students the fundamentals of computer science. UT faculty conducts the program. Students also attend sessions dedicated to exploring careers in tech, meetings with industry leaders, and college application prep. The Academy for All has two cohorts that run in June and July respectively:
Standard Edition: learn to code using C++ and use the Arduino microcontroller to develop an LED light show
Machine Learning Edition: learn to code using Python and code and train a machine learning model
UT-Austin also offers need-based scholarships of up to $500 to cover students’ cost of transport to and from the university campus.
Location: University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
Application deadline: April 3, 2024
Program dates: July 8, 2024, to August 4, 2024
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: All high school students
CIC is a four-week program offered by the University of Washington to introduce high school students, especially those who come from underrepresented communities to the fundamentals of computer science and engineering. The program is taught by the university’s undergraduate and graduate students. The coursework includes coding and problem-solving and also includes classes on ethics in tech.
All students receive a $1,500 stipend at the end of the program, and financially deserving students get a $250 gift card for meals.
Location: University of California San Diego (San Diego, CA)
Application deadline: May 10, 2024 (based on the 2023 deadline)
Program dates: June 17, 2024, to August 9, 2024 (tentative dates)
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10,11, or 12 living in Southern California. Applicants must be at least 16 years old by June 15
REHS is a student outreach program offered by UC San Diego Supercomputer Center to introduce more high school students to computer science and its impact on research across different disciplines. Students interested in the program can choose between non-research and research projects. Non-research projects include internships within the Supercomputer Center and learning through hands-on experience, while research projects involve working one-on-one with a mentor, usually faculty members, and assisting them with their research projects.
Note: Students who opt for a research project must pay a $1,500 registration fee.
Location: Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)
Application deadline: March 1, 2024
Program dates: June 22, 2024, to July 20, 2024
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors. You must be a high school junior when you submit your application
AI Scholars is a four-week residential summer program for rising high school seniors that, like the CS Scholars program, includes college-level coursework and college admission prep. Course material here focuses on AI as a social good, and students can attend guest lectures by industry leaders, go on field trips, and participate in workshops and group projects. Students complete a capstone project and present it at the end of the program.
Bonus — the Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you are interested in doing university-level research in CS, then you could also consider applying to the Lumiere Research Scholar Program, a selective online high school program for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, over 4000 students applied for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here.
Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students.
Kieran Lobo is a freelance writer from India, who currently teaches English in Spain.
Image Source: CMU logo