9 Online Coding Programs for High School Students
If you're a high school student interested in coding and technology, participating in an online coding program can help you begin your professional journey. Online coding programs allow you to refine your skills, learn from professionals, and contribute to real-world projects. Such experiences can also enhance your academic prospects by highlighting your commitment to both theoretical and hands-on learning. By demonstrating your interest and initiative, these programs look great on college applications!
Coding has a wide range of applications in various domains, including software development, data analysis, AI, ML, game development, web development, mobile app development, robotics, cybersecurity, bioinformatics, financial analysis, and more. To help you get started, here are 9 online coding programs for high school students that you can consider!
1. Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost: $2,290 for the 10-week AI Scholars program | $5,400 for the 15-week AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase | $6,900 for both. Need-based financial aid is available for AI Scholars. You can apply here.
Application deadline: On a rolling basis. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November).
Program dates: Multiple 12-15-week cohorts throughout the year, including spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Eligibility: High school students. AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI Scholars program or exhibit experience with AI concepts or Python.
Veritas AI, founded and run by Harvard graduate students, offers programs 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. You can also check out some examples of past projects here.
Location: Virtual. In-person camps are also held at multiple locations.
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: Typically in late March
Dates: Multiple 2-week sessions available between June 3 and August 16
Eligibility: Girls and gender-expansive teens between the ages of 13-18 years with an interest in technology. No prior coding experience is required.
Kode with Klossy offers free 2-week coding camps for students who are typically underrepresented in the STEM fields. These camps are available both in-person and virtually. During the camp, you will select one course from the following four:
Web Development—You will learn how to create websites using three programming languages—JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. You'll also learn how to make websites that work well on different devices, make sure people with disabilities can use them, and make the websites easier and more enjoyable to use.
Mobile App—You will learn to code in Apple’s programming language, Swift, using the SwiftUI framework. You will also learn to use Xcode to create fully functioning mobile apps for iOS.
Machine Learning—You will learn the basics of artificial intelligence and machine learning, including algorithms, data sets, and natural language processing. The course also includes training on how to create a chatbot using Python.
Data Science—In this course, you will learn to analyze data using SQL, Python, and data visualization tools to gain valuable insights.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,975. Limited need-based scholarships are available.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in June or whenever slots fill up. Applications will open in early October.
Dates: June 17–July 26
Eligibility: All 8th-12th graders can apply.
The MehtA+ Machine Learning Bootcamp is a virtual 6-week camp led by engineers from MIT and Stanford that introduces high school students to basic and advanced concepts in data science. During the program, you will learn the math behind different AI, machine learning, and deep learning models. You'll also learn various data processing techniques and how to train your own complex AI models. For your midterm and final project, you'll work in groups of 3-4 and engage in machine learning research with a university or independently. You will write and publish your research papers online and present a research poster to university professors at the annual MehtA+ Machine Learning conference.
Location: Virtual. Opportunities are also available in the Greater Seattle area, WA.
Cost/Stipend: No cost; some projects offer stipends.
Application Deadline: April 22
Dates: Vary depending on the opportunity, typically between May and August (~ 8–12 weeks).
Eligibility: High school students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and reside in the United States can apply.
The Spark Summer Mentorship Program offers internships for high school students. When applying to the program, you can select 1 to 5 projects based on your interests. Past research topics include software engineering, sensor data processing, data engineering AI for real-world problems, and more. SparkSMP offers several remote projects where you’ll get to study the performance of different designs for an identification problem or use applications of AI/ML to build effective solutions for challenges faced by the industry. The program allows you to interact with industry leaders, university professors, and mentors from diverse organizations. This program is highly competitive, with an acceptance rate of approximately 3–5%. To learn more about this program, check out our complete guide here.
Location: Virtual or in-person at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: $4,920 (Residential) | $3,077 (Virtual). Need- and merit-based scholarships are available for California residents.
Application Deadline: June 1
Dates: Session A: July 8–July 19 (Virtual) | Session B: July 21–August 3 (In-person) | Session C: August 4 – August 17 (In-person)
Eligibility: Students at least 15 years old by June 24, in grades 9–12, with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher can apply.
The UCLA Game Lab Summer Institute introduces high school students to game design and helps them learn techniques and tools to create both analog and digital games. This two-week program is taught by UCLA Game Lab alumni and consists of four courses in game development. These classes focus on learning game design fundamentals, creating compelling characters, building game worlds, and programming games. You will create complete games or game assets in each of the four classes and develop game art that you can include in your college applications. You will also have the opportunity to earn four units of UC credit.
Location: Both virtual and in-person (Columbia University, NY) options are offered.
Cost: $2,810 (one-week session) | $3,960 (two-week session).
Application Deadline: TBA; Varies depending on the course.
Dates: One and two-week online courses between July 1 and August 9
Eligibility: High school students who will be in 9th-12th grades in the fall can apply.
Columbia’s Pre-College Summer Sessions offer high school students various technology-based online courses to choose from, with durations ranging from 1 to 2 weeks. The online courses listed here cover the fundamentals of computer science and coding like Java, C, and Python, as well as various applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning. If you’re interested in coding, you can choose ‘Introduction to AI: Search Algorithms,’ where you will learn the history of artificial intelligence and how to build functioning programs in Python and Java. You can also opt for ‘Data Science and Machine Learning,’ where you will gain experience in introductory coding using Python and learn to use popular machine learning algorithms.
Location: Virtual or in-person at MIT, Cambridge, MA
Cost: $1,750 for families earning more than $150,000; free for all other accepted participants.
Application Deadline: March 31
Dates: July 8–August 4
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9-11 attending school in the U.S. can apply.
The MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute offers STEM courses in a workshop format. Some of the online courses offered in the field of coding and AI include Remote Sensing for Disaster Response, Serious Games Development with Artificial Intelligence (SGAI), and Quantum Software.
In the "Remote Sensing for Disaster Response" course, you'll learn to use Python to process geospatial data and satellite imagery and analyze networks for emergency management applications. It involves GIS, remote sensing, image processing, and deep learning to respond to disaster situations.
In the "Serious Games Development with Artificial Intelligence" course, you will learn about game design, teamwork, and coding. You will work in groups to create a mod for a game to explore a socially relevant research question.
In the “Quantum Software” course, you will learn about quantum computation concepts through practical coding exercises. You will also learn to develop and test a quantum algorithm as a software program.
To learn more about this program, check out our complete guide here.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $4,000; Financial aid is available.
Application Deadline: February 20
Dates: July 8–July 26
Eligibility: Current 9th-grade students (rising 10th graders) can apply.
Stanford AI4ALL is a three-week virtual program for high school students interested in artificial intelligence (AI). During the program, you will participate in lectures, research projects, and mentoring activities. You will learn about the application of AI in medicine, disaster response, and combating poverty. This program will help you understand the impact of AI on society and its potential to address important issues. You will be mentored by AI faculty and senior AI researchers and attend online lectures by experts. You’ll work on group research projects led by graduate students and postdocs and attend social events with Stanford AI graduate students.
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: Free (For the Summer Immersion Program, there is a $300 need-based grant for eligible students in the United States).
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March
Dates: Girls Who Code offers two programs in the summer:
Virtual Summer Immersion Program: June 14–June 28 | July 8–July 19 | July 29–August 9
Self-Paced Summer Program: July 1–August 9
Eligibility: 9th–11th-grade girls and non-binary students (Virtual Summer Immersion Program) / 9th–12th-grade girls and non-binary students (Self-Paced Summer Program), with or without prior coding experience, including alums, can apply.
Girls Who Code offers free virtual programs for high school students. During the program, you will learn about various tech jobs, meet industry leaders, and interact with peers. These programs provide various benefits, such as professional networking opportunities, financial grants, technical support, and more. In the 2-week Summer Immersion Program (SIP), you’ll attend live, virtual classes on tech and game design, the step-by-step design process, and the basics of UX design. In the Self-Paced Program, you’ll learn about cyber security, web development, artificial intelligence, and data science. You’ll work at your own pace to learn coding languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python. To learn more about this program, check out our complete guide here.
One other option - the Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you’re interested in pursuing independent research, you could also consider applying to one of the Lumiere Research Scholar Programs, selective online high school programs for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4000 students apply 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. Last year, we had 150 students on full need-based financial aid!
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.