“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.”
If you’re a teen aiming for a top college, believe it or not, it’s time to plan for summer. Attending summer programs offer amazing growth experiences and more clarity about possible future college majors and careers. Furthermore, competitive colleges expect much more than just excellent grades and test scores. They want to see teens develop their interests uniquely and deeply. Summer and extracurricular activities are a key way of demonstrating that.
But not any summer program or extracurricular activity will do. It’s important to find the right summer programs and activities that will really give you an edge. To help students and their parents choose among the many options, we’ve gathered a list of some of our favorite programs with upcoming deadlines. I hope this gives you new ideas for planning a summer that contributes to both personal growth and admissions success!
For a full list, enroll in our summer planning program.
Recommended Programs with Upcoming Deadlines
| Program Name | Category | Description | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stony Brook Accelerated College Education (ACE) Program | Pre-College, Various | Stony Brook’s ACE Program provides students with the academic challenges of a college-level curriculum within the high school setting. | Oct. 18 |
| Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) | Economics/Finance, Government/Political Science, Law, Philosophy, Pre-College, STEM | YYGS is an academic enrichment program for outstanding high school students from around the world. | EA: Nov. 3 |
| Stanford High School Summer College | Pre-College, Various | Study with a dynamic, diverse student body from more than 40 countries in small classes with dedicated instructors, with the opportunity to earn credit and an official transcript from Stanford. | ED: Dec. 3 |
| MIT THINK Scholars Program | Engineering, Math, Research, Robotics, Science, STEM, Tech | Selected finalists have weekly mentorship meetings with THINK team members for technical guidance, helpful resources, and updates on the projects progress and are given up to $1,000 in funding for their project. | Jan. 1 |
| Brown Leadership Institute | Leadership, Pre-College, Social Justice | Through the Brown Leadership Institute—no matter your current level of engagement—you’ll increase your ability and effectiveness in advancing social justice. | ED: Jan. 14 |
| Summer@Brown | Pre-College, Various | Choose from more than 200 non-credit courses reflecting the wide range of Brown University’s Open Curriculum that challenge you with new perspectives on how you work, how you learn, and how you live. | ED: Jan. 14 |
| Interlochen Arts Camp | Art, Dance, Film, Music, Theatre, Writing | Located in beautiful northwest Michigan, Interlochen Arts Camp offers summer programs for grades 3-12. | Jan. 15 |
| Summer STEM Institute (SSI) | Research, STEM | SSI is an international program that provides academically talented and highly motivated students the opportunity to learn through a data science and research bootcamp, a Masterclass lecture series, weekend challenges, and a mentored research project. | ED: Jan. 15 |
| UChicago Summer Session | Various | In these undergraduate-level courses, you will get personalized attention from faculty, researchers, and other professionals who will lead you through workshop discussions, research projects, and other activities. | Priority: Jan. 20 |
| Notre Dame Pre-College Programs | Leadership, Pre-College, Various | Notre Dame offers exceptional high school students a true college experience on campus, abroad, and virtually! | Jan. 24 & Feb. 21 |
| Harvard Pre-College Program | Pre-College, Various | Test your intellect without the pressure of letter grades. You will be challenged by Ivy League scholars as you immerse yourself in one subject in a small class of around 20 students. | ED: Jan. 26 |
| Carnegie Mellon Pre-College | Pre-College, Various | Our Pre-College program, which mirrors the undergraduate experience, gives rising juniors and seniors the opportunity to explore their interests while receiving instruction from acclaimed Carnegie Mellon faculty and staff. | ED: Feb. 9 |
| BU RISE Internship/Practicum | Astronomy, Coding/Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Psychology, Research, Science, STEM | You will spend six weeks at BU conducting university laboratory research with some of the nation’s brightest scientific minds while advancing your STEM knowledge and skills. | Feb. 14 |
| Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience (CNI-X) | Healthcare/Medicine | Students attend a two-week (10-day) session which provides introductory exposure to fascinating topics in neuroscience, psychiatry and psychology plus an opportunity to complete a collaborative capstone project. | Feb. 15 |
| Clinical Science, Technology and Medicine Summer Internships | Healthcare/Medicine, Internship | Our two-week medical internships for high school students and premedical students begins with a broad overview of health care, framed within the perspective of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine. | ED: Feb. 15 |
| COSMOS | STEM | Talented and motivated students completing grades 8-12 have the opportunity to work with renowned faculty, researchers and scientists in state-of-the-art facilities, while exploring advanced STEM topics far beyond the courses usually offered in California high schools. | Feb. 19 |
| California State Summer School for Arts (CSSSA) | Art, Dance, Film, Music, Theatre, Writing | CSSSA is a rigorous pre-professional training program in the visual and performing arts, creative writing, animation, and film for talented artists of high school age. | Feb. 26 |
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