Opportunities for high-school students
Verified programs for grades 9–12, each linked to its official page. Browse them all, or answer a few questions to get a path built around your interests and time.
One standout, plus two more directions to follow.
U.S. House of Representatives
Build an original app for any platform and compete against peers in your congressional district. Winning apps are exhibited in the U.S. Capitol.
Six-week research program on MIT's campus pairing juniors with a mentor for original STEM research, capped by a formal presentation. Free, including room and board; seniors are not eligible.
Propose a STEM research or engineering project you haven't built yet; finalists get up to $1,000 in funding, weekly MIT mentorship, and an all-expenses-paid trip to MIT. Free to apply, solo or in pairs.
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Space Center Houston · Competition
Art of Problem Solving Foundation · Competition
NASA and Future Engineers · Competition
Mathematical Association of America · Competition
Society for Science · Competition
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Programs currently listed without tuition costs
Build an original app for any platform and compete against peers in your congressional district. Winning apps are exhibited in the U.S. Capitol.
Six-week research program on MIT's campus pairing juniors with a mentor for original STEM research, capped by a formal presentation. Free, including room and board; seniors are not eligible.
Propose a STEM research or engineering project you haven't built yet; finalists get up to $1,000 in funding, weekly MIT mentorship, and an all-expenses-paid trip to MIT. Free to apply, solo or in pairs.
Global venture pitch competition with business and social innovation tracks and a $100K prize pool. Teams of 2-4 students need one adult advisor; finalists compete at the Limitless World Summit.
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Two-week online introduction to corporate valuation, venture capital, and alternative investments, taught by Wharton faculty.
Four-week residential program at a UC campus. Students join a research cluster — robotics, AI, marine science, and more — alongside university faculty.
NASA-funded research internship using real mission data in astronomy, planetary science, and remote sensing, with a two-week on-site stay in Austin plus virtual projects. For U.S. citizens in 10th or 11th grade who are 16 by the start. Selected students attend on scholarship or as fee-based participants, and travel scholarships may be available. The 2026 deadline was February 22 and the next cycle is not announced; the program says its future depends on funding.
Four-week project-based summer program at MIT in AI, autonomous racing, radar, and satellites. Admission requires finishing a free online prerequisite course that opens in winter; tuition is free under $200,000 family income.
Design a DNA-based biotechnology experiment addressing a real challenge of space exploration — the winning proposal is actually run by astronauts aboard the ISS. Free, solo or in teams of up to five.
The world's largest pre-college science fair. You qualify by winning at an affiliated regional or state fair, not by applying directly.
Girls and gender-expansive students build a mobile app or AI project addressing a community problem with a volunteer mentor, then submit code, a demo, and a business pitch. Free, and you can register without a school program.
All-expenses-paid, multi-day program at Jane Street's New York office introducing women, transgender, and gender-expansive juniors and seniors to quantitative trading and software engineering. No finance background required.
Teams get a common kit of parts and about six weeks to build an industrial-size robot for the season's game. You join through a school or community team rather than applying individually; the team pays the season fee.
Eight-week mentored research placement in a Stanford lab spanning immunology, cancer biology, neuroscience, and bioengineering. Free, with special consideration for Bay Area students.
Eight-week wet-lab genomics research internship with a Stanford mentor, free apart from a waivable $55 application fee. You must be 16+ with a 3.0 GPA and live in one of six Bay Area counties.
Two-week immersion in neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychology taught by Stanford faculty, ending in a capstone project. Offered on campus and virtually, with scholarships available.
Free one-week residential camp at the SLAC and Stanford campuses with job shadowing, hands-on projects, and career sessions led by lab scientists. Ages 14-17 in a set list of Northern and Central California counties.
Paid six-week internship ($500/week) working about 30-35 hours a week with Berkeley Lab scientists on real projects in data science, coding, or experimentation. Northern California students who turn 16 by mid-June, with priority near the Berkeley site.
Tuition-free five-week science, medicine, and public health program admitting a small cohort of juniors. Limited to low-income and/or first-generation students in Northern and Central California.
Free two-week summer newsroom intensive at SJSU where about 20 mostly Bay Area students report, write, shoot, and produce work that gets published. Requires work samples and full attendance.
A 17-member commission that is the official youth voice in City Hall, advising the Mayor and Board of Supervisors on youth budget and policy over a year-long term. Open to San Francisco residents ages 12-23.
Statewide competition where school teams argue a hypothetical criminal case in real courtrooms before sitting judges, including Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco, and Contra Costa counties. Join through your school's team.
Paid part-time museum job in San Francisco (about $19.61/hour, ~7.5 hours a week) where teens lead demonstrations and staff exhibits after 60+ hours of training. Ages 15-18, no science background required; postings open in July and March.
Free 15-month mentorship and technical-training program in Oakland for Black male high schoolers, combining two 7-week summer sessions with year-round coding, entrepreneurship, and leadership training. No prior coding experience required.
In-person academy in Palo Alto where Bay Area students build a startup in teams over about eight weeks and pitch to Silicon Valley judges, with winners advancing toward TYE Global. Seats fill first-come.
Submit an original two-minute video explaining a concept in physics, life sciences, or math, competing for a $250,000 college scholarship. Finalists also peer-review at least five other entries.
National competition for artists ages 15-18 across ten disciplines — writing, visual arts, film, theater, dance, voice, jazz, and more — with awards from $250 to $10,000 plus mentorship. The $35 fee is waivable.
Paid seven-week summer internship across Northern California Kaiser facilities in non-clinical roles like operations, IT, communications, and finance. Ages 16-19 living in a Northern California KP service area; 2027 applications open in November.