15 Best Computer Science Programs for High School Students
If you are interested in computer science, it is important to gain more exposure to it than high school lectures can provide. Computer science programs give you more than a foundation in code; they put you alongside working researchers, industry engineers, and peers who are just as driven as you to produce real outputs. You will build projects that address genuine problems, earn mentorship from people actively shaping the field, and leave with credentials that reflect depth of commitment rather than participation. A number of highly selective opportunities at prestigious universities and technology companies offer access to experienced faculty and professionals, advanced academic and professional settings, and connections that can serve you in college and beyond.
What are the benefits of a computer science program?
The work you will take on in a serious CS program goes further than anything a typical high school class covers. The best of these programs offer opportunities to train machine learning models on real datasets, explore network security through cybersecurity labs, contribute to live university research in computer vision or natural language processing, or prototype autonomous systems with a team of peers. They place you in research labs, where your contributions feed into ongoing faculty work and potentially reach scientific journals. You will write technical reports, present findings to expert panels, and learn to work through problems without known answers.
To help you find the right option, we have narrowed down the 15 best computer science programs for high school students.
If you’re looking for online summer programs, check out our blog here.
1. Research Science Institute (RSI) @ MIT
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, Cambridge, MA
Cost: Free apart from a non-refundable $75 application fee (waivers available)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: ~2.5% acceptance rate; 80 – 100 students/year
Dates: Six weeks in the summer
Application deadline: Mid-December
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors, ages 16 and up
RSI is a summer program for high schoolers with an acceptance rate comparable to that of MIT's undergraduate program. The six-week residential experience opens with a week of college-level STEM coursework across mathematics, computer science, engineering, and the natural sciences, taught by MIT’s accomplished faculty. You will spend four weeks on individual, mentor-guided research, working with a scientist from MIT, Harvard Medical School, or an affiliated Boston-area institution on a genuine open research question. CS-track students have worked in areas including machine learning, algorithm design, computational biology, and systems engineering. The final week is dedicated to writing and presenting, where you must submit both a formal research paper and a conference-style oral presentation to be judged by a panel of scientists who are former RSI participants.
2. Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Multiple 12 – 15-week cohorts throughout the year
Application deadline: Rolling enrollment; deadlines vary by cohort: Summer (May), Fall (September), Spring (January), and Winter (November). You can check details and apply to the program here.
Eligibility: High school students; AI Fellowship with Publication and Showcase accepts previous AI Scholars participants or those with some experience working with AI or Python.
Veritas AI, founded and run by Harvard graduate students, offers various online programs for high school students passionate about artificial intelligence. If you are looking to get started with AI, ML, and data science, you can choose the AI Scholars program. Through this 10-session boot camp, you will learn about the fundamentals of AI and data science and get a chance to work on real-world projects. Another track for more advanced students is the AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase. During this program, you will get a chance to work 1:1 with mentors from top universities on a unique, individual project. A key feature of this program is that it offers you access to the in-house publication team to help you secure publications in high school research journals. You can check out some examples of past projects here and read about a student’s experience in the program here.
3. CMU Summer Academy for Math and Science (SAMS)
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; typically, ~60 – 80 students/year
Dates: June 20 – August 1
Application deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Current high school juniors, ages 16 and up, who are U.S. citizens/permanent residents; the program strongly encourages students underrepresented in STEM, first-generation college students, English-language learners, and students from schools with historically low college acceptance rates
SAMS is CMU's longest-running fully funded pre-college program for students from underrepresented communities in STEM. The six-week residential curriculum draws from CMU's undergraduate CS and applied math offerings, with quantitative and computational skill seminars at its core, taught by CMU faculty and guided by graduate student mentors. You will work on STEM projects proposed by faculty, complete problem sets, and present at a final research symposium. You will focus on learning mathematics that is central to building a solid understanding of computer science. Weekly seminars on college applications, FAFSA, and financial aid planning run alongside the academic content, and family-facing sessions are organized to support the college search process. A virtual component continues after the summer, offering further enrichment and information sessions. Living on CMU's campus for six weeks gives you firsthand exposure to what a CMU undergraduate experience looks like.
4. Lumiere Research Scholar Program: Computer Science Track
Location: Remote! You can participate in the program from anywhere in the world.
Cost: Varies depending on program type; full financial aid available.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Varies by cohort: summer, winter, fall, and spring. Options range from 12 weeks to a year.
Application deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort
Eligibility: Students in high school who demonstrate a high level of academic achievement
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities across a wide range of subject areas for high schoolers to explore. The program pairs you with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the program, you will have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as computer science, data science, engineering, chemistry, psychology, physics, international relations, economics, and more. You can find more details about the application here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
5. MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI)
Location: Online or MIT campus, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cost: Free for families with an income under $200,000; $2,400 otherwise
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Four weeks during the summer (July – August) + prerequisite online course in the spring
Application deadline: Typically, the end of March
Eligibility: High school students currently in grades 9 – 11 residing and attending school in the United States
BWSI is a joint program of MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the MIT School of Engineering that allows high school students to enroll in project-based technology and engineering courses. You will first enroll in and complete a self-paced online prerequisite course, and based on your performance, you will get to attend the summer program. If accepted, you will spend four weeks building and testing real systems in teams, guided by MIT researchers and Lincoln Laboratory engineers, with a final project or inter-course competition at the end. Many courses cover computer science and its applications. For instance, you can choose the Autonomous RACECAR Grand Prix course to program robotic cars using computer vision and sensor fusion. Other options include Serious Game Development with AI, Autonomous Cognitive Assistance (CogWorks), Embedded Security and Hardware Hacking, Cybersecurity in Software Intensive Systems, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, and Quantum Software.
6. Carnegie Mellon University’s AI Scholars (AIS)
Location: Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: Fully funded
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: June 20 – July 18
Application deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors who are at least 16 and U.S. citizens/permanent residents
AI Scholars is CMU's fully funded program for rising seniors with financial need who want a substantive first encounter with artificial intelligence, one of the pinnacle applications of computer science. The four-week residential experience centers on college-level courses from CMU faculty covering machine learning fundamentals, neural networks, and applied AI. Instruction is led by the same faculty teaching CMU’s undergraduate cohort. You will work in teams throughout on project-based assignments that culminate in a final symposium presentation. Additionally, you will participate in field trips to Pittsburgh tech companies to see how AI is built and deployed outside a university. Weekly seminars on college applications, financial aid, and professional development are built into the schedule.
7. Texas Tech University’s Anson L. Clark Scholars Program
Location: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Cost/Stipend: $25 application fee; $750 stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 12 students/year
Dates: June 21 – August 6
Application deadline: February 16
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors and graduating seniors, ages 17 and up, with demonstrated academic ability
With 12 spots and roughly 700 applicants each year, Clark Scholars is one of the most selective undergraduate-caliber research programs open to high school students in the country. You will be matched one-on-one with a Texas Tech faculty mentor and spend seven weeks working on an ongoing research project in a chosen field. CS track students have previously worked on projects in machine learning, GPU energy consumption modeling, and algorithm design. Weekly seminars on research methodologies, scientific communication, and academic careers run alongside daily research, and field trips are organized throughout the summer. You will produce a formal research report and present findings at a closing event.
8. CMU CS Scholars (CSS)
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: Fully funded
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: June 20 – July 18
Application deadline: February 1
Eligibility: High school sophomores, ages 16 and up, who are U.S. citizens/permanent residents
CS Scholars is designed for 10th graders who are curious about computer science but may not have had meaningful access to it. The four-week residential program delivers college-level programming instruction in Python and applied mathematics, led by CMU faculty. You will work on group research projects that solve real computational problems, build and present a capstone project at a closing symposium, participate in a personal statement writing workshop, and attend seminars on financial aid and academic planning. Visits to CS companies and direct mentorship from CMU graduate students are also part of the program. Students who complete CS Scholars and demonstrate a strong desire to continue may receive an invitation to return the following year for CMU's AI Scholars program.
9. Stanford AI4ALL
Location: Virtual or at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Cost: Online: $4,120 | Residential: $9,800; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive
Dates: Online: June 15 – 26 | Residential: July 19 – 31
Application deadline: February 6
Eligibility: Current 9th graders/rising 10th graders over the age of 14 by the start of the program
Hosted by Stanford's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute (HAI) and Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies, this two-week program introduces 9th graders to AI through direct engagement with Stanford researchers. You will explore AI applications through one of four research tracks: Computer Vision, Medical AI, Natural Language Processing, or Robotics. You will join an assigned group and work toward a final group project. The instruction comes from Stanford AI Lab faculty and affiliated researchers, with graduate students leading small-group research. Past projects have applied CV to medical image analysis and used NLP to examine bias in text data.
10. MITES Summer
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: Late June – early August (six weeks)
Application deadline: February 2
Eligibility: High school juniors who are U.S. citizens/permanent residents
MITES Summer places rising seniors on MIT's campus for six weeks of college-level STEM coursework. You will take five courses, namely math, life sciences, physics, humanities, and one project-based elective, at a pace that mirrors MIT undergraduate academics, with midterms in week three and finals in week six. Electives in the past have included Machine Learning, Engineering Design, Genomics, and Electronics. You will spend six or more hours per day on work outside scheduled class time. Lab tours, STEM professional-led seminars, and college admissions counseling by MIT staff are integrated throughout the program. Instructors will write a personalized evaluation of your performance at the end of the six weeks, which can be a substantive, individualized assessment that you can reference in college applications and academic recommendations.
11. Stony Brook University’s Simons Summer Research Program
Location: Stony Brook, New York
Cost/Stipend: No tuition; optional residential fee: $2,450 | A stipend is offered.
Acceptance rate: ~5%
Dates: June 29 – August 7
Application deadline: February 5
Eligibility: High school juniors, ages 16 and up, who are U.S. citizens/permanent residents; a school nomination is required, and each school can nominate no more than two students.
The Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook matches high school students with university faculty mentors for seven weeks of original laboratory research across a range of disciplines, including computer science. You will be paired one-on-one with a faculty researcher and spend the summer contributing to their active lab, which may feature computational projects, data science, and algorithmic research. Weekly seminars and a final symposium where you present your findings to faculty, graduate students, and fellow participants round out the program. You can choose to live on the campus to get early exposure to college life.
12. Princeton AI4ALL
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; small cohorts (30 students in the past cohort)
Dates: July 9 – 30 (tentative)
Application deadline: April 9 (tentative)
Eligibility: Rising 11th graders living in the U.S. or Puerto Rico who either have a household income under $60,000, or are eligible for free/reduced price lunch in high school
Run by the Princeton CS Department and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy in partnership with the AI4ALL organization, this three-week residential program is designed to help you explore AI basics, applications, and potential impact over the course of three weeks. You will explore machine learning fundamentals through Princeton faculty lectures, small-group research projects led by graduate students, and a two-day field trip to Washington, D.C., where you meet with policymakers and organizations working on AI governance and regulation. Past research projects have included NLP-based fake news detection and CV models for biodiversity analysis. The curriculum is designed to offer technical exposure and an understanding of how AI decisions ripple into law and policy.
13. NYU Tandon ARISE (Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering)
Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free; $2,000 stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: Remote workshops: June 1 – 25; Lab experience: July 6 – August 14
Application deadline: February 27
Eligibility: NYC residents currently in 10th or 11th grade
ARISE places you inside an active NYU research lab for the summer. The first four weeks are remote evening workshops covering research ethics, scientific communication, and data collection methods. The following six weeks are full-time in-person lab work, five days a week, alongside faculty and doctoral students. CS-focused tracks have historically included machine learning, responsible data science, privacy and security automation, computer vision, natural language processing, and urban informatics. The program concludes with a formal research colloquium and includes public speaking training and college advising workshops throughout.
14. George Mason University’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP)
Location: Virtual or George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Cost: $25 application fee + $1,299 tuition; need-based waivers available
Acceptance rate: Selective; exact details not specified
Dates: June 18 – August 12
Application deadline: February 15
Eligibility: High school students over the age of 15
ASSIP places you with a George Mason faculty mentor for eight weeks of full-time research. CS and data science placements involve work related to machine learning, computer vision, large language models, robotics, cybersecurity, and urban AI. The eight weeks end with the annual ASSIP Research Symposium, where you will present your work to an academic audience. As a participant, you will also earn three letter-graded undergraduate credits from George Mason University.
15. University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Global Youth Program: AI Leadership
Location: Wharton San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Cost: $8,959 + $100 non-refundable application fee; need-based scholarships available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: July 5 – 17
Application deadline: Priority: January 28; final: March 18
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9 – 11; selection is based on a record of excellent academic performance and demonstrated interest in tech advancement and leadership.
The AI Leadership program is a nine-day residential program at Wharton's San Francisco campus, where you will explore how artificial intelligence affects business and society. Topics covered include ethical and governance issues in AI, practical use of tools like ChatGPT, the fundamentals of machine learning and generative AI, and AI's role in content creation and media. The daily schedule typically consists of lectures, small-group activities, and afternoon visits to AI firms in the Bay Area. The program ends with a team-based final project where you will apply AI tools to a real business problem and present your solution. At the end, you will receive a Wharton Global Youth Certificate of Completion.