If you are a high school student interested in neuroscience, a program in the field is worth considering. Apart from being a learning experience, a neuroscience program can help you explore your interests before committing to a college degree.
Neuroscience is a broad field that involves the study of the nervous system, but it works closely with fields of psychology, engineering, linguistics, computers, mathematics, and medicine. So, exploring neuroscience as a career path can introduce you to a wide variety of roles in the field.
A program in neuroscience is one way to do that. It is also an opportunity to work with neuroscience professors, researchers, and neuroscientists and develop research, science communication, and presentation skills, which are essential for building a career in the field.
Here we have listed 16 neuroscience summer programs for high school students to help you get started!
Subject areas: Multidisciplinary—neuroscience, computational neuroscience, neurodegenerative diseases, and more.
Location: Virtual
Cost: There is a fee. You can get the exact cost by raising an interest form here.
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (at least 3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, details of which can be found here.
Application deadline: 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
- Horizon lab dates are flexible, but you must apply four weeks in advance.
Horizon Academic offers trimester-long research programs for high school students. While applying, you can choose from subject areas like neuroscience, computational neuroscience, and neurodegenerative diseases. The computational neuroscience track, for instance, introduces the nervous system and then dives deep into topics like the neurophysiology of the neuron, electrophysiological approaches to recording from neurons, and simulations of electrical properties of membrane channels, single cells, and neuronal networks.
During the program, you will be paired with a professor or PhD scholar (from a top university) who will be your mentor throughout your research journey. You will work on a 20-page university-level research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication. HARP is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers a choice between quantitative and qualitative research. So, this program is an opportunity to explore highly specialized fields in great detail under the guidance of a top scholar.
The program also provides a letter of recommendation and detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects and college applications. You can find out more details about the program and apply here!
Subject areas: Biomedical sciences, including, neurobiology, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and genetics and genomics
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Cost/Stipend: No tuition fees. You can earn a minimum stipend of $500. A stipend of $2,500 or above is offered on a needs-based system. Housing and transportation costs are not covered.
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors who are at least 16 years of age can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Program dates: The 8-week program typically runs from June to August
Note: While students anywhere in the country are eligible to apply, the selection team favors local (Bay Area) students due to various grant requirements.
SIMR is a highly competitive research program with an acceptance
rate of approximately 3% and a cohort size of about 50 each year. In this 8-week program, you will get to work one-on-one with a mentor, who is either a Stanford graduate student or a postdoctoral fellow, and engage in research. You can choose from 8 areas of research, including neurobiology.
The program begins with orientation and then involves two weeks of morning lectures and lab work. Special joint lectures, lab work, and poster preparation are also key parts of the experience. The program ends with a poster presentation where you and other SIMR participants get to share your research experiences with family, teachers, and Stanford community members. Through this experience, you will be able to explore a biomedical subject area, like neurobiology, in detail and get some hands-on research experience. You should go through the detailed program information here before applying.
You can also choose from a variety of other prestigious research opportunities offered by Stanford here.
Subject areas: Neurological sciences
Location: Virtual or in-person at the Johns Hopkins Department of Neurology, east Baltimore Campus, Baltimore, MD
Cost/Stipend: No cost. The in-person program provides an hourly stipend and covers transportation, but not housing. The virtual program offers a $500 scholarship to interns to support their education.
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors (in the US for the virtual program and in Baltimore City, MD for the in-person program) from underrepresented backgrounds can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically open in December and close in March.
Program dates: The in-person program lasts 8 weeks, while the virtual program runs for 5 weeks from June–August.
JHIBS is a summer research internship offered by Johns Hopkins’ Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery. The program is meant for high schoolers interested in neuroscience, medicine, and research. It is also a chance for participants to learn from biomedical research professionals, explore the scientific method, and understand how to conduct research responsibly. Students can choose between an 8-week in-person internship and a 5-week virtual program. The in-person program is more competitive here, accepting just 8 students each year. Those who don’t get selected for the in-person format may be offered a chance to participate in the virtual program instead.
The in-person program involves a research project, one-on-one mentorship, scientific seminars, educational resources, and career guidance sessions in neurological sciences. The virtual program offers activities related to science and the opportunity to learn basic laboratory techniques. In both formats, students get access to professional development workshops, college preparatory classes, mentorship training, scientific presentations, and networking activities. In-person participants will also work on a final oral or poster presentation describing their work. Check the past JHIBS research topics here.
Subject areas: Neurology and neuroscience
Location: In-person internship. Work locations can vary depending on the lab interns are assigned. It could be Massachusetts General Hospital Main Campus, Somerville, MA, or another lab location within Boston, Cambridge, or Somerville, Massachusetts.
Cost/Stipend: No cost. This is a paid internship but information on the exact stipend amount is not available.
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors or recent graduates living or studying in Massachusetts (must be able to provide a Massachusetts address) can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically close at the beginning of March.
Program dates: The six-week program typically runs from July to August.
Massachusetts General Hospital is the largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Its Youth Neurology Education and Research Program is designed to help high schoolers learn about neurology from a diverse group of leaders in the field. The program starts with a boot camp, which involves research and clinical training, interactive sessions on skills required for a laboratory setting, and networking. Then begins the 1-on-1 mentoring, where students are split into pairs of one high schooler and one undergraduate student and are matched with a mentor from the MGH Neurology faculty. Following this, they will work in the lab on ongoing research for six weeks, putting in 40 hours per week. They also get to attend sessions by leading neurologists. The internship ends with a final presentation, in which students share their internship experiences with peers, mentors, faculty, and family.
This end-to-end structure encourages deep knowledge-building, preparing high school students for undergraduate research. MGH also provides all-around support to the program alumni in the form of career advice, funding, application guidance, and more.
Subject areas: Neuroscience, psychiatry and psychology
Location: Virtual and in-person at Stanford University campus, Stanford, CA
Cost: The virtual session costs $1,495 while the in-person session costs $2,795. Financial aid is available.
Eligibility: High school students who are 14–18 years old can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in March.
Program dates: Students can choose from 3 two-week sessions that typically run between June and August.
Stanford University’s CNI-X is a 10-day program offering high schoolers exposure to topics in neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychology along with an opportunity to work on a collaborative capstone project. During the program, you will explore research conducted by the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Additionally, you will get to attend interactive seminars and lectures with Stanford faculty and researchers and learn concepts in neuroscience, clinical neuropsychiatry, psychiatric epidemiology, neuroscience research, and behavioral and social sciences, among other topics. Check out past CNI-X topics and activities here.
You will work in teams of 8–10, guided by staff mentors, to come up with innovative solutions to social issues related to neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry. You will then present these ideas at a final capstone session with classmates, families, and the program faculty. That’s not all. During the program, you will also get to explore professional and career opportunities in medicine and science!
Subject areas: Biomedical sciences, including neuroscience, neurological injury, and neurodegeneration
Location: On campus at Ohio State University’s College of Medicine, Columbus, OH. All interns are responsible for their own transportation, but paid parking will be provided.
Cost/Stipend: No cost. A stipend is paid but the amount is not specified.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in April.
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors can apply. Students from underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.
Program dates: This seven-week program typically runs from June to August.
The Explorations in Neuroscience Research Internship is a National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded opportunity for students interested in gaining hands-on research experience in neuroscience, neurological injury, and neurodegeneration. This seven-week paid program aims to help you explore neuroscience as a college major and career choice. During the program, you will directly work with mentors, lab technicians, and graduate students. You will also get to network at lab meetings and in group journal clubs. You also get access to OSU’s labs and the chance to undergo formal training in reading and presenting primary literature. The program ends with the presentation of research findings.
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!
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. Main summer deadlines are March 15, April 15, and May 15
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
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 psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here.
Subject areas: Three tracks available, including one in neuroscience.
Location: On-site at Max Planck Florida Institute, Jupiter, FL
Cost/Stipend: No cost. A stipend of $12.5/hour is offered.
Eligibility: Rising junior or senior high school students at least 16 years old and residing in Palm Beach or Martin County can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in March.
Program dates: The six-week program typically runs from June to July.
The MPFI Summer Research Internship is a six-week paid opportunity to get an immersive laboratory experience with MPFI researchers. The program is meant for those with an interest in the brain’s structure and function and advanced imaging techniques commonly used in the field of neuroscience. The program offers a dedicated Neuroscience Internship Track, which allows you to learn hands-on “wet lab” techniques such as genetic engineering, microbiology preparations, histological staining, and microscopy. These techniques make up methodologies that are used to answer research questions regarding the structure and function of neural circuits.
You are expected to work 40 hours per week under the expert guidance of mentors and participate in research projects. At the end of the program, you will prepare a written scientific abstract based on the research project and deliver a short presentation. You can check past intern presentations here.
Subject areas: Health-related fields, including neuroscience, biochemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, nursing, and bioinformatics
Location: NIH research campuses in the USA including the main NIH campus in Bethesda, MD
Cost/Stipend: No cost. A monthly stipend of $2,300 is provided.
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors and seniors living within 40 miles of the NIH Campus on which they will intern can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Program dates: The program typically runs from June to August
HS-SIP is a paid research program conducted by the NIH or National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the primary medical research agency of the US government. As an HS-SIP intern, you can carry out cutting-edge research under the guidance and mentorship of world-renowned researchers. It is important to note that the HS-SIP is extremely competitive, with a ~7% acceptance rate. You will be selected by a central committee at each Institute/Center and then placed in a research group to work under the supervision of a Principal Investigator. During the 8 to 10 weeks, you will spend a major chunk of your time on your research project. However, along with research, a key part of the program is personal and professional development. For this, the program offers a series of workshops on becoming a resilient scientist, as well as career development and science skills sessions. At the end of the program, the Summer Poster Day is organized for interns to share their research with the NIH community.
You can either apply to HS-SIP or one of its student cohorts: HiSTEP and HiSTEP 2.0. However, applying via HS-SIP can give you the chance to work with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Here, you get to work with leading neuroscience investigators and focus on the study of the nervous system, neurological processes, neurodegenerative diseases, movement disorders, brain cancer, and stroke.
Subject areas: Neuroscience
Location: Duke University West Campus, Durham, NC
Cost/Stipend: No cost. This is a paid internship, but the stipend amount is not specified.
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are at least 15 years old by the start of the program and live in North Carolina within commuting distance of Duke University’s west campus can apply.
Application deadline: March 1, 2024
Program dates: The program typically runs from June to August.
Duke University’s Neuroscience Experience program is an eight-week paid opportunity to participate in full-time summer research in cutting-edge neuroscience. Here, you will be matched with a Duke University neuroscience lab and get to work on a research project under the guidance of a mentor, who will be a professional scientist. Although you will spend most of your time in the lab (40 hours per week), you will get to attend professional development workshops that offer guidance on your college application while helping you explore career options in academia, medicine, and industry. At the end of the program, you will present your research at a poster session to your peers, family, and Duke scientists.
Subject areas: Biomedical sciences including neuroscience
Location: University of California, San Francisco campus
Cost/Stipend: No cost. The part-time internship (25 hours/week) pays $3,200 upon program completion | Full-time internship (35 hours/week) pays $4,500 upon program completion
Eligibility: High school juniors attending an SFUSD school, SF charter school, or participating in College Track San Francisco and from a background considered historically marginalized in the sciences can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Program dates: The 8-week program typically runs from June to August.
The UCSF Science and Health Education Partnership (SEP) supports science teaching and learning through multiple programs, of which, its High School Intern Program is intended for students interested in biomedical research. In this 8-week program, you will work with a UCSF scientist mentor on a research project. Interns have previously worked on topics like infectious disease, neuroscience, molecular biology, immunology, cancer, stem cell research, and developmental biology. The program has a cohort of 25 students each summer.
College counseling is also a part of the program, so you will get to attend resume writing workshops, meet with college counselors, learn about financial aid offered by colleges, and participate in college tours. USCF also offers other programs for high school students that you can check here.
Subject areas: Neurology and neuroscience
Location: In-person at Columbia University, New York
Cost/Stipend: No cost. This is a paid internship, but the exact stipend amount is not available. Students are paid at the end of the program.
Eligibility: High school students nominated by partner programs from select schools in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx can apply. Check details here.
Application deadline: Applications typically open in October
Program dates: The training for the program typically begins in January. The internship is scheduled for July 1, 2024–August 16, 2024
The Brain Research Apprenticeships in New York at Columbia (BRAINYAC) is a research internship for high school students interested in neuroscience. It is a laboratory-centric experience that offers the chance to work with scientists. BRAINYAC begins with a training phase, allowing you to get the hang of neuroscience concepts and laboratory techniques. These sessions cover microscope techniques, pipetting, dissection, neuroethics, computer codes for controlling experiments and handling data, and reading scientific papers. Following this phase, you will get to work on a research project with a mentor at Columbia’s neuroscience laboratories and engage with graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and BRAINYAC alumni.
During the program, you also work on research posters, which they present at an end-of-program symposium typically held in August at the Zuckerman Institute and a STEM event for young scientists-in-training in New York City at the American Museum of Natural History.
Subject areas: Neurology and neuroscience
Location: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
Cost/Stipend: No cost. A stipend of $1,000 is paid.
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are at least 16 years old at the start of the program can apply. Living in Philadelphia is not mandatory, but it is an in-person program so interns should make housing and transportation arrangements.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in March
Program dates: The program typically runs from July to August.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Neurology High School Scholars Program is a five-week paid internship that involves working closely with a neurologist or neuroscientist on a research project. You will get to shadow physicians at the clinic and attend weekly educational sessions with the rest of the students. The experience can help you engage in hands-on lab work experience and get a sneak peek into the life of a neuroscience/neurology researcher. Work hours will be decided by you and your mentor based on project needs.
During the internship, you will prepare a poster presentation outlining the project results and present the poster at a conference at the end of the program. You can check out past projects here!
Subject areas: Psychology and neuroscience
Location: Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
Cost: $7,895 (residential) | $3,995 (commuter). Financial aid is available.
Eligibility: All high school students can apply
Application deadline: TBA
Program dates: You can choose from two sessions that typically run between June and August.
EXPLO is a not-for-profit educational organization that offers pre-college experiences to high schoolers. Its Psychology + Neuroscience Program focuses on the intersection between the two fields. Here, you will get to learn how to apply therapeutic theories to diagnostics and clinical treatment of mental illnesses. The program also offers an introduction to behavioral neuroscience which covers the supposed biological bases for these illnesses, the relationship between brain activity and individual experiences, principles governing neuron activity, and the role of neurotransmitter systems in memory, motivation, and addiction. Through lab experiences, research projects, and networking opportunities (with experts in clinical psychology, behavioral neuroscience, or organizational psychology), you will explore the tools used by psychologists for making diagnoses and learn about nervous system anatomy and function. The lab experiences involve guided sheep brain dissection and neurochemistry procedures to examine the impact of medication on the brain. You will also learn from leading experts about the role of psychology in the interrogation of criminal suspects. The experience concludes with the presentation of research projects at the end-of-session symposium.
Subject areas: Neurology and neuroscience
Location: Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona
Cost/Stipend: No information available
Eligibility: High school students who are at least 16 years old can apply.
Application deadline: Applications typically close at the beginning of April.
Program dates: The program typically runs from July to August.
Barrow Neurological Institute’s Summer High School Internship program is a five-week learning opportunity for those interested in neurology. The program aims to cover basic biological principles and the mechanisms involved in the development and treatment of disease. During the internship, students will get to evaluate the scientific literature, hone their communication skills, learn to use advanced scientific techniques, address scientific questions, work on scientific projects, and learn the importance of non-laboratory ancillary departments to complement the research studies.
You can check the internship page for 2024 updates. You can also check the 2023 program flier for more details.
Subject areas: Neurology
Location: Most Helios scholars work at TGen headquarters in downtown Phoenix, AZ. Some may work at the Translational Drug Development (TD2) in the Mayo Clinic campus in Scottsdale, AZ, or the Pathogen Genomics Division in Flagstaff, AZ.
Cost/Stipend: No cost. High school students will be paid a stipend of $14.35/hour.
Eligibility: Students who are at least 16 years old and graduates of an Arizona high school by June 10, 2024, can apply. Check all the eligibility requirements here.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Program dates: The program typically runs from June to August.
Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a non-profit genomics research institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Its Helios Scholars program is a paid internship opportunity for students interested in biomedical research, specifically genetic components of diabetes, neurological disease, and cancer as well as public health and pathogens. The program will provide hands-on laboratory experience to students as they work on a research project under the mentorship of TGen scientists. Internships will cover aspects like laboratory research, computational biology and bioinformatics, mathematics and statistics, and research administration. Interns will also attend educational seminars, learn about bioscience career options, work on scientific writing, present research, attend social networking events, and create a scientific poster. Interns are supposed to put in 32–40 hours of work per week (Monday to Friday). High school sophomores and juniors in Arizona can consider the Bioscience Leadership Academy at TGen.
David Wilkinson is a freelance writer for Horizon and currently resides in the United States.