If you’re a high school student interested in psychology, behavioral science, and mental health, participating in a research program can help you gain hands-on experience in the field.
Psychology research programs, offered by universities and research institutes, will allow you to collaborate on projects under the guidance of experts, develop your skills, interact with like-minded peers, and explore potential career options in the field.
If you’re looking to pursue advanced research in psychology later in your academic trajectory, working on both hard and soft skills early on can come in handy. You may be able to give your internships/ research applications a boost by demonstrating familiarity with research paradigms and methodology.
In this blog, we’ll explore 16 psychology research programs for high school students that you can consider applying to.
Subject Areas: Psychology and related fields, experimental research, data analysis, and communication.
Location: Boston University, Boston, MA
Eligibility: Rising juniors and seniors in high school can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until all seats are filled.
Dates: June 30–July 19, 2024 (Residential) | July 1–July 19, 2024 (Commuter); TBA for 2025
Cost: There is a $50 application fee and a $60 service fee for all participants.
- Residential: $5,212 (program fee) + $1,713 (room and board)
- Commuter: $5,212 (program fee) + $250.50 (lunch)
You can check out the Tuition & Payment page for a detailed breakdown of fees. Financial aid is not available.
Boston University’s Academic Immersion (AIM): Introduction to Experimental Psychology is a 3-week program introducing high school students to psychology and the design and execution of research projects in the field. The program includes daily morning seminars in psychology coursework and sessions on career avenues that you can pursue.
Afternoons are devoted to team-based research work in which you will get to design your experiments, collect and analyze data, observe various settings, and create visualizations, all under the mentorship of the university’s instructors. You will also attend presentations on ongoing research by BU faculty and professionals and interact with undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs who are working in the psychological sciences. At the end of the program, you will present your research findings to peers, BU students, and faculty. Social activities and weekend trips are also included in the programming. Around 50 students are accepted into this program each year.
Subject Areas: Environmental health and engineering, behavioral economics, psychology, international relations, neuroscience, data science, machine learning, network science, biophysics, biotechnology, chemistry, physics, history, philosophy, political theory, sociology, and more!
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: May 21, 2024, for the summer cohort and September 25, 2024, for the fall cohort.
Program Dates:
- Summer seminar: June 24–September 2, 2024
- Fall seminar: October 23, 2024–February 19, 2025
- The dates are flexible for Horizon Labs, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance.
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! It is one of the few research programs for high school students that offers a choice between quantitative and qualitative research!
Once you select a particular subject track and type of research you’ll be paired with a professor or Ph.D. scholar (from a top university) who will mentor you throughout your research journey. If you’re interested in psychology, Horizon offers a range of 72 subtopics in psychology, spanning key questions in clinical, social, developmental, and cognitive psychology.
You’ll work to create a 20-page, university-level research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student. This program is a solid opportunity for you to pursue a research program in highly specialized fields, under the guidance of a top scholar. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student and detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects and college applications. You can apply here!
Subject Areas: Psychological sciences, research, and college preparation.
Location: Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until all spots are filled.
Dates: July 14–July 19, 2024; TBA for 2025
Cost: $1,395. One to two full-tuition waivers are available.
Camp Psych is a weeklong residential program that delves into the workings of psychological science. During the camp, you will get to work on hands-on research projects while learning about important research questions and methods. Topics include the psychology of helping others (and associated research questions) and experimental research (designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and making presentations). Note that the topics may change next year.
Activities include lectures, discussions, guest speaker sessions, presentations, project work, and social events. Classes are typically small in size, with each class comprising around 20-25 students. The camp’s curriculum is designed to increase your knowledge of psychology, critical thinking, and analytical skills. This camp is a solid opportunity for you to gain an inside view of the psychology field and guidance in preparation for college studies.
Subject Areas: Multidisciplinary—biology, psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, gender studies, engineering, chemistry, business, entrepreneurship, international relations, environmental science, and more!
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Cost: Starts at $2,800. Financial aid is available!
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. The main summer deadlines are March 17, April 14, and May 12. The final deadline for the summer cohort is typically in June.
Dates: The summer cohort runs from June to August, the Fall cohort from September to December, the Winter cohort from December to February, and the Spring cohort from March to June. (The program options range from 12 weeks to 1 year).
Eligibility:
- You must be currently enrolled in high school.
- Students must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement (Note: Students must have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4).
- Previous knowledge of your field of interest is optional!
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program 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.
During the program, you will get to attend individual sessions with your research mentor and writing coach who will help you decide on a topic for your research. You’ll spend the next few weeks exploring your research topic and attending workshops on the research process. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here!
Subject Areas: Psychology, behavioral neuroscience, research, diagnostics, and treatment of mental illnesses.
Location: Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10–12 can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until all spots are filled.
Dates: Multiple sessions were available in 2024:
- Session 1: June 30–July 19, 2024 (residential) | July 1–July 18, 2024 (commuter)
- Session 2: July 21–August 9, 2024 (residential) | July 22–August 8, 2024 (commuter)
Cost: Residential: $7,895 | Commuter: $3,995. Financial aid is available.
EXPLO’s Psychology + Neuroscience summer camp is an opportunity for students to dive into the disciplines of psychology and neuroscience and learn how to apply theories to the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. Throughout the program, you will learn about the biological causes of mental illnesses and the tools used by psychologists for diagnosis. You will also conduct labs to measure muscle action potential to study nervous system anatomy and function. In addition, you will explore how psychology is involved in the interrogation of criminal suspects.
Some activities that you can expect in this camp include dissecting a sheep’s brain, conducting an original research project, delivering presentations at the culminating Brain Summit Symposium, working in a neurochemistry lab, and receiving access to the latest neuroimaging technology.
Subject Areas: Psychology research, technology, psychotherapy, and mental illnesses.
Location: Mies Campus, Chicago, IL
Eligibility: Rising 9th—12th graders at least 15 years old can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Dates: One-week session in July. The 2024 program ran from July 22 to July 26.
Cost: $1,350
This one-week psychology summer program at the Illinois Institute of Technology is for high school students interested in studying psychology at the college level, enhancing self-awareness, and experiencing the role of a therapist. During the program, you will learn about psychology careers and the practical applications of psychology in various aspects of your life. You will explore the multicultural and ethical issues in clinical psychology, the stigma of mental illness, and ways to eliminate it.
A few activities that you can expect in this program include an ice cream and gentrification activity; a trip to Boxville on 51st Street; conducting a psychology study, analyzing the results with Jamovi software, and presenting the research findings to the class; and performing counseling micro-skills on a partner. You will also get to attend a psychology career panel where you can hear from a variety of different psychology professionals.
Subject Areas: Psychology, clinical neuropsychiatry, neuroscience research, psychiatric epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, and more.
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA or Virtual
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores, juniors, or seniors can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications usually close in early March.
Dates: Multiple sessions were available in 2024:
- Virtual session: June 17–June 28, 2024
- In-person sessions: July 8–July 19, 2024 | July 22–August 2, 2024
Cost: $1,495 (virtual) | $2,795 (in-person). Scholarships are available for qualified applicants and you can request financial assistance in your application.
The Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience (CNI-X) at Stanford University exposes students to introductory concepts in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience. This 2-week program will introduce you to the diverse research available in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. During the program, you will get to attend seminars with professional faculty and researchers, explore professional and career possibilities, and learn self-care strategies.
The highlight of this program is the capstone research project in which you will work in groups of 8-10 to develop innovative solutions in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience. You will then get to present this project at the final capstone event at the end of the program. Some topics covered in the past include eating disorders, neuroimaging, mindfulness, early intervention programs, sports psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, brain stimulation, trauma, addiction, autism, and more.
Subject Areas: Psychology and research methodology.
Location: This is a hybrid course with:
- Weeks 1 & 2: Virtual via Zoom
- Week 3: In-Person at the University of Chicago campus, Chicago, IL
Eligibility: Current high school freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, who are at least 14 years old can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March.
Dates: 3 weeks between July and August; the 2024 program took place from July 15 to August 1. Dates TBA for 2025.
Cost: $6,350. Partial need-based financial aid is available for the Pre-College Connect program; students typically receive between $500–$5,200.
UChicago’s Pre-College Connect offers high school students the opportunity to explore subjects like biology, psychology, and art through three-week intensive courses that include online, real-time interactions with a UChicago instructor and fellow students and a one-week capstone on-campus experience.
The “Foundations of Psychological Research” course will introduce you to the basic concepts and methods used in conducting psychological research to gain an understanding of how science can be used to answer questions about thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Throughout the course, you will get to explore various research designs, learn how to create a research plan, reflect on published psychological research, and interact with experimental psychologists. In your final project, you will formulate a research question based on your interest and create a psychological study to address it using methods discussed in class.
Subject Areas: Mental health, psychology, research, data analysis, communication, and career preparation.
Location: Child Mind Institute, San Mateo, CA + internships in local organizations + remote sessions are available during the academic year session
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors from structurally marginalized communities in California with a GPA of at least 2.5 can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March.
Dates: June 2024–July 2025 (14 months)
- First Summer: 5-week program from June 24–July 26, 2024
- Academic Year: monthly workshops between August 2024 and May 2025
- Second Summer: a six-week internship in June & July 2025
Stipend: $2,000 (first summer) + paid internship (second summer)
The Child Mind Institute’s Youth Mental Health Academy is a long and comprehensive community-based program providing experiential learning in mental health research, practice, science, and communication. If selected, you will be matched with a mentor who will guide you throughout the period.
During your first summer, you will attend a 5-week academy featuring lectures and discussions relating to mental health disorders, career options, dissemination of information, inequities, research, and treatment. This academy will culminate in a capstone project that includes a research paper, creative component, and display. Throughout the school year, you will get to attend workshops, fairs, and mentor meetings. The program will end with an internship at a youth-serving community or research organization during your second summer. Here, you will learn about fielding research, analyzing data, and using data for interventions.
Subject Areas: Science of information and communication, engineering, arts, linguistics, psychology, biology, neuroscience, computer science, technology, philosophy, and design.
Location: Virtual
Eligibility: Current high school juniors and seniors who are at least 14 years old and community college students who are aged less than 21 can apply.
Application Deadline: March 1, 2024; TBA for 2025
Dates: June 17–August 9, 2024
Stipend: This is an unpaid internship, but need-based financial assistance may be available in some cases.
Stanford’s SHTEM Summer Internship places high school and community college students in project groups, allowing for collaboration and teamwork in building and executing a research project. During the internship, each group will be mentored by students, faculty, and staff of the Stanford Compression Forum. You will spend most of the time conducting research from where you are located while maintaining regular communication with your mentors and group members. You can expect to work around 30–40 hours per week.
Psychology and neuroscience are some of the themes using which you can build your research projects. You can also pursue interdisciplinary projects in these fields through biology, computer science, philosophy, design, technology, engineering, and linguistics, among others. The program will culminate in presentations from each group about the projects and their findings. This program will help you develop technical skills and foster a success-oriented mindset. Around 60 students are usually accepted into this internship.
Subject Areas: Psychology, neuroscience, addiction, research, and neuroplasticity.
Location: Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9-12 can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Dates: June 9–June 14, 2024 | June 16–June 21, 2024; TBA for 2025
Cost: $3,000. Need-based scholarships are available.
Wake Forest University Psychology Institute’s Summer Immersion Program allows students to understand the structure of the brain through hands-on dissection and comprehend concepts like illusions, sensations, perceptions, biases, and emotions, and how these are used to interact with the world. This institute is led by two professors at Wake Forest University, namely Dr. Christian Waugh and Dr. Melissa Maffeo. During the program, you will be introduced to psychology design and hypothesis testing and will also get to learn about the psychology of marketing.
Some activities covered in this program include sheep brain dissection, brain training and neuroplasticity, sensory perception lab, conducting observational research, and presenting research findings. For the observational research and presentations, you will work in teams to develop your project. Trips and tours are also included in this program, several of which you will use to conduct your observational study.
Subject Areas: Psychology, morality, perception, memory, mental illness, sexuality, religion, and more.
Location: Online (synchronous)
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors at least 15 years old can apply.
Application Deadline: June 2, 2024; TBA for 2025
Dates: 6-week session between June and August; the 2024 program took place from June 24 to August 2. Dates TBA for 2025.
Cost: $5,520 (3-credit course)
In Cornell University’s “Introduction to Psychology” course, students receive a broad introduction to the science of psychology—from the history of the field and its major advances to the latest research on topics such as perception, memory, intelligence, morality, sexuality, mental illness, religion, language, and creativity.
Throughout the course, you will learn about the tools and methods that psychologists use to investigate the mind. This includes observing changes in the mental development of children over time, studying people across different cultures, measuring brain activity, and experimenting with various factors such as altering the appearance of figures on a computer screen, changing the scent of a room, or manipulating the attractiveness of the experimenter. Only 50 students are accepted into the course.
Subject Areas: Neuropsychology, social psychology, disorders, behavioral science, and more.
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Eligibility: Open to local high school students who are current juniors and seniors.
Application Deadline: Applications close on August 1, 2024, for the fall 2024 session and on December 1, 2024, for the spring 2025 session.
Dates: The program is conducted during the Fall and Spring semesters.
Cost: $4,382–$8,764 depending on the course units. During the fall and spring semesters, students attending City of Philadelphia public and charter schools are eligible for tuition-free participation in the program.
The Young Scholars High School Program allows local high school students to take college courses in the fall and spring semesters. During this program, you can choose from a variety of courses at the undergraduate level offered by the College of Liberal and Professional Studies. Topics offered include anthropology, economics, English, math, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and many more.
Penn undergraduate courses are taught by Penn faculty, staff, and visiting scholars. Most classes meet two to five times weekly, Monday through Friday, and assign homework, research papers, midterms, and/or finals. If you’re interested in research in psychology, the “Introduction to Experimental Psychology” course provides an introduction to the basic topics of psychology including the three major areas of distribution—the biological basis of behavior, the cognitive basis of behavior, and individual and group bases of behavior. Topics include, but are not limited to, neuropsychology, learning, cognition, development, disorder, personality, and social psychology.
Subject Areas: Cognitive psychology
Location: Virtual
Eligibility: Students aged 13 years and above can apply.
Application Deadline: The upcoming deadlines are as follows:
- 4-week session: November 3, 2024
- 2-week session: December 15, 2024
Dates: Multi-length courses are available throughout the year. The upcoming sessions include:
- 4-week session: November 10–December 8, 2024
- 2-week session: December 22, 2024–January 5, 2025
Cost: $1,495
In this “Cognitive Psychology” course, you will learn about cognitive psychology, from its origins in philosophy to its current role in robotics. This course will allow you to delve into research that shows the influence of positive thinking on how tasks are performed. You’ll get to study the various regions of the brain and how each affects different functions, such as speech, perception, attention, facial recognition, and more. You will also learn to draw a brain diagram indicating areas that are most important for memory and decision-making and identify the functions of the frontal lobe, like emotions and reasoning.
The course involves 20-30 hours of total instruction and coursework, including engaging multimedia, simulations, and curated assignments for which you will receive guidance and support from mentors. This course will culminate in a final project to demonstrate what you’ve learned for which you’ll earn a Certificate of Completion from William & Mary.
Subject Areas: Psychopathology, research, and data analysis.
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Eligibility: High school students between the ages of 16 and 19 can apply.
Application Deadline: June 20, 2024; TBA for 2025
Dates: 4-week session from July 15–August 8, 2024
Cost: $7,700 (4-credit course). Financial aid is available.
Harvard Summer School’s Secondary School Program (SSP) is a 4- or 7-week academic program for motivated high school students ready to excel in academically rigorous college courses for college credit. Courses are available in various fields such as anthropology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, creative writing, economics, finance, philosophy, psychology, literature, environmental science, journalism, calculus, and more.
The “Introduction to Research in Psychopathology” course is designed to make students familiar with the fundamental concepts, methods, and ethics of conducting research in the field of psychopathology. You will gain an understanding of the research process, starting from the development of a research question to the articulation of hypotheses, methods, and data analysis. During the course, you will engage with both classic and contemporary studies, critically evaluating methods and findings in the domain of psychopathology research. An important aspect of the course involves creating a group research proposal on a topic related to psychopathology. This will offer you practical experience in conceptualizing and planning a research study.
Subject Areas: Cognitive and developmental psychology, neuroscience, anatomy, and clinical diagnostics.
Location: American University, Washington, DC | Duke University, Durham, NC | UC Berkeley, San Francisco, CA | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Eligibility: High school students who are 14-18 years old and have completed at least 1 year of high school can apply (students may attend NSLC through the summer following high school graduation).
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Dates: Multiple 9-day sessions are offered at various locations. All sessions take place between June 12 and August 2, 2024.
Cost: $3,995 (residential). Scholarships are available.
The NSLC Psychology and Neuroscience High School Summer Program will introduce you to basic concepts and activities in psychology and neuroscience, such as experiential simulations, workshops, and simulations in clinical diagnostics, anatomy, cognitive and developmental psychology, and more. You will learn about scans and imaging and work in a research group to create a mental health campaign that you will then present at the end of the session.
During the program, you will develop the skills and knowledge you need for a future career in psychology with experiential simulations in patient care, attending anatomy and psychology workshops, and exploring non-invasive imaging techniques. The program additionally includes classes, lectures, guest speakers, and trips and tours to give you a comprehensive understanding and practical exposure to the field.
Bonus - if you’re looking for more structured research programs in the field, you could consider applying to virtual research mentorship programs like Lumiere, and Veritas AI!
David Wilkinson is a freelance writer for Horizon and currently resides in the United States.