If you are a high school student interested in astrophysics, consider participating in a dedicated program before college. These programs are one of the best ways to start engaging seriously with the subject, going well beyond what a typical physics or mathematics class covers.
Astrophysics programs put you inside real research environments where you work with genuine astronomical data, computational models, and observational methods alongside practicing scientists. You develop skills in data analysis, mathematical reasoning, and scientific communication that undergraduate physics and astronomy programs will build on directly.
What do astrophysics programs for high schoolers include?
These programs develop specific and transferable skills across data analysis, computational modeling, and scientific reasoning. You work through real problems using the tools and methods that practicing astrophysicists actually use, which means the experience carries genuine weight in college applications. Instead of saying you are interested in astrophysics, you can point to research experience and concrete outcomes that demonstrate it.
With that, here are 15 astrophysics programs for high school students worth considering! If you’re more interested in the astronomical aspect of the field, we also have another article here with opportunities more focused on that area.
Key Takeaways
- Astrophysics programs for high schoolers go well beyond classroom physics, placing you inside real research environments where you work with astronomical data, telescopes, and computational tools like Python alongside practicing scientists
- Options range from extremely selective, fully funded residential programs at MIT, Yale, and Northwestern to open-enrollment citizen science opportunities like the Pulsar Science Collaboratory that anyone can join year-round
- Several programs, including SRMP, Simons, and Clark Scholars, provide stipends, making high-level research experience financially accessible
- Many programs culminate in a tangible research output, such as a published paper, poster presentation, or data submission to an active NASA database, giving you concrete evidence of scientific work for college applications
15 Astrophysics Programs for High School Students
1. Research Science Institute (RSI)
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost: Fully funded!
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Extremely selective, only ~2.5% of applicants chosen
Dates: Six weeks in the summer
Application deadline: Mid-December
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors aged 16+
RSI brings together 100 high school students each summer at MIT for six weeks of original scientific research. The heart of the program is a five-week research internship where you work individually under the supervision of an experienced scientist or researcher, executing a detailed research plan in your chosen field. Before the internship begins, a week of intensive coursework taught by accomplished faculty gives you the theoretical grounding you need to hit the ground running. Astrophysics is one of the program’s core disciplines, and past scholars have worked on projects ranging from exoplanet analysis to computational cosmology. You read current literature, carry out your research plan, and then deliver both a written paper and a conference-style oral presentation in the final week.
2. Summer Science Program (SSP) in Astrophysics
Location: Multiple locations available
Cost: While the maximum program fee is $11,800, all participants pay on a sliding scale based on family income, with families earning below $75,000 receiving a full scholarship and travel expenses
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 8 – July 11, June 15 – July 18, June 22 – July 25, or June 29 – August 1, depending on the location selected
Application Deadline: January 29 (international applicants) | February 19 (domestic applicants)
Eligibility: Current high school juniors at least 15 years old who have completed or are in the process of completing any level of high school physics and precalculus by June for credit and a grade
SSP centers on the practical, relevant research problem of determining the orbit of a near-Earth asteroid. You start by learning to read celestial coordinates and interpret an ephemeris, then spend nightly sessions at professional telescopes collecting your own observational data on the asteroid your team selects. From there, you apply Python programming and calculus to reduce and analyze that data until you can model the asteroid’s orbital path with real precision. The results get submitted to the NASA-funded Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, where they’re used to refine predictions of near-Earth asteroid positions. By the end of the program, you’ll have gone from learning what an ephemeris is to contributing actual measurements to an active NASA-supported scientific database.
3. Anson L. Clark Scholars Program
Location: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Incredibly selective, only 12 students are selected each year nationally
Dates: June 21 – August 6
Application Deadline: February 16
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors, ages 17 and up, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
Clark Scholars is one of the most selective pre-college research programs in the country, admitting just twelve students nationally each summer for seven weeks of one-on-one faculty research. Physics is among the available research tracks, and students in that area work alongside Texas Tech faculty on largely self-directed active research projects. You take ownership of your work and produce a written research report by the end of the summer. Weekly seminars and field trips round out the experience, but the core of Clark is the depth of engagement you get from working with a single faculty mentor across seven weeks. The breadth of disciplines covered across the cohort also means you’re sharing the experience with students doing everything from molecular biology to philosophy, providing exposure to a varied intellectual environment.
4. Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics (YSPA)
Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT
Cost: $7,800, with limited need-based financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Extremely selective, only 32 students admitted
Dates: June 22 – July 3 for the online self-directed study component, July 5 – August 2 for the residential component
Application Deadline: March 6
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors aged 15+
YSPA opens with a two-week online self-study module that prepares you with the Python skills and astronomical background you’ll need on campus, then transitions into four weeks of residential work at Yale. Your days are split between morning classes covering telescope optics, spectroscopy, photometry, stellar evolution, and statistical methods, and afternoons in the computer lab where you analyze real data collected with Yale’s telescopes at the Leitner Observatory. By the program’s end, you’ll have co-authored a scientific paper and presented findings at YSPA’s internal mini-conference. Research teams of four students each tackle independent projects, and the telescope access ensures that you’ll be collecting and interpreting new observational data. YSPA is one of the very few high school programs built entirely around astrophysics as its sole focus.
5. Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook University
Location: Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY
Cost: Free; stipend provided
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Less than 5%
Dates: June 29 – August 7
Application Deadline: February 5
Eligibility: Current high school juniors who have been nominated by their school
When you apply to the Simons program, you choose your top three faculty members you want to work with, including many from Stony Brook’s Physics and Astronomy department. Once accepted, you join a faculty research group as a genuine team member, taking responsibility for a defined project under the guidance of a professor or graduate student. Weekly faculty research talks, workshops, and lab tours run alongside your project work and expose you to the broader landscape of Stony Brook’s research. The program concludes with a poster symposium where you present your abstract and findings. The bulk of the program is hands-on time in the research setting selected, and the work is intense and as close to a real research lab as you can get.
6. REACH — Research Experiences in Astronomy at CIERA for High School Students
Location: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Cost: $2,500 for the core program + $1,500 for REACH Further
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: June 15 – July 2 or July 6 – 24 (core program) | July 6 – 24 or July 27 – August 14 (REACH Further 1-on-1 research projects)
Application Deadline: March 9
Eligibility: High school students
REACH focuses on the computational tools that modern astrophysics actually runs on. The three-week core program opens with an intensive dive into Python and astronomy-specific data packages, functioning somewhat like a research coding bootcamp before you move into the science itself. From there, you work through several week-long projects tied to ongoing research at Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, with topics varying year to year based on what CIERA astronomers are currently working on. Solar observing at Dearborn Observatory and career panels with working scientists round out the program. Students who complete the core can continue into REACH Further, a separate three-week extension where you work one-on-one with a CIERA mentor on an independent research project of your own.
7. Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) at AMNH
Location: American Museum of Natural History, New York
Cost: Free. Participants earn a stipend of $2,500 upon completion
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very competitive
Dates: Academic year (August – June)
Application Deadline: March 1
Eligibility: NYC high school students in grades 10–11. Additionally, students need to have either completed/be taking a course in one of six programs, or be attending one of SRMP’s partner schools or programs
SRMP is a year-long paid research commitment that begins in August and runs through June. The first four weeks function as a summer institute focused on building data science skills, lab techniques, and field experience, including a multi-day trip to Black Rock Forest. When the academic year begins, you shift into twice-weekly sessions at the Museum, working in a small team of two or three students alongside an AMNH research scientist on a novel project. Astrophysics is a primary research track, and past scholars have analyzed data from space-based telescopes, studied variable stars, and worked on galaxy survey algorithms alongside professional astronomers. Monthly advisory sessions cover scientific communication, career exploration, and presentation skills. The program ends with the SRMP Colloquium in June, where you present both a poster and an oral talk on your year’s findings.
8. Physics of Atomic Nuclei (PAN) at FRIB
Location: Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Cost: Free!
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: July 26 – 31
Application Deadline: Early March
Eligibility: High school students
PAN is a week-long residential program that introduces you to nuclear physics and its connections to astrophysics and cosmology. You work at FRIB, one of the world’s most advanced rare-isotope laboratories and home to the most powerful rare-isotope beam accelerator in the United States, learning how atomic nuclei behave and what that has to do with the origin of heavy elements, the behavior of neutron stars, and the history of the cosmos since the Big Bang. The week combines lectures from FRIB faculty and researchers with hands-on nuclear physics experiments. Past cohorts have done radiation detection work, explored the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe, learned nuclear modeling methods, and studied isotope harvesting techniques. PAN’s unique approach to astrophysics and cosmology, from sub-atomic particle physics combined with its world-class research facility setting, makes it a strong option to kick off your astrophysics journey, despite its shorter duration.
9. STEM Enhancement in Earth and Space Science (SEES) Internship
Location: Virtual + UT Austin campus, Austin, TX
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: Highly selective
Dates: Online modules and project work: May 15 – July 3 | Virtual symposium: July 20 and 21
Application deadline: February 22
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores and juniors who are U.S. citizens and at least 16 years old
SEES places 11th and 12th-graders inside active NASA research through a combination of distance learning and an on-site internship at UT Austin’s Center for Space Research. Before you arrive on campus, you work through preparatory remote modules guided by project mentors. The on-site phase has you analyzing real NASA data alongside scientists and engineers, covering areas like planetary science, remote sensing, space systems, and Earth observation. You’ll be contributing to field investigations and developing the data fluency that underlies professional aerospace science. The program concludes with a virtual SEES Science Symposium where teams present their research. SEES draws from NASA’s network of subject matter experts, so the people you’re working with have direct connections to active missions and programs.
10. GMU Young Scholars — NASA Data Science Analysis and Research Paper Program
Location: Primarily virtual
Cost: Tuition required; need-based scholarships available; awards of up to $2,000 may be earned
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: Extremely selective; only 50 students accepted
Dates: June 13 – August 29
Application Deadline: Enrollment is first-come, first-served
Eligibility: High school students
This program centers on data from two of NASA’s highest-profile current missions: the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the James Webb Space Telescope. You choose an exoplanetary system to study, then spend the summer analyzing and synthesizing data from those missions alongside group observation sessions using GMU’s 32-inch telescope, one of the largest university telescopes on the East Coast. The telescope sessions are run remotely or in person, and you’ll work with astronomy specialists from NASA and collaborating institutions throughout the program. The final deliverable is a professional-quality scholarly research paper on your system, guided by GMU faculty and published on the university’s official webpage upon completion.
11. Experimental Physics Research Academy (EPRA)
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $10,050
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: Selective
Dates: July 11 – August 1
Application Deadline: May 1
Eligibility: Current 9th–11th grade students
Exploring Physics in Research Applications (EPRA) takes you through several major areas of physics over three weeks and shows how they connect. You’ll move from classical mechanics into electricity and magnetism, nuclear physics, quantum dynamics, and astrophysics while working through the physical principles behind each field. The programme also spends time on experimental design, helping you understand how physicists test ideas and evaluate evidence. Discussions extend beyond equations and cover topics such as the philosophy of science, ethics in research, and what a career in physics can actually look like. Penn faculty regularly join the programme to discuss their own research and explain the questions they are currently investigating.
12. Pulsar Science Collaboratory (PSC)
Location: Remote
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrolment
Dates: Year-round participation
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students aged 13 and above
PSC is a citizen science program in which you analyze radio telescope data from the Green Bank Telescope and the former Arecibo Observatory, searching for novel, undiscovered pulsars. After completing an online training course in pulsar science and radio astronomy led by WVU radio astronomers, you gain access to real survey data and begin analyzing candidate signals. The work mirrors how professional research teams actually operate, discussing candidates, evaluating data quality, and contributing to verification efforts. PSC students have discovered eight new pulsars to date and earned co-authorship on peer-reviewed scientific papers. Active members who reach certain benchmarks in data analysis can apply for the annual summer camp at Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, where they work on-site with radio astronomy researchers and use the 20-meter telescope for independent projects.
13. UC COSMOS — Cluster 4: Introduction to Astrophysics
Location: UC Davis, CA
Cost: $5,518
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: July 5 – 31
Application deadline: February 6
Eligibility: Rising 9th through 12th graders enrolled in a California high school who have a GPA of 3.5 or above
UC Davis COSMOS offers a four-course astrophysics cluster that takes you from the foundational principles of astronomy through stellar evolution, star and planet formation, and introductory cosmology. Special-topic guest lectures appear throughout, covering recent discoveries and active areas of astrophysical research. You also get to work on hands-on Python-based research projects applied to real astrophysical questions, and the program builds in all the coding instruction you need if you’re starting from zero. A weekly Distinguished Lecture Series runs across the whole COSMOS program, bringing in working scientists from beyond the astrophysics cluster.
14. Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars (VASTS)
Location: Online course plus residential academy at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: Online course runs from November to April, followed by the seven-day summer academy at Langley
Application Deadline: October 26
Eligibility: Virginia high school juniors and seniors with a minimum 2.7 GPA. U.S. citizenship is typically required to be able to visit NASA facilities.
VASTS runs across an entire academic year, opening in the fall with seven web-based modules due on a rolling biweekly schedule. The modules are focused on solving real-world aerospace problems, designing proposed upgrades to the International Space Station, conceptualizing a new crew exploration vehicle, and participating in technical writing forums with other scholars statewide. The top performers across Virginia earn an invitation to a week-long summer academy at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where teams take on a capstone mission of designing the architecture for a human mission to Mars. You work through that design challenge alongside NASA engineers, scientists, and technologists who are active in spaceflight research, with facility tours and expert briefings integrated into the week.
15. High School Aerospace Scholars (NASA HAS)
Location: Virtual (residential option in Houston, TX)
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: High for Online Course (Phase 1); Competitive for Summer Experience
Dates: Year-long
Application Deadline: September 27
Eligibility: High school juniors who are U.S. citizens and Texas residents
HAS is a year-long program for Texas high school juniors that starts in the fall with a five-month online curriculum spanning space exploration, Earth science, aeronautics, and technology. The coursework is paired with four engineering design challenges held throughout the year, where you practice applying aerospace concepts to hands-on problems. If you complete the online phase with a strong standing, you will be invited to Moonshot, a five-day virtual experience where NASA scientists and engineers mentor teams through an Artemis-themed Moon to Mars mission design challenge. The top Moonshot teams earn an all-expenses-paid invitation to NASA’s Johnson Space Center for a residential experience at one of the world’s most iconic space facilities.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, and chemistry, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that allows you to conduct advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1,000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are astrophysics programs for high school students? Astrophysics programs for high school students place you in structured research environments where you work with real astronomical data, telescopes, and computational tools. Unlike a standard physics class, these programs introduce university-level methods in data analysis, modeling, and scientific communication, often under the direct supervision of working researchers.
Do I need advanced math or physics to apply to these programs? It depends on the program. SSP requires completion of precalculus and a high school physics course, and YSPA expects students to engage with Python and statistical methods. However, programs like REACH provide coding instruction from scratch, and PAN and SEES welcome students without extensive prior background. Several open-enrollment options like the Pulsar Science Collaboratory require only that you complete a training module before accessing real data.
Are there free astrophysics programs for high school students? Yes. RSI, Clark Scholars, Simons, PAN, SEES, VASTS, NASA HAS, and the Pulsar Science Collaboratory are all free to participate in. Several also provide stipends. SRMP pays participants $2,500 upon completion, and Simons also provides a stipend in addition to the research experience.
Can high school students do real astrophysics research? Yes. Multiple programs on this list involve genuine scientific contributions. SSP participants submit asteroid orbital measurements to the NASA-funded Minor Planet Center. PSC students have discovered eight new pulsars and earned co-authorship on peer-reviewed papers. GMU Young Scholars produce research papers published on the university’s official website. YSPA students co-author scientific papers presented at an internal mini-conference.
Which astrophysics programs are the most selective? RSI admits roughly 2.5% of applicants, making it among the most competitive pre-college research programs in any field. Clark Scholars accepts just 12 students nationally each year, and YSPA admits only 32. Simons accepts fewer than 5% of applicants. If you’re building toward these programs, starting with more accessible options like PSC or SEES can help you develop relevant skills and credentials.
When should I apply for astrophysics programs? Most summer programs have application deadlines between late January and early March, with RSI closing as early as mid-December. VASTS is an exception, opening applications in October for a program that runs through the following spring and summer. Reviewing program requirements in the fall and preparing application materials, including transcripts, recommendations, and any required essays, well in advance is strongly recommended.
Image Source: University of Pennsylvania