If you are a high school student interested in exploring business, innovation, and leadership, consider participating in an entrepreneurship program. Many of these programs are designed to help you develop advanced skills and gain valuable, real-world experience. The fall season, typically from late August to early December, offers an excellent opportunity to engage in structured learning while managing your academic responsibilities.
Several fall entrepreneurship programs for high school students go beyond classroom theory, offering opportunities to apply financial literacy, marketing, management, and problem-solving skills to real-world projects or scenarios. With mentorship, competitions, and hands-on projects, you’ll strengthen your entrepreneurial mindset and prepare for future success in college, your career, or even your own venture.
In this blog, you can explore 11 fall entrepreneurship programs for high school students that allow you to build advanced business, leadership, and innovation skills.
11 Fall Entrepreneurship Programs for High School Students
1. Georgetown’s Pre-College Online Program: Becoming an Entrepreneur: An Inside Look at Innovation
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,895; Need-based scholarships available
Program Dates: Varies; Multiple 1, 2, & 4-week sessions
Application Deadline: Varies by session
Eligibility: Students ages 13+
This program will help you develop a structured understanding of entrepreneurship, emphasizing idea-to-launch workflows. You’ll explore market research, customer identification, business model design, and value proposition articulation. The curriculum includes creating business pitches, project timelines, and network-building strategies to support ventures. Mentorship from undergraduate business students provides guidance on ideation, iterative problem-solving, and presenting a capstone business concept. The course also introduces concepts of business pivoting, financial tools, leadership behaviors, and entrepreneurial decision-making, providing a hands-on simulation of moving a concept from idea to actionable business plan.
2. Columbia University Academic Year Weekend Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: $2,810 per session for a single course; See additional costs here
Program Dates: September 19 – December 7
Application Deadline: July 29 (early); August 4 (general)
Eligibility: Students in grades 9-12
The Academic Year Weekend Program offers over 20 interactive courses held across ten weekends. In the Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship course, you’ll learn to design, evaluate, and refine new business or social ventures. Through case studies, team projects, and mentorship, you’ll explore market analysis, product innovation, brand strategy, financing, and legal foundations. Each session helps you build practical skills in business modeling, communication, and leadership while developing a full venture plan and investor pitch. Complementary workshops in college prep and leadership further strengthen your academic and professional readiness for future challenges.
3. Yale University: Creating Change through Social Entrepreneurship
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free (paid certificate)
Program Dates: 2 weeks; Self-paced
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: All learners, including high school students; No prior experience required
Creating Change through Social Entrepreneurship from Yale University guides learners to address social or environmental challenges using entrepreneurial strategies. As a participant, you’ll research issues, ideate solutions, and build sustainable business models while exploring stakeholder engagement, fundraising, advocacy, and performance metrics. Through case studies and insights from global changemakers, you’ll develop practical skills in innovation, design, and community outreach.
4. TYE Boston: Entrepreneurship Academy
Location: TiE-Boston Foundation, Cambridge, MA
Cost: $2,400
Program Dates: October – May (12 alternating Saturdays)
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school students (grades 9-12)
The TYE Entrepreneurship Academy immerses you in the full startup journey, from customer discovery and iteration to pitching investors. Over eight months, you’ll collaborate with peers to build a real startup, guided by a dedicated mentor and a curriculum refined over 15+ years. Workshops strengthen professional skills like networking, interviewing, and LinkedIn presence, while guest speakers and startup founders share hard-won entrepreneurial insights. The program culminates in a pitch competition at the Cambridge Innovation Center, where teams compete for seed funding and a chance to advance to the TYE Global Competition.
5. Wake Forest: Online Business Programs for High School Students
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,595 per course; Need-based scholarships available
Program Dates: Multiple 2- and 4-week sessions
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students completing grades 9-12 (13+)
Wake Forest University’s Online Business Programs let high school students explore entrepreneurship, business, and finance from anywhere in the world. Some of the courses available include: Business: Strategy & Innovation, Investing: The Future of Finance, and The Mystery and Science of Human Behavior: An Insider’s Guide to Psychology. Each course combines expert-led instruction with mentoring, interactive multimedia, simulations, and curated assignments. You’ll also complete a Capstone project to apply what you’ve learned, demonstrating skills in strategy, innovation, investing, and human behavior. You’ll also earn a Certificate of Completion to showcase your experience by the end of the course.
6. Stanford e-Entrepreneurship U.S.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Program Dates: November 1 – April 4 (tentative)
Application Deadline: October 6 (tentative)
Eligibility: U.S. High school sophomores, juniors, or seniors (gap year students also considered)
This selective online program, offered by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), equips 20 motivated high school students with the skills to transform ideas into entrepreneurial solutions for global and local challenges. Grounded in human-centered design and active learning, the course helps you clarify your personal motivations, strengthen creativity, and practice problem-solving within collaborative projects. Upon successful completion, you’ll earn Stanford Continuing Studies credit and a Certificate of Completion from SPICE.
7. YEI Smart Hustle School Year Internship
Location: Washington, DC
Cost/Stipend: Free; Paid
Program Dates: October 5 – June 1
Application Deadline: May 31
Eligibility: High school students in Washington, DC; Must have completed a YEI program (Academy, Studios, or Summer Internship) or a school/partner business course
This year-long entrepreneurial immersion places you as an “entrepreneur-in-residence,” where you’ll dedicate 125-230 hours to directly managing your business. You’ll focus on practical aspects like building a website, running social media, and managing finances while also completing 25 hours of job-readiness training. The program emphasizes designing revenue-generating ventures that solve local community problems and prepares you for future academic or career pursuits. Alongside mentorship and peer collaboration, you’ll compete in pitch competitions for cash prizes and scholarships, gain branding and marketing skills, and receive recognition with the Artpreneur – Business Innovator badge.
8. YEI Artpreneur School Year Program
Location: Washington, DC
Cost/Stipend: Free; Paid
Program Dates: October 5 – June 1
Application Deadline: May 31
Eligibility: High school students in Washington, DC; Must meet YEI program prerequisites
This program teaches teens how to turn creativity into revenue by developing, launching, and running their own artistic businesses. You’ll gain hands-on experience using graphic software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate, and CorelDraw, as well as commercial machinery including heat presses, vinyl cutters, large-format printers, screen presses, embroidery, DTG, sublimation, and laser cutters. The program emphasizes branding, marketing, business logistics, and pitching, culminating in a $1,000 Pitch Competition. You’ll also receive mentorship, strengthen leadership and problem-solving skills, and earn the Artpreneur – Business Innovator badge.
9. Berkeley Business Academy for Youth – Academic Year Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: $5,450 (California residents); $6,450 (Out-of-state); Application fee: $85; Limited needs-based scholarships available
Program Dates: September 7 – November 22
Application Deadline: June 15 – August 27
Eligibility: Rising 10th-12th graders and gap year students who are academically motivated and able to commit to all sessions
Through the Academic Year Program, high school students worldwide engage in project-based learning in business and entrepreneurship. You’ll learn directly from Berkeley scholars, industry experts, and university mentors while developing ventures, collaborating in teams, and mastering problem-solving, leadership, and professional skills. Classes combine simulations, workshops, guest lectures, and group projects to encourage logical, independent, and creative thinking. You’ll also receive a Berkeley Certificate of Participation and personalized evaluation letters upon completion.
10. After School Matters – Fall Programs
Location: Chicago, IL
Stipend: Paid
Program Dates: September 23 – December 13
Application Deadline: Opens late August; Apply early
Eligibility: Chicago high school students (14-18)
After School Matters’ fall programs help teens develop leadership skills while engaging in hands-on projects across fields such as community organizing, arts, and technical trades. You’ll collaborate with professional instructors, take initiative in team projects, and mentor peers, cultivating confidence, communication, and problem-solving abilities. Programs emphasize responsibility, planning, and community engagement, preparing you to lead in school and beyond.
11. YEP! (Young Entrepreneurs Program)
Location: Various university campuses across the U.S.
Cost: Free
Program Dates: Various 5-7-week sessions in a year, including fall
Application Deadline: Not mentioned
Eligibility: High school students from under-resourced schools
YEP! is an entrepreneurship education program for high school students that’s often hosted on university campuses across the globe, including the U.S. The program offers a guide to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and lifelong mentorship and gives you the chance to explore real-world opportunities. As a participant, you’ll attend weekly meetings where you’ll learn important entrepreneurial skills and start developing your own venture. The program ends with a Pitch Night, where you’ll present your ventures and receive feedback from university professors and local entrepreneurs.
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 lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Image source – Georgetown University