Summer programs are an excellent opportunity to gain exposure to advanced concepts, lab tools, and research techniques that you otherwise may not have come across. There’s a huge variety of summer programs available across all sorts of disciplines, and the natural sciences are no exception. These programs place you inside active scientific environments where the questions are open, and the work is real.
Why should you participate in natural sciences summer programs for high school students?
Natural sciences summer programs give you the opportunity to spend the summer in a university genetics lab, at a marine field station, or on a college campus, working through problems in astrophysics or neuroscience alongside faculty researchers. Beyond the subject matter itself, these programs introduce you to how researchers design experiments, evaluate data, handle unexpected results, and communicate findings to a technical audience. Spending a summer this way also helps you figure out whether a given field is genuinely where your interests lie before you commit to it in college.
For now, here is a list of 15 natural sciences summer programs for high school students.
You can also check out these guides on free natural sciences programs and sustainability internships for high school students!
1. Research Science Institute (RSI)
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost: $75 non-refundable application fee
Acceptance Rate: <2.5%
Dates: 6 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: Mid-December
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors (16+); More details here
The first week at RSI puts you in college-level lectures taught by accomplished professors, covering the theoretical foundation of your assigned field before lab work begins. The next five weeks are spent in an active research setting, whether that’s an MIT laboratory, a Boston-area hospital, or a corporate research facility. There, you will work one-on-one with a scientist or faculty mentor on an open-ended project. The scientific fields range from cancer research to category theory; your mentor and project are matched to the interests and background you lay out in your application. You’ll also read primary literature, draft a research plan, execute experiments, and then present your findings in a conference-style oral presentation at the RSI Symposium and submit a written paper. You can also submit your summer research to competitions like the Regeneron Science Talent Search and earn co-authorship credit on peer-reviewed publications.
2. Summer Science Program (SSP)
Location: Multiple university campuses across the U.S. (varies by track)
Cost: $11,800; However, participants pay on a sliding scale based on family income (families earning below $75,000 receive a full scholarship and travel expenses)
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: 5 weeks in the summer; (specific dates vary by research topic and location)
Application Deadline: January 29 (international); February 19 (domestic)
Eligibility: Current high school juniors (15+) who have completed or are in the process of completing any level of high school biology and chemistry by June for credit and a grade
At SSP, you will choose one of four research tracks and spend five weeks taking a single real research problem from beginning to end. During the astrophysics track, you will take nightly telescopic observations of a near-Earth asteroid, write software to determine its orbital path, and submit your data to the NASA-funded Minor Planet Center, contributing to a global tracking effort. The biochemistry track will put you in the lab to characterize a fungal enzyme, model its molecular architecture, and design an inhibitor aimed at blocking it. In the bacterial genomics track, you’ll expose non-pathogenic bacteria to stressors, drive their evolution over successive generations, sequence the resulting genomes, and analyze acquired mutations using bioinformatics tools. As a cell biology student, you will apply gene-editing techniques in yeast to probe how changes to specific cell cycle genes alter cellular behavior.
3. Anson L. Clark Scholars Program
Location: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Cost/Stipend: $25 application fee; $750 stipend
Cohort Size: 12 students each year
Dates: June 21 – August 6
Application Deadline: February 16
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors (17+) who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
During the Anson L. Clark Scholars program, you’ll be paired one-on-one with a Texas Tech faculty member and will spend seven weeks working on an original research project. Research areas available span the natural sciences and beyond, from biology and chemistry to physics, and weekly seminars and faculty discussions give you a broader window into academic research culture. You’ll also go on field trips and weekend activities to pull the small cohort together outside the lab.
4. Rockefeller University Summer Science Research Program (SSRP)
Location: The Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free; Need-based stipends may be offered
Cohort Size: 32 students per cohort
Dates: June 22 – August 6
Application Deadline: October 13 – January 2
Eligibility: Current high school juniors and seniors (16+)
Rockefeller’s SSRP places you into teams mirroring the internal structure of a university research laboratory, with team leads drawn from across the Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Weill Cornell Medicine. You will work in dedicated RockEDU teaching laboratories for around 35 hours a week on molecular biology investigations. The program also offers elective courses, guest lectures from Tri-Institutional scientists, networking opportunities, and workshops on scientific communication alongside the bench work.
5. Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR)
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Cost/Stipend: $50 application fee (fee waivers offered); Need-based stipends may be offered
Cohort Size: ~50 students selected
Dates: June 8 – July 30
Application Deadline: December 19 – February 21
Eligibility: U.S. high school juniors and seniors (16+)
For eight weeks, you will be embedded in one of Stanford Medicine’s active biomedical research labs, working one-on-one with a faculty member, postdoctoral fellow, or graduate student on an ongoing project. You can apply to one of eight research areas, including immunology, cancer biology, neuroscience, stem cell biology, bioengineering, bioinformatics, genetics, or pharmacology. An alternative path, the SIMR Bioengineering Team Internship, skips the traditional lab structure in favor of a team-based design challenge. During this challenge, you will be part of a group of four to five students who will develop and prototype solutions to real medical needs through three full days of work per week. You will also attend lectures from bioengineering researchers and structured design reviews. The program closes with a public poster session where you present your results to Stanford faculty, researchers, and families.
6. Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program
Location: The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, or Farmington, CT
Cost/Stipend: Fully funded; $7,500 stipend
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: May 30 – August 7
Application Deadline: January 26
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors (18+) who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
The Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program places you inside one of JAX’s active labs to contribute to ongoing research in genetics, genomics, cancer biology, neuroscience, immunology, or computational biology. The program is designed to give you increasing independence as the summer goes on. It starts with you learning the methods and context of the lab’s work and gradually taking on greater ownership of your experiments and analysis. You will attend weekly professional development sessions that address practical scientific skills, including genetic testing, data visualization, science communication, and peer review. You will also participate in a journal club where you will develop your ability to engage with primary literature critically. The summer closes with a poster presentation to JAX researchers, fellow participants, and family members.
7. Boston University Research in Science & Engineering (RISE)
Location: Boston University, Boston, MA
Cost: $75 nonrefundable application fee; Commuter fee: $5,350; Residential fee: $8,500; Financial aid offered
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 28 – August 7
Application Deadline: February 4
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents
RISE’s Internship track places you in a BU research lab, where you will spend 40 hours a week working on a project. Based on your mentor’s research agenda, this project will be on anything from astronomy and physics to biology, chemistry, neuroscience, or public health. Your specific placement is determined through a matching process after admission, based on your stated research interests and the faculty available to host interns that cycle. A second option, the Practicum, puts you in a group computational research setting focused on either neurobiology or data science. Both options include weekly workshops on research ethics, reading scientific papers, presenting findings, and navigating a career in science. By the end of the program, you will be expected to present at a closing Poster Symposium.
8. Simons Summer Research Program
Location: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free (residential costs may apply); Stipend offered
Acceptance Rate: <5%
Dates: June 29 – August 7
Application Deadline: February 5
Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents currently in 11th grade (16+)
During the Simons Summer Research Program, you will be placed into an active Stony Brook University faculty research group, where you will take on responsibility for a project within that group’s ongoing scientific agenda and work alongside graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. You’ll also attend weekly faculty research talks that expose you to work happening across Stony Brook’s departments. Additionally, the program organizes additional workshops, campus tours, and events that give you a broader sense of what a major research university looks like from the inside. At the closing poster symposium, you will present your results and receive a stipend award in recognition of completing your project.
9. Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Sciences (PGSS)
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 21 – July 25
Application Deadline: October – January 31
Eligibility: Pennsylvania high school juniors
PGSS runs five core courses, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science simultaneously across five weeks. These courses are all taught by CMU faculty and Pittsburgh-area professors in both lecture and lab formats. After the first two weeks, you will get to drop one core course and take up a lab research component, where you work collaboratively with peers on a team project in one of the five subject areas. That team project culminates in a formal written summary published in the annual Journal of PGSS and presented publicly at the Scientific Symposium before the program ends.
10. Penn Experimental Physics Research Academy
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $10,050; Scholarships offered to select Philadelphia students
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: July 11 – August 1
Application Deadline: May 1
Eligibility: Current 9th-11th grade students with at least a 3.5 GPA
During the Penn Experimental Physics Research Academy, you will spend three weeks moving through the full arc of classical and modern physics, beginning with kinematics and mechanics and progressing through electromagnetism, nuclear physics, and then into quantum dynamics and astrophysics. The curriculum also includes class time on experimental design and the philosophy of science, treating physics as a way of thinking rather than only a body of equations. Each week, Penn faculty members in the Department of Physics and Astronomy present research talks on their ongoing work. They will also take questions from the group, connecting what you are learning in the classroom to the current state of the field.
11. Penn Neuroscience Research Academy
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $10,050; Scholarships offered to select Philadelphia students
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: July 11 – August 1
Application Deadline: May 1
Eligibility: Current 9th-11th grade students with at least a 3.5 GPA
During the Penn Neuroscience Research Academy, you will move through the neuroscience of behavior from the biology of the neuron itself and then progress through the sensory systems and into higher cognitive processes, including memory, emotion, and the neural bases of moral reasoning. You will also attend lectures delivered by members of Penn’s undergraduate neuroscience faculty and participate in a journal club where you will read peer-reviewed papers, analyze the methodology, and present your assessment to the group. A neuroethics component meets regularly throughout the program, giving you a forum to debate live controversies in the field, including questions about clinical applications, cognitive enhancement, and research consent. Aside from this, you will attend lab sessions that provide exposure to experimental techniques used in neuroscience research and field trips to institutions like the Mütter Museum.
12. The Island School Summer Term
Location: The Island School, Cape Eleuthera, The Bahamas
Cost: $19,100; 25% of applicants receive tuition assistance
Acceptance Rate: Highly competitive
Dates: June 22 – August 3
Application Deadline: January 15
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
The two core courses here, Marine Ecology and Human Ecology, are taught largely in the field rather than in a classroom, which means much of your research happens underwater, in mangrove creeks, or along the coastlines of South Eleuthera. You’ll contribute to research being conducted by scientists at the Cape Eleuthera Institute – a field station with active programs in coral reef ecology, shark behavior, lobster fisheries, fish physiology, and ocean-climate systems – and develop and execute your own scientific investigation within that research environment. This is a physically demanding program, with a combined running and swimming endurance event, multi-day kayak expeditions along the coastline, and even a 24-hour solo period in the field. The Human Ecology course draws directly on the economics, governance, culture, and environmental history of South Eleuthera, so the region you are studying in is also the subject of your coursework.
13. SEA Pre-College: Oceanography
Location: Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, MA
Cost: $6,975; Financial aid offered
Acceptance Rate: Highly competitive
Dates: June 22 – July 9; July 13 – 30
Application Deadline: January 16 (early); March 2 (regular)
Eligibility: Current high school students who have completed at least one high school-level science and one high school-level mathematics course
This program covers ocean circulation, biogeochemical cycles, seafloor structure, coastal processes, and marine food web dynamics through 40-plus hours of lectures, lab work, and field sampling. You will design and carry out an original research project in small groups, with past student projects investigating how freshwater input affects bay salinity, how tidal fluctuation influences dissolved oxygen in salt marshes, and how microplastic concentrations vary across the Gulf of Maine. You’ll then present your findings to the broader Woods Hole scientific community, which consists of attendees from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Part of the program is gaining access to that community directly, through facility visits where researchers describe their work on ocean-climate interactions and global circulation.
14. COSMOS (California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science)
Location: One of 4 campuses: UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles, UC Merced, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz
Cost: $5,518; Financial aid offered
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: July 5 – 31
Application Deadline: January 7 – February 6
Eligibility: Rising 9th-12th graders enrolled in a California high school who have a GPA of 3.5+
Every COSMOS student applies to a single “cluster” at one of six UC campuses, selecting an advanced topic to dedicate their summer to. Cluster offerings at the six campuses span fields like climate change, biodiesel production from renewable feedstocks, quantum photonics, tissue engineering, and biodiversity science, with the specific options shifting somewhat from year to year and differing by campus. For four weeks, you’ll attend lectures and lab sessions led by UC faculty, carry out a research project within your cluster’s focus area, and present your findings at the program’s conclusion.
15. Summer Academy for Math and Science (SAMS)
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: Fully funded
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 20 – August 1
Application Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Current high school juniors (16+) who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents; Students underrepresented in STEM, first-generation college students, English-language learners, and students from schools with historically low college acceptance rates are strongly encouraged
SAMS runs a curriculum modeled on the first semester of a CMU undergraduate experience, with biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science courses all taught by CMU faculty. The biology component, for example, takes you through DNA isolation with forensic science applications, protein analysis drawn from research on blood diseases, and agarose gel electrophoresis using bacteria engineered to produce bioluminescence from jellyfish genes. Weekly writing workshops focus on college application preparation, bridging what you learn academically with the transition to higher education. At the end of the program, you’ll present your work at a research symposium attended by families and the broader SAMS community.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like investigative journalism, media studies, political reporting, data journalism, and the ethics of news and information, 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: Carnegie Mellon University