10 Free Certifications for High School Students
In today's highly competitive scenario, free certifications provide high school students with valuable opportunities to gain the upper hand over their peers. These certifications offer a range of benefits, from enhancing college applications to boosting resumes with specialized skills. By obtaining recognized credentials in fields like technology, business, or healthcare, students can demonstrate their dedication and expertise.
Moreover, these programs often provide hands-on experience, making you more favorable to future employers. Ultimately, free certifications empower you to explore interests, build confidence, and gain a competitive edge, all without the financial burden, paving the way for academic and career success.
In this blog, we cover 10 free certification courses that you can benefit from and use to build foundational skills, learn new concepts and improve your resume!
1. Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)
As the name suggests, "Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)" offers the fundamentals of programming using Python, one of the most versatile programming languages. The course structure includes video lectures, practice exercises, and quizzes to help consolidate the basic concepts of variables, conditional execution, repeated execution, and functions.
If you have no prior programming experience, then this course is highly accessible and provides a gentle introduction to coding. Participants who complete the course can receive a certificate of completion, which serves as proof of their new coding skills and foundational knowledge in Python programming.
Offered by: The University of Michigan
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
2. Data Science Professional Certificate
The IBM Data Science Professional Certificate is an extensive program that trains learners in the field of data science, covering topics from Python programming and data analysis to machine learning and visualizations. This comprehensive certificate program is structured into a series of interconnected courses that include video tutorials, peer-reviewed assignments, and hands-on projects using real data sets.
This program adopts a step-by-step approach to mastering the necessary skills needed for a burgeoning data scientist. Upon successful completion, participants receive a professional certificate from IBM, making this course ideal for those looking to start or advance their careers.
Offered by: IBM
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
3. Foundational C# with Microsoft
The course lives up to its name and is excellent for students who are looking for an introduction to C# programming and want to explore its core concepts, syntax, and practical application in software development. The course consists of seven levels, which you need to clear one at a time, and through hands-on exercises and projects, you will learn the fundamentals of C#, including variables, data types, control structures, and object-oriented programming principles.
Each different course level section has a trophy associated with it that you must earn on the Microsoft Learn platform. After earning each trophy, you need to verify them on freeCodeCamp. Once you have done those, you can qualify for the certification exam. There is no deadline for completing this course, and you can complete it at your own pace, though it is recommended that you finish it as soon as possible so that you do not have to revisit any of the modules.
Offered by: freeCodeCamp
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
4. HubSpot Digital Marketing Course
In this HubSpot free certification course, you’ll learn about the essentials of digital marketing from scratch. It’s suitable for marketing professionals, business owners, or anyone keen on getting a marketing certification and can be a good addition to your resume if you are interested in pursuing marketing as a career.
The course includes nine lessons and 11 quizzes, totaling 5:25 hours of content. The lessons cover digital marketing strategies, website optimization for both search engines and users, social media content creation, and strategies to build a strong online presence. As almost every imaginable business can be run completely online, having this certification will not only be a useful resume booster but also help you earn a few bucks while pursuing your education.
Offered by: HubSpot
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
If you work or aspire to work in design and user experience (UX), Figma will definitely be a crucial part of your toolkit. This collaborative software is used for creating, sharing, and testing designs for all types of digital products. Every online venture needs a website or an app, so if you have even learned the basics of UX, you can practice your skills by volunteering to work on websites and apps!
The UX Toast Figma free online course offers a deep dive into Figma’s features and plugins across four lessons. Plus, Figma’s website hosts a vast library of basic design tutorials if you’re seeking additional information. These four courses take up just two hours, and to earn the free certification, UX Toast only asks you to send three screenshots to prove you have finished this course. Once you're ready, send them over to carluxtoast@gmail.com, along with your name.
Offered by: UX Toast
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
6. INCO Academy Green Digital Skills Certificate Program
This 100% online and self-paced course is a four-module certification program. Green skills are in demand right now, given the rising awareness about the impact of digital infrastructures like batteries on resources. Future employers and college admissions officers will take notice if you have a green digital certificate on your resume, signaling your concern for the environment. The regular coursework covers the following topics in detail:
Foundations of Sustainability in Tech
Green Design Principles & Practices
Your Journey to Green & Greening Careers
At the end of the first three modules, you’ll choose one elective module. Each option focuses on different industries, so you can pick the one that best aligns with your profession/passion:
Carbon Accounting and AI
Green Digital Marketing
Green Digital Infrastructure
Green Digital Design
After completing the four modules, you’re invited to apply your green skills to a sustainable project of your choice. This is a free program offered with support from Microsoft and LinkedIn. You can complete the program within 5 weeks (up to 4-5 hours per week), and the only requirement is that you have a good internet connection!
Offered by: INCO Academy
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
"CompTIA A+ 1000 Part 1" is targeted towards individuals preparing for the CompTIA A+ certification, focusing on core technologies such as hardware, networking, and mobile devices. The course layout includes a series of video lectures, assessments, and interactive simulations designed to build foundational IT skills effectively. This preparatory course is structured to accommodate beginners, guiding them through complex concepts at a manageable pace.
Upon completion, learners receive a certificate from Alison, affirming their readiness to tackle the CompTIA A+ exam, which is a crucial step for those pursuing a career in IT. By the end of the course, you’ll know key skills such as how to compare types of memory, understand hard drives and other storage devices, and compare the maintenance of mobile devices and laptop computers.
Offered by: Alison, Workforce Academy Partnership
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
8. Machine Learning with Python
Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the buzzwords in the market currently, and picking up coding is one of the best skills that you can learn as a high school student. Whether you want to pursue a career in computer science or any STEM field, coding skills will come in handy and provide you with an edge over your peers.
Machine Learning with Python Certification by freeCodeCamp is a free course in which you'll use the TensorFlow framework to build several neural networks and explore more advanced techniques like natural language processing and reinforcement learning. You'll also dive into neural networks and learn the principles behind how deep, recurrent, and convolutional neural networks work.
TensorFlow is an open-source framework that makes machine learning and neural networking easier to use and you will learn about Python programming from the basics. After completing the course, you will have to complete five projects using TensorFlow, which is mandatory to receive the free certification.
Offered by: freeCodeCamp
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
9. Net Zero 101: What, Why and How
Net Zero 101 is a free course designed for anyone who wishes to develop a foundational understanding of the basic science behind climate change, and its environmental, social, and economic impacts. Attending this course will provide you with actions that can be taken to mitigate climate change and achieve a net-zero society. A technical background in climate science is not required to complete this course. You can check the program syllabus here.
The course consists of three modules, each taking approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. At the end of each module, learners will be given a quiz. You will receive a digital certificate issued by UNU-IAS after completing the quizzes. This course was developed by UNU-IAS as part of its Innovation and Education program, with support from the Ministry of Environment, Japan and the Korea Environment Corporation, Government of the Republic of Korea.
Offered by: United Nations University, Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
10. Agriculture, Economics, and Nature
This free certification course is offered by FutureLearn in partnership with the University of Western Australia, one of the top public universities in Australia. This course is designed for anyone interested in economic thinking in the agricultural sector and is a good fit for you if you want to pursue a career in the rural economy.
You’ll explore key economic principles that will help you to make sense of the changes that have occurred in agriculture and understand why different agricultural economic decisions have been made. You’ll cover subjects like agricultural production methods, input levels, resource conservation, and sustainable agricultural production as you consider how improved economic thinking can positively impact these areas.
This course can be completed in six weeks at your own pace and only requires you to commit four hours per week. You will need to complete 90% of the course steps and all the assessments to earn your free certificate.
Offered by: FutureLearn
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Open to all, including high school students
If you’re looking to build a project/research paper in the field of AI & ML, consider applying to Veritas AI!
Veritas AI is founded by Harvard graduate students. Through the programs, you get a chance to work 1-1 with mentors from universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and more to create unique, personalized projects. In the past year, we had over 1000 students learn AI & ML with us. You can apply here!
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