10 Ivy League Machine Learning (ML) Programs for High School Students
If you’re a high school student eager to explore cutting-edge fields and build a robust foundation for college, then participating in a machine learning program from an Ivy League school could be an excellent next step. Ivy League programs offer unparalleled opportunities to learn from esteemed professors and industry professionals, providing you with access to world-class resources and a learning environment that challenges you to think critically and creatively.
Machine learning is at the forefront of modern technology, shaping industries from healthcare to finance to environmental science. Gaining early exposure to this transformative field can not only deepen your technical skills but also give you valuable hands-on experience in a rapidly evolving discipline. Participating in an Ivy League ML program demonstrates your commitment to advanced learning and innovation — qualities that can set you apart on college applications, in honors courses, and even in future internship opportunities.
Whether you're looking to bolster your resume or simply immerse yourself in a new academic challenge, this curated list of 10 Ivy League Machine Learning Programs for High School Students offers some of the best starting points to inspire your journey.
1. Columbia University Pre-College NYC Residential Summer
Location: Columbia University, New York City, NY
Cost: $12,154 per session (includes a non-refundable $3,500 deposit)
Application Deadline: Applications for Summer 2025 open in early December 2024
Dates: Session A: June 24 – July 12, 2025; Session B: July 16 – August 2, 2025 (Tentative; based on 2024 program dates)
Eligibility: Domestic and international students enrolled in grades 9–12 in the fall and students currently enrolled in grade 12, ages 16 and above by the start of the program
Columbia’s NYC Residential Summer is a 3-week program combining more than 70 academic courses taught by expert instructors and campus life in New York City. As part of the Residential Summer program, you can attend a variety of daily activities and events like lectures, college prep workshops, community-building activities, and health & wellness programs.
The courses offered in this program span diverse fields like Technology, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Marketing and Communication, and Journalism among others. The Technology track covers topics like Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Algorithms, and Programming with Python. Students get to delve deep into real-world applications of Machine Learning and learn how data science and machine learning impact the world. Additionally, you gain practical experience with Python and become versed in popular Machine Learning algorithms.
2. Harvard Secondary School Program
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, or virtual
Cost:
4-week residential: $8,650
7-week residential: $14,950
7-week online/commuting: $4,050 (4 credits) or $7,900 (8 credits)
Application Deadline: February 12, 2025 (Regular application and financial aid deadline)
Dates:
4-week session: July 13 – August 8, 2025
7-week session: June 21 – August 9, 2025
Eligibility: Students entering college in 2025, 2026, or 2027, ages 16 to 18 by program start
Harvard’s Secondary School Program (SSP) is an academically rigorous summer program for high school students, allowing them to take Harvard courses for college credit over 4 or 7 weeks. This program immerses students in Harvard’s academic environment, offering residential, commuting, and online formats for the 7-week option, while the 4-week program is exclusively residential. SSP provides over 200 courses across disciplines, including technology, data science, and machine learning, with a focus on both theoretical knowledge and practical skills.
If you’re interested in exploring the field of tech and programming, this program offers a wide range of courses to dive deep into. “Introduction to Programming with R” introduces you to R, a popular programming language for statistical computing and graphics in data science and other domains. The “Introduction to C++ for Programmers” course teaches you equips you with practical programming skills while creating text-based games. “Introduction to AI with Python” explores the concepts and algorithms at the foundation of modern artificial intelligence, diving into the ideas that give rise to technologies like game-playing engines, handwriting recognition, and machine translation.
3. Harvard Pre-College Summer School Program
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Cost: $5,800 + $75 application fee
Application Deadline: February 12, 2025 (Regular application and financial aid deadline)
Dates:
Session 1: June 22 – July 3, 2025
Session 2: July 6 – July 18, 2025
Session 3: July 20 – August 1, 2025
Eligibility: Students graduating from high school and entering college in 2026 or 2027, ages 16 and above by June 21, 2025, and will not turn 19 years old before July 31, 2025.
Harvard University’s Pre-College Program is a 2-week, non-credit residential program held on the Harvard campus, offering high school students a taste of college life and intensive academics. The program includes a range of courses in humanities, STEM, and social sciences, fostering an intellectually stimulating environment. The program is designed to teach students how to engage in healthy debate and communicate clearly and diplomatically on complex topics. You can participate in several on-campus activities such as Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Sessions, trips and excursions, and other residential and social activities.
With small class sizes (typically 12-18 students), this program offers many courses in various streams. For those of you who are looking to explore technology, the “Introduction to Data Science with a Focus on Visualization” course could be of interest. It is split into two parts, with the first week focusing on the usage of Python to compile clean and easy-to-use data sets from the web and explore this data through visualizations using the Python library Matplotlib. The second week involves taking an in-depth look at visualizations and their communicative potential.
4. Columbia University Academic Year Weekend Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: $2,810 per session
Application Deadline: December 5, 2024
Dates: Spring 2025: January 18 – March 23, 2025
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12
Columbia University’s Academic Year Weekend program is a virtual learning experience that runs for 10 weekends. Participants can enroll for up to 4 courses which are offered as 2-hour sessions on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays. The program allows students from grades 9–12 to choose from over 20 courses in fields like Data Science, Machine Learning, Economics, and more. Each session is facilitated by scholars and practitioners who are experts in their fields and most classes most classes are taught in small, discrete sections led by individual instructors. This program also allows you to participate in virtual clubs, interact with a core group of peers, receive mentorship from a Student Life Intern, and participate in college preparation seminars, workshops, and lectures.
There are multiple courses offered in the technology discipline, such as Data Science and Machine Learning 1 & 2. These courses teach you how data science and machine learning impact the world and equip you with knowledge of Python to develop a more sophisticated programming skill set. Other technical courses in this program are Introduction to Python and Programming with Python. After successful completion, participants receive a Columbia University Certification of Participation, which can enhance their college applications.
5. Columbia University NYC Commuter Summer
Location: Columbia University, New York City, NY
Cost:
1-week program: $2,825 per session
3-week program: $6,300 per session
Limited financial aid available for New York City residents
Application Deadline: Applications for Summer 2025 open in early December 2024
Dates: (Tentative; based on 2024 program dates)
Session A: June 24 – July 12, 2025
Session B: July 16 – August 2, 2025
Session C: August 5 – August 9, 2025
Eligibility: Domestic and international students enrolled in grades 9–12 in the fall and students currently enrolled in grades 12, ages 16 or older by the program's start.
The NYC Commuter Summer at Columbia University is designed for students in grades 9-12 who are looking to explore their academic and professional interests. In this program, two classes are scheduled every day, and students are encouraged to enjoy campus resources, activities, and events during their breaks. Classes are conducted by Columbia faculty and industry professionals across diverse fields, including technology, business, and sciences, and encourage independent, critical thinking.
For students interested in machine learning and data science, the program offers specific courses like Data Science and Machine Learning 1 & 2, Introduction to AI: Search Algorithms, and Programming with Python. These courses introduce participants to foundational programming concepts, algorithms, and real-world machine-learning applications using Python. You can click here to get a detailed understanding of what each course entails.
6. Columbia University Online Summer
Location: Virtual
Cost: $2,810 for a 1-week session, $3,960 for a 2-week session (additional fees may apply)
Application Deadline: Applications for Summer 2025 open in early December 2024
Dates: (Tentative; based on 2024 program dates)
Session A: July 1 – July 12, 2025
Session B: July 15 – July 26, 2025
Session C: August 5 – August 9, 2025
Eligibility: Domestic and international students enrolled in grades 9–12 in the fall and students currently enrolled in grade 12, ages 16 or older by the start of the program.
Columbia University’s Online Summer Program provides high school students with a flexible, virtual learning experience. 1-week and 2-week programs are offered to students wherein they refine their academic skills through activities like class discussions, debates, simulations, individual and group projects, and Student Life workshops. Students participating in the 2-week course have the opportunity to participate in the Columbia Writers Workshop, an intensive 2-week course that helps students draft their college application essays.
The Online Summer Program features over 40 courses across various disciplines, including technology and computer science. For students looking to delve into the world of Machine Learning and AI, this program offers courses like Data Science and Machine Learning 1 & 2, and Introduction to AI: Search Algorithms. The Data Science and Machine Learning 1 course equips you with hands-on experience in introductory coding using Python and helps you become versed in popular machine learning algorithms. Other courses provided in the technology discipline include Understanding Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, Cyber-Threat Intelligence, and Introduction to Programming with Java.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $3,094 - $5,998, depending on the duration of the program.
Application Deadline: May 9, 2025
Dates: June 16 – July 25, 2025
Eligibility: Students completing grades 9 to 12, ages 14 to 18 by June 15, 2025
Summer@Brown is an online program by Brown University that allows students to choose from over 50 courses that provide rigorous, active learning experiences. The program offers participants the choice to study in one of three ways: asynchronously, mostly asynchronously, or blended. Students get to engage in independent research, challenge themselves by taking up college-level academics, and earn a Digital Certificate of Completion. Students who complete a 3-week or longer online course receive a Course Performance Report.
There are over ten different subject tracks from which you can choose your course. In the Engineering and Technology track, the AI, Data Science and Machine Learning course introduces students to the worlds of analytics, business, and programming through the use of AI, Data Science, and Machine Learning. You gain hands-on experience and develop Machine Learning ideas through a real-world project. This course runs for 4 weeks and takes place in the blended mode. Some other courses in technology being offered are Introduction to Statistical Programming in R and Introduction to Computational Mathematics and Big Data Visualization.
Location: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Cost: $4,799 - $9,299 depending on the course model (financial aid options available)
Application Deadline: Applications will open in December 2024.
Dates:
Session 1: June 30 - July 10, 2025
Session 2: July 7 - July 17, 2025
Eligibility: Students in grades 9-11. The recommended GPA is 3.5 and above
The Dartmouth Summer Scholars program is a selective, two-week residential program designed to give high school students a firsthand experience of college life at Dartmouth. This pre-college program provides access to interdisciplinary, non-credit courses taught by Dartmouth faculty and staff. High-achieving students from grades 10-12 engage in a mix of traditional and experiential learning, including lectures, workshops, hands-on labs, and field trips, all within Dartmouth’s vibrant campus environment.
The program’s Computer Science track offers a course on AI that explores the rise of AI and helps students learn about the use of algorithms, data, machine learning, and deep learning. It also introduces you to some of the most prominent areas where AI is applied. This program also has a Data Science course that begins by equipping students with Python programming fundamentals and later advances to crucial concepts like data structures, manipulation, and exploratory data analysis (EDA).
Location: Virtual
Cost: $5,070 per course, plus an $85 technology fee and a $75 application fee
Application Deadline: Applications for Summer 2025 will open in mid-January.
Dates: (Tentative; based on 2024 program dates)
Session A: May 27 - June 28, 2025
Session B: July 1 - August 2, 2025
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors, age 16 or older, by the program start date
Yale Summer Online is structured around live online seminars and lecture courses with discussion sessions. The classroom sizes are small and facilitate extensive interaction between students, their peers, and faculty. Courses cover a range of subjects, including introductory programming, computer science fundamentals, and data science. Students engage in group projects and one-on-one interactions with faculty, experiencing the collaborative academic culture at Yale.
Each session requires a commitment of approximately 15-20 hours per week per course, allowing students to immerse themselves in a college-level workload. The Introduction to Programming course focuses on the development of programming skills, problem-solving methods, and knowledge of selected applications. No prior experience with computers is required for this course. The topics covered include abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development. You also get to learn programming languages like C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript, plus CSS and HTML.
The other Computer Science courses offered are Algorithms and Mathematical Tools for Computer Science. Upon completion, students earn Yale College credits, which may be transferable to other universities.
10. Summer@Brown
Location: Brown University, Providence, RI
Cost: $2,816 - $9,870, depending on course length and residential options
Application Deadline: May 9, 2025
Dates: June 16 – July 25, 2025
Eligibility: Students completing grades 9 to 12, ages 14 to 18 by June 15, 2025
Summer@Brown offers high school students over 230 courses to pursue during 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-week on-campus and 5-week hybrid sessions. Students engage with peers and faculty by actively participating in class discussions and collaborating in group work paired with individual study. This in-person program emphasizes active learning without the pressure of formal grades, allowing students to explore college-level academics and develop independence in an immersive environment.
While this program offers courses in several streams, the Engineering and Technology stream covers subjects that could be of interest to students looking to jump into the world of tech. Some of the courses on Machine Learning and programming include Introduction to Machine Learning and AI with Python, Introduction to Engineering with Arduino: Electronics and Programming, and Introduction to Engineering and Programming with MATLAB.
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!
Tyler Moulton is Head of Academics and Veritas AI Partnerships with 6 years of experience in education consulting, teaching, and astronomy research at Harvard and the University of Cambridge, where they developed a passion for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Tyler is passionate about connecting high-achieving students to advanced AI techniques and helping them build independent, real-world projects in the field of AI!
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