What is the dynaMIT Program?

The dynaMIT program is a week-long science program for economically disadvantaged middle-school students on the MIT Campus. In this program, you can explore the different STEM fields available through activities, challenges and projects! 

If you’re looking for a program that focuses on critical thinking skills, science and engineering concepts, and design skills in STEM through practical application, this might be the program for you! An added benefit is the guidance and mentorship offered by the dynaMIT team of current undergraduate students at MIT! 

Where and where is the program conducted? 

The program is conducted in the MIT Campus in Massachusetts. 

The 2023 program dates were segregated based on age groups with week 1 running from August 14 - August 18, for rising 6-7 graders and week 2 from August 21 - August 25, for rising 8-9th graders. 

What will a typical day in dynaMIT look like? 

Your day involves ice-breakers and presentations to introduce the concepts for the day. You can also expect to work in groups with your mentors on experiments or hands-on challenges. Some areas that have been covered in previous dynaMIT cohorts are electricity and magnetism, polymers and materials, and forensics! 

The highlight of the week is your capstone project which will require basic coding and programming skills that your mentor will help you develop. Every day, you will have dedicated time to work on your project and at the end of week, you will have a completed project to showcase to your peers and family. 

What is the cost of dynaMIT?

The cost of attendance is completely free, however, you will have to organize your own housing and transportation to the camp as it is not residential. 

The dynaMIT website does state that they’d prefer students from the Boston area or somewhere nearby, so if you live further, you might want to consider other opportunities. 

What is the selection criteria?

The main criteria for this program is your current financial situation as the aim of this program is to make STEM education more accessible! You should also be able to demonstrate an interest in science and a passion to go beyond classroom learnings. 

Should I apply? 

Pros: 

1. The program is a good networking opportunity. 

All the instructors for dynaMIT are current undergraduate students at MIT so this program is a great opportunity to network. This will help you in high school when you’re looking for extracurriculars and you can approach them for research opportunities! 

2. You can benefit from the in-person interaction. 

As this program is in-person, you can take advantage of the connections you can make with like-minded, motivated peers and form connections over your passions and love for STEM! You might also want to reach out to them in the future to do group extracurriculars together. 

3. The program comes with little-to-no expenses. 

As this program is completely free, and considering dynaMIT prefers students from the Boston area, you will likely incur minimal transportation costs at most! You can benefit from the expertise of your mentors, learn new concepts and experience studying at MIT for free which is an excellent deal. 

Cons: 

1. It is not as prestigious as other selective programs or competitions. 

For middle schoolers, there are other STEM-focused programs or even competitions that would add to your resume. It might also be worthwhile to choose a program where there is a more developed final output, which is not achievable for dynaMIT considering the time constraints. 

2. You might lose out on time because this program is not residential. 

While you won’t have to incur any larger dorming costs, you will lose time for commuting to and from campus every-day. This does make it challenging to do other programs alongside dynaMIT, especially since this is a full-day camp. 

Our Review

This program is a solid option for anyone who is looking for a more generalized overview of STEM topics that will help when starting high-school. We also recommend this program if you reside in the Boston area and are looking for summer programs to explore STEM subjects in greater detail. Also, if you currently have any financial hurdles that might affect your application to other summer programs, this is a great alternative.

Some great aspects of this program are the mentorship opportunities by current MIT students and the emphasis of hands-on and application-based learning. Through these hands-on challenges and your capstone project, you can learn to effectively applying your theoretical knowledge in practical situations which is very helpful in highschool. 

If you’re not in the Boston area and if you can afford other opportunities, we’d recommend selecting other programs as this isn’t the most prestigious. If you’re also only interested in 1 area of science, we suggest going for a more topic-focused course as dynaMIT covers general areas across all STEM fields. 

If you’re looking to build unique projects in the field of AI/ML, consider applying to Veritas AI! 

Veritas AI was founded by Harvard graduate students, and through the programs, you get a chance to learn the fundamentals of AI and computer science while collaborating on real-world projects. You can also 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 data science and AI with us. You can apply here!

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