If you're curious about artificial intelligence, luckily, there are already AI research programs that you can apply for. Taking part in these programs may differentiate you from other students because you exhibited your passion early in your career. Even if you are not curious about AI yet, you should try to build some basic skills if you want to do advanced research in other STEM areas, because AI works pretty well in combination with other subjects.

If you’re wondering whether these programs are a right fit for you and what programs there are, keep reading this article for more information.

How have we calculated the prestige of the programs in this blog?

We have focused on purely research programs in this list, and excluded anything that’s a crash course in AI and doesn’t offer any research opportunities. 

You’ll also find that the programs are all moderately to highly selective, so fair warning, you can expect some serious competition for these programs.

Since there’s limited program information available, we’ve tried our best to estimate the degree of competitiveness by looking at a combination of the following:

1. Comparing the eligibility criteria of over 50 AI programs and seeing which ones have more open vs. restrictive eligibility criteria related to:

- Prior subject knowledge
- GPA
- PSA/SAT/ACT scores
- Essays and recommendation letters

2. Any acceptance rate stats based on number of applications received and cohort size.

3. The challenge factor - how advanced the research projects are.

4. Searching the internet for reviews and what past students have to say about the program.

Should you apply for AI Research programs?

AI research programs provide a lot of benefits to interested high school students. You get a chance to meet experienced faculty, work with like minded peers, and learn how to deliver an AI research project. A great AI experience can open many paths for you! 

However, an important thing to remember is that these programs are primarily tailored for students who possess an interest in research. If you feel that research isn’t for you or you’d like to take a more general approach to AI instead, then looking elsewhere for opportunities will be a better option for you. 


1. Pre-College AI Scholars at Carnegie Mellon University

Location: On Campus

Cost: None

Application Deadline: To be announced. You can check here for updates

Program Dates: Multiple dates on weekdays and weekends from July to September

Program selectivity: High

Eligibility: Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents. They must be rising high school juniors and at least 16 years of age. Students should demonstrate a strong interest in AI although no coding experience is required.

Application Requirements: Students need to fill out an online application, submit their high school transcript (unofficial), standardized test scores, essay prompts, school counselor recommendation, and teacher recommendation (written by a teacher in a STEM field).

Carnegie Mellon’s pre-college AI Scholars program, a CS Pathways initiative, is a four-week residential program where participants engage in lectures and project based learning. They will get a chance to learn about ongoing research projects by CMU faculty and engage with industry leaders to learn more about the exciting opportunities in the field of AI. Students work on a group project through the course that will be presented to the cohort and instructors at the end of the program to showcase skills developed in the classroom.

CMU offers a course only focused on AI and allows you to go deep into the field and its applications in the real world. You should consider this course if you’re looking for a combination of classroom learning and research projects under the guidance of faculty in the field. As for college admissions, adding research work and real-world applications of your classroom learnings in AI may just add a bigger boost to your resume as compared to your peers. Additionally, the program is a residential one, which makes the overall experience a comprehensive one for a budding AI-enthusiast. 


2. Beaver Works Summer Institute at MIT

Location: On MIT campus & Virtual

Cost: None

Application deadline: Application opens March 1 and is due March 31st

Program dates: Mid July to mid August

Program selectivity: High

Eligibility: Current high school students who have demonstrated technical ability and demonstrated commitment to extracurricular learning

Application Requirements: Applicants must submit test scores, three short essays, recommendation letter, mention of any awards received. 

The Beaver Works Summer Institute provides a variety of courses, some of which are connected to AI. For example, during Summer 2023, some interesting courses that were offered were “Autonomous RACECAR Grand Prix,” “Autonomous Cognitive Assistance (CogWorks),” and “Serious Games Development with Artificial Intelligence.” These courses cover a diverse range of AI concepts such as neural networks, AI ethics and computer vision, which makes the BWSI an excellent opportunity for everyone interested in AI and computer science, regardless of their particular sub-area of interest. Whether these courses are offered online or in-person, they will ensure hands-on learning and project-based curriculum for students who attend. 

A significant advantage of attending Beaver Works Summer Institute is that it has a connection to MIT, which may significantly boost your college application. Therefore, not only will you gain research experience within the field of AI, but also make your resume more polished for your dream college. 

You can take a look at some past sessions at Beaver Works here. 


3. UC Santa Barbara’s Research Mentorship Program

Location: On Campus

Fee: $4,700 (commuter option), $6,599 (housing option)

Application Deadline: To be announced. You can check for updates here

Program selectivity: Not very selective

Program Dates: June to August

Eligibility: High school students in the 10th or 11th grade and have a minimum GPA of 3.8 and must have completed a minimum of 12 academic semester courses (or the equivalent in UC a–g requirements)

Application Requirements: High school transcript that shows academic history, a personal statement (500), writing sample, short responses to questions, submission of a recommendation form, AP scores (if you have taken AP exams).

UC Santa Barbara’s Research Mentorship Program is a competitive summer program for high school students to engage in interdisciplinary, hands-on, university-level research. Students work closely with mentors to work on a research project of their choice (you can pick AI!) while learning about research techniques and gaining insight into professional research-based opportunities. This program is an excellent opportunity for students interested in exploring the field of AI and ML at the intersection of various other disciplines.

Interdisciplinary research in AI is a good option for you to consider, if you are interested in pursuing a university degree that isn’t strictly computer science or STEM. This program is quite competitive, and offers a solid foundation for you to get started on independent research, all within the span of a few weeks. Apart from conducting research as a program participant, you can spend the rest of the summer after the program refining your research, and presenting your learnings and the impact of your research in your college applications/interviews.

Note that this program does require a basic understanding of AI and ML and is highly competitive, with an acceptance rate of 4-6%. 


4. Veritas AI - AI Fellowship

Location: Virtual

Cost: $1,790 for the 10-week AI Scholars program, $4,900 for the 12-15 week AI Fellowship, $5,900 for both. Need-based financial aid is available

Application deadline: On a rolling basis. Applications for winter cohort close December 3, 2023. You can apply here.

Program dates: Various according to the cohort

Program selectivity: Moderately selective

Eligibility: Ambitious high school students located anywhere in the world. AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI Scholars program or exhibit past experience with AI concepts or Python.

Application Requirements: Online application form, answers to a few questions pertaining to the students background & coding experience, math courses, and areas of interest. 

Veritas AIs focus is to provide high school students who are passionate about the field of AI a suitable environment to explore their interests. The programs include collaborative learning, project development, and 1-on-1 mentorship. These programs are designed and run by Harvard graduate students and alumni and you can expect a great, fulfilling educational experience. Students are expected to have a basic understanding of Python or are recommended to complete the AI scholars program before pursuing the fellowship. 

The AI Fellowship program will have students pursue their own independent AI research project. Students work on their own individual research projects over a period of 12-15 weeks and can opt to combine AI with any other field of interest. In the past, students have worked on research papers in the field of AI & medicine, AI & finance, AI & environmental science, AI & education, and more! You can find examples of previous projects here. 


5. Lumiere Education AI Research

Location: Virtual

Cost: 12 week Individual Research Program - $2,800, 16-20 week Premium Research & Publication Program - $5,400, 6-12 month Research Fellowship - $8,900

Application deadline: Winter Cohort deadline is November 26, 2023

Program dates: Vary by program. There will be four cohorts in all four seasons

Program selectivity: Moderately selective

Eligibility: Grades 9 - 12

Application Requirements: Online application form, submission of GPA, standardized test scores (if available), answering short questions related to relevant experiences and areas of interest. 

Lumiere was founded by researchers at Harvard and Oxford, and the program is dedicated to mentoring ambitious high school students in pursuing a research project of their choice. A unique aspect of this program is that each student will be paired with a top PhD in their field and throughout their 1-1 mentorship meetings, they will produce a high-quality university-level research project. 

The programs are virtual and vary in duration based on your end goal. The research opportunities range from computer science to specific areas such as AI/ML, data science and much more. This program does not offer any introductory courses and is a good fit if you are looking to conduct research in a particular topic within AI that you may already be familiar with. 

6. Horizon

Location: Virtual 

Application Date: May 21, 2024 for the summer cohort, and September 25, 2024 for the fall cohort 

Program Dates: 

• Summer seminar - June 24, 2024 - September 2, 2024

• Fall seminar - October 23, 2024 - February 19, 2025

• Lab dates are flexible, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance.

Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.

Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! It is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers a choice between quantitative and qualitative research! 

7. AI Summer Program at the University of Maryland

Location: UMaryland campus (nonresidential)

Cost: $600. Need-based scholarships are available to eligible students living in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland

Application deadline: Not open yet

Program dates: July 10 - July 21 (based on 2023 date information – may be subject to change)

Program selectivity: Not very selective

Eligibility: Rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders

Application Requirements: Applicants will be required to submit family and student information, academic transcripts, and email IDs for teacher recommendations. 

Accepted students will have to complete ~25 hours of asynchronous content prior to the start date.

The 2-week AI Summer Program at UMaryland will provide students important ideas on how AI can be used to improve people’s lives and what kinds of careers they can pursue. Over the course of the program, students will be discussing and working with faculty, guest lecturers, and UMaryland students on personal growth, education, and hands-on experiences. Previous projects have covered AI concepts such as image classification models, neural networks, reinforcement learning and natural language processing(NLP) models. The summer 2023 projects can be found here. 

A typical camp day will involve morning classroom instruction and lunch, followed by an afternoon classroom instruction. These times may involve field trips and guest speakers, along with small-group research projects focused on societal good led by faculty and graduate students. 

8. Stanford AI4ALL 

Location: Virtual & live

Cost: $6,500. Need-blind financial aid available

Application deadline: Not open yet, but application will most likely be due in February

Program dates: Late June to mid-July

Program selectivity: Not very selective

Eligibility: Current 9th grade students / rising 10th-grade students in the summer who are eager to explore the exciting field of AI and increase diversity in the field.

Application Requirements: Online application form with a submitted letter of recommendation

This program has it all – from hands-on learning, supportive peer community, mentorship by AI practitioners, and an initiative to improve the world, Stanford AI4ALL will educate and excite their students about this burgeoning field. 

Students will attend 2-hour guest lectures from Stanford researchers everyday of the camp. These lectures will discuss AI applications in various fields. They’ll also have a Q&A session after the lecture. 

Throughout the program duration, the students will work with Stanford AI Lab while developing their real, significant research projects. Overall, the curriculum will involve online lectures from Stanford faculty, small group mentoring sessions with AI faculty and researchers, and small-group research projects led by graduate students and postdocs in CS and AI. Previous iterations of these projects have covered natural-language processing to aid disaster relief and the use of computer vision to map poverty-affected areas.

Information in student review articles indicate that there are about 32 participants in the camp, making it close knit enough to feel a sense of community, albeit virtually!

In addition, a goal of the program is to expand diversity in the field. If you identify as an individual from an underrepresented minority, you are highly encouraged to apply. 

This is a great option for you if you want to understand AI and its applications, especially in intersection with other subjects (like biology, chemistry, etc.) and areas of global importance like poverty and hunger. The program is also more welcoming for students without strong coding experience and utilizes no-coding AI tools like Teachable Machine to make it possible for students to have meaningful learning experiences despite potential skill gaps. This is great because the coding can be picked up over time if you have an understanding of what AI can potentially do and an interest in it!

Note: Here is a review from a past attendee!


9. Princeton AI4ALL

Location: On Princeton campus.

Cost: $6,000. Extensive, need based financial aid available

Application deadline: Not open yet, but application will most likely be due in late March

Program dates: July 9 through July 29, 2023 (based on 2023 information – dates may be subject to change)

Program selectivity: Not very selective

Eligibility: Rising 11th-grade students in the summer. While knowledge of AI is not required, abilities and interest in math and sciences will be assessed from the application material.

Application Requirements: Online application form with a submitted letter of recommendation

Unlike the StanfordAI4ALL program, the PrincetonAI4ALL program is a 3-week, residential program. This program will introduce students to AI while also covering some cutting-edge AI research in depth. Therefore, the program content will focus on the societal impact of AI and how students can leverage this technology, and speakers will include not only AI practitioners but also policymakers. As such, students will work on a research project within small groups and investigate the effects of AI in multiple intersections. Students in the past have worked on projects such as algorithms that guide self-driving cars and processing human language to flag false news. In addition, students will be encouraged to explore personal growth and career development through small group sessions with faculty members and AI researchers. 

A pretty neat highlight of this program is that it includes a 2-day trip to Washington, D.C. to learn about the intersection of AI and public policy. AI and public policy intersect in very interesting ways and often in combination with other subjects like economics, psychology, sociology, so if you are interested in understanding how to leverage AI to solve complicated human problems, then this is a pretty good program to have on your radar.

You’ll also be staying on campus for 3-weeks, so it’ll give you a good taste for college life (and the Princeton campus is beautiful!).

In addition, a goal of the program is to expand diversity in the field. If you identify as an individual from an underrepresented minority (ie, women or non-binary, Black/Hispanic/Latino/Latina, Native American, first-generation), you are highly encouraged to apply. Don’t be deterred by the cost, if that’s a constraint, since the program encourages representation and states that ‘extensive’ financial aid is available, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll receive some if your profile fits the bill.


10. ARISE at NYU Tandon

Location: On NYU Tandon or Washington Square campus.

Cost: None

Application deadline: Application opens November 22, and will be due March 5

Program dates: June 28 – August 11, 2023

Program selectivity: High, with 76 to 80 spots available

Eligibility: Students living in New York City completing 10th or 11th grade in June 2023. Must have completed at least one year of high school science and mathematics coursework.

Application Requirements: Applicants will be required to submit student information, academic transcripts, preferred area of STEM research, a support letter from an adult (not your family member), and essays. If you’re invited to the next round, you will also be selected for Lab Tours and Group Interviews. There is an additional round of one-on-one interviews as well. 

If you’re looking for a longer, heavier commitment to college-level research, then NYU’s ARISE program may just be the right fit for you. During the seven weeks of this program, you'll be provided mentorship by some of NYU’s research faculty while developing a research project of your choice. As such, you’ll be taught skills like expository writing, scientific methods, professional development, and ethics, and at the end of the program, you’ll deliver a professional poster presentation and colloquium. 

While the program has many research topics that cover areas like Chemical engineering and Robotics, they have tracks in Computer Science, AI, and Machine Learning. For example, if you’re accepted and choose to participate at the Privacy and Security Automation Lab (PSAL), you’ll learn more about the intersection of the privacy and security domains with machine learning, like detecting the author of given samples of source code or binary files. There’s also the Machine Learning for Good Laboratory, where you’ll work on coming up with new ML methods for social good (imagine developing methods to detect emerging disease outbreaks early and more accurately)!

If you’d like to learn more about the research opportunities available in this program, consider checking out this link. If any of them interest you, then you might want to apply.


11. RISE Internship Track at BU

Location: On BU campus.

Cost: Tuition - $5,100, Service Fees - $470, Room & Board options (optional – you may opt for a commuter track instead) 14 meals per week: $2,988 & 19 meals per week: $3,288

Application deadline: Not open yet, but application will likely be due mid-February

Program dates: Early July - mid August, based on 2023 dates

Program selectivity: Not very selective

Eligibility: High school students entering senior year who are US citizens or legal permanent residents.  

Application Requirements: Applicants for the internship track will be required to submit an online application containing their essays, a list of three faculty members they’ll be interested in working with, two recommendations, academic transcripts, and standardized test scores (optional).

For six weeks, students in the RISE Internship Track at Boston University will engage in research for 40 hours per week under the guidance of a faculty member, postdoctoral fellow, or graduate student mentor, which will ensure that you’ll get the full research experience. You’ll be able to explore, in depth, a topic of your choice among a variety of fields, including artificial intelligence. You can identify professors from the field of AI and by the end of the program, you’ll not only have gained valuable technical and analytical skills, but also you would have presented in the Poster Symposium to an audience. Another unique aspect of this program is that students have been able to submit their work to national science fair contests, like the Regeneron Science Talent Search.

Looking through the faculty list that RISE provides, there are so many intriguing projects that faculty members are a part of. For example, Dr. Margrit Betke is a Professor of Computer Science at Boston University, and her research involves medical image analysis, computer vision, human-computer interfaces, and application of machine learning – so this is perfect if you want to learn about machine learning in a medical context. Or, you might prefer to work with Dr. Stan Sclaroff instead, who is an expert in the areas of tracking, video-based analysis of human motion and gesture, deformable shape matching and recognition, and more. If you’d like to check out these accomplished Computer Science faculty members for yourself, click here. 

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!

Image Source: Beaver Works Summer Institute at MIT logo