As a high school student interested in pursuing computer science at university, you might need more than just your grades to stand out. If competitions and hackathons aren’t for you, then pursuing an individualized project of your own - a passion project - is a great option to add to your portfolio. This would help admissions officers gauge your interest in the subject and understand how you would apply your innovative skills. This could include a research project, an app, or even a start-up!

Depending on which type of passion project you’d be interested in, we have broken down 30 project ideas into 6 categories. Check them out and see what is best suited for you:

Passion Project Category #1: Analyze data you’re interested in 

If you’re someone who is interested in the impact of computer science instead of the application, then performing research and analysis is the perfect overlap for you. This way, you won’t find yourself using as much hands-on computer science, but rather using Python libraries like Pandas and NumPy, as well as R or SQL to manipulate, visualize and make inferences from data. You could also write a research paper explaining your findings and the impact they have. You could cover some of the following topics:

1. Analyze the impact of social media on the mental health of a particular age group by conducting surveys and interviews. You could make conclusive inferences about how social media engagement and the mental health indicators of that age group are correlated. 

2. Build an evaluation of how various unsupervised anomaly detection methods applied to data generated by IoT devices perform. The study would consider factors such as detection accuracy, computational efficiency, and adaptability to evolving data patterns. 

3. Perform a literature review on the interaction between a machine-learning model and a human being. Focus on the sincerity, depth, or humor displayed by the model’s response. 

4. Write a research paper analyzing the impact of AI-generated art on the art and design industry and the ethical questions it brings up. Also try and come up with your idea of a solution to this ethical concern. You will need to use your critical thinking skills and in-depth knowledge of how AI-art generators such as Midjourney and Dall-e 4 work. 

Passion Project Category #2: Build an App

If you want to work on a hands-on project, then making an app is a great option. An app is the easiest way to engage a wide audience as it's the most accessible way to interact with any kind of technology. You could make something simple such as a database or try something more advanced that involves machine learning concepts. You can find some inspiration below:

5. Build an app that uses image classification and deep learning to help classify waste into recyclable and non-recyclable. You will need to implement computer vision concepts such as edge detection and use software like OpenCV to create such an app. 

6. Create an app that presents the forecast in a more readable and accessible manner. The current UI of most weather apps is very cluttered and not as straightforward as people would like it to be.This would also require you to use API (Application Programming Interface) calls, which will help you gather the required weather data from an external website. 

7. Create a database management system for people to log the books they read, review them, and give them a rating. Try looking at the UI for Letterboxd for inspiration. You will need to be familiar with SQL to create such a database. This would help avid readers keep track of the books they read and share their reviews. 

8. Build a smartphone app that identifies the origin of a bird based on photos taken against a template. This is a more advanced project that would require the use of CNNs (Complex Neural Networks) and image classification to train your model with images and give the correct output. This would help birdwatchers identify birds in an easier manner. 

9. Create a VR app that helps people reduce stress and anxiety using 3D modeling. You could use platforms like ARCore to create a calm environment that would help reduce people’s anxiety. You could have different presets such as a garden, space, or a forest. 

10. Create an app that parses the internet and lets users know which food they can make based on the ingredients that are available to them. This would also need to use API calls to find the right recipe and either provide the link to the recipe or display the recipe on the app.

11. Create an app that lets users make flashcards to help them study. You could have preset decks and also allow users to create and share their own. This would require you to work more on the UI of the app to make it stand out. 

Passion Project Category #3: Develop a Game

If you’re interested in a future in game design or just want to make a project that’s fun to work on, then consider building a game. You will be required to be familiar with C++ and Python for the programming part of the project, as well as Unity and Godot for the game design part of it. Check out some ideas for inspiration below:

12. Create a game that simulates a slot machine. This is a simple game to get started with and helps familiarize you with concepts such as random number generation in Python. You could also add a creative spin on it, by creating a game of slots that is unwinnable, by making sure that at no point are all three slots the same. 

13. Recreate a classic puzzle game such as Sudoku or Wordle on your own from scratch. You could also add your own spin on this by creating new rules that change the user’s experience and make it more interesting. 

14. Create an AI-powered game that will adjust its difficulty level by adapting to the user’s skill level. This could be something basic like rock, paper, scissors, or something advanced such as a platformer that sends obstacles according to the player’s skill level. You would need to use machine learning and data analysis principles to create an adaptive learning system. 

15. Build a game to spread awareness about a socially relevant topic that you’re interested in such as AI ethics. You could create a game that follows a linear story, using an engine such as Unity, to take the user on an interactive journey, where their decisions would judge where the story goes. 

Passion Project Category #4: Develop an AI system/Chatbot

With the rise of ChatGPT and other AI models, experimenting with chatbots and machine learning has proven to be very fruitful for high school students interested in CS. You will get to use skills that are in demand and refine them through this project. This could either be a simple chatbot that learns from training data or a more advanced machine-learning tool. Some project ideas are:

16. Build a tool that gives the user the template of a document according to the user’s needs, such as font size, number of headings, format, and citation style. This would help speed up the paper-writing process for both students and professionals alike. You will need to use NLP concepts to build such a tool.

17. Build a chatbot that will catch warning signs of mental health issues in people belonging to a certain age group. The chatbot could engage in conversations with them and make sure that they get the help that they require if they show signs of depression or anxiety. You will need to use NLP (Natural Language Processing), data processing, and speech recognition to create an accessible project. 

18. Create a face detection software from scratch using the OpenCV library. You could create a software that detects faces in videos and pictures and classifies them into different categories. You could use different classifiers that are pre-trained in OpenCV to detect faces in real time and track them. This primarily requires knowledge of computer vision. 

19. Make an AI tool that will perform quality checks for ease of understanding on blogs and publications. This would help the writers of blogs enhance their skills by working on the feedback given by the tool. You will need to use NLP and data processing techniques for this project. 

20. Create a system that uses computer vision to analyze public street scene data and extracts technology trends, such as smartphones, headphones, and watches worn by people on urban streets. This would help research in urban planning and marketing strategies. 

21. Use NLP techniques to extract emotional tones and opinions in tweets and classify them based on their political leaning. This would optimize the process of content parsing and make sure that there isn’t any guideline violation. 

22. Build a machine learning model to find relationships between different genres of music and how we classify them using neural networks and waveforms. This could be taken a step further by having your model make playlists for each genre and build an app out of it. 

23. Use NLP techniques to classify Amazon reviews into positive and negative categories. You would need to train your model to label a review as good or bad based on certain keywords and phrases. This would help sellers identify the number of good and bad reviews and gauge the feedback from their customers. 

Passion Project Category #5: Host a non-profit event:

Not all computer science projects need to be coding-related, you could also put your skills to use to make a positive change. You could host workshops, competitions, and hackathons to create awareness about a certain topic as well as educate individuals about basic computer science concepts. If that is something you’re interested in, consider the options below:

24. Host mentor programs that teach younger students, who aren’t familiar with computer science, basic concepts such as programming languages, data types, and networks. You could hold such programs in your own school or make it a city-wide initiative. 

25. Start a computer science club in your high school, or become part of one if it exists already. This would help create an innovative environment, which could lead to creating projects, attending competitions, and access to resources that you might not have had access to if you weren't part of the club. 

26. Hold conferences and workshops educating the general public about digital literacy and how one can stay safe in today’s technological world. You could also bring in guest speakers from companies to talk about cybersecurity, responsible use of AI, and what the future employment landscape looks like. 

Passion Project Category #6: Other miscellaneous projects

If none of the options above work for you, try some of these options that don’t necessarily fall in a certain category, but are still relevant and interesting ideas to pursue. These ideas should make you stand out as they might require an interdisciplinary approach, which is a very important skill to have as a programmer. 

27. Try creating a virtual tour of a historic location in your locality that you feel needs more attention. You can use AR tools like Unity to create such an experience. You could use image classification to have the AR journey give historical information about different parts of the location as and when the user looks at that part. 

28. Create an Iron Man helmet using a 3D printer and robotics principles. This project is for those who are more creatively inclined and interested in mechanical engineering and robotics.

29. Build a system that would enable a robot to navigate an unfamiliar environment. You will need to use computer vision principles such as edge detection and robotics tools such as remote sensors to implement such a system. 

30. Make a system that would classify network traffic into malicious and non-malicious based on trained data. This system will be used to identify and block harmful traffic that may affect a network. This project would require you to use concepts in network engineering and cybersecurity.  

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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