Computer Science Summer Programs for High School Students
EC Finder currently lists 48 computer science summer programs for high school students. Of these, 30 are free to participate in and 12 offer virtual participation. Examples include 2026 U.S. Innovator Challenge, Aerospace Jam - High School Aerospace Robotics Competition, and Aerospace Robotics Competition (ARC - Drone-Based).
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- 30
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- 48
- with a listed deadline
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are computer science summer programs for high school students?
- Computer Science Summer Programs for High School Students are curated extracurricular listings for high school students interested in computer science. Each listing includes eligibility, cost, and deadline details where known, so you can compare options and find the right fit for your college application profile.
- Are any of these summer programs free?
- Yes — 30 of the 48 summer programs listed here are free to participate in.
- Can I participate virtually?
- Yes — 12 of the 48 summer programs listed here offer virtual or online participation.
- Are computer science summer programs good for a college application?
- Yes — computer science summer programs are a common way for high schoolers to show sustained interest and initiative in computer science on college applications.
Related Categories
48 activities found·Browse by category
2026 U.S. Innovator Challenge
The U.S. Innovator Challenge is an invitation-only national innovation competition hosted by Innovation World where top K-12 inventors from across the United States present their inventions virtually, with winners advancing to a global innovation event.
Aerospace Jam - High School Aerospace Robotics Competition
Robotics competition centered on space exploration and aerospace-themed robot challenges. Summer event with awards and recognition.
Aerospace Robotics Competition (ARC - Drone-Based)
Drone robotics competition where HS students design, code, and operate autonomous UAVs to complete missions. National event with scholarship opportunities.
Bay Area Cyber League Summer CyberCamps
Low/no-cost, in-person cybersecurity bootcamps (Intro, Intermediate, Advanced) hosted at Bay Area community colleges in June–July 2025. Topics include cyber hygiene, ethical hacking, cryptography, digital/network forensics, web security, and Linux fundamentals.
Bay Area STEM Robotics Camps & Programs (Aggregator)
Directory of Bay Area robotics camps (LEGO, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.), many suitable for HS students. Camp aggregator for summer opportunities.
Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab (BAIR) High School Summer Program
Free 1-week program at UC Berkeley covering machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, and AI ethics. Mentored by Berkeley graduate students.
Cal Poly Pomona GenCyber Summer Camp
A free week-long residential camp funded by NSA's GenCyber program. Held each summer at Cal Poly Pomona, it introduces cybersecurity basics including operating systems, network security, forensics, and hands-on cyber labs for high school students and teachers.
California State University Summer Cybersecurity Academies
Week-long programs at various CSU campuses (San Bernardino, Dominguez Hills, Channel Islands) offering hands-on training in ethical hacking, digital forensics, and network security.
COSMOS - CS Clusters
Prestigious 4-week residential STEM program at UC campuses with dedicated computer science clusters covering programming, data science, robotics, and AI.
CS@Mines High School Summer Internship & Programming Project
Colorado School of Mines hosts high school students for summer computer science research internships (scholarship-funded at $20/hour for selected applicants, with topics including AI, robotics, cybersecurity) and a 5-week virtual computer programming project program ($200) where students build a CS project in teams. Priority application deadline April 10.
CSUSB GenCyber Summer Camp
A free, residential GenCyber summer camp at California State University, San Bernardino. 60 high school students spend one week on campus studying cybersecurity and AI through labs and mentoring. Includes college prep and dual-enrollment cybersecurity course.
CU Boulder Science Discovery – STEM Research Experience
Seven-week summer program at the University of Colorado Boulder where high school students work 15-20 hours per week alongside graduate students and faculty on real research projects in biology, engineering, neuroscience, and other STEM fields, plus a research methods class on finding and evaluating scientific articles. Concludes with a STEM Research EXPO where students present their poster.
Data Science Institute Summer Lab (University of Chicago)
A paid eight-week summer research program in which Chicago-area high school students are paired with a UChicago Data Science Institute mentor to conduct applied data-science research across domains such as public policy, climate, and biomedicine.
Esporterz Esports & Coding Camp
An in-person esports and coding camp based in Larkspur (Marin County, Bay Area) where teens play competitive and casual video games on pro-gaming PCs, learn basic coding and robotics, and take part in outdoor STEM activities during weeklong summer sessions.
GenCyber Summer Camps (Northern California locations)
NSA/NSF-funded free camps at various NorCal colleges (SJSU, Sacramento State, Cabrillo). Topics: ethical hacking, digital forensics, cryptography, cyber hygiene.
Girls Inc. of Metro Denver – Summer Internship Program
Career exploration and workforce development program for Denver-area high school girls, placing them with employers across healthcare, business, technology, nonprofit, and government sectors, plus professional development workshops, mentorship, and resume/interview prep. Runs early June through late July.
Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program
Free 2-week program for rising 10th-12th grade girls to learn coding, robotics, and web design while building sisterhood and exploring tech careers.
iD Tech Summer Camps - Bay Area
Week-long day and overnight tech camps at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and other Bay Area locations covering coding, game design, robotics, and AI.
Inspirit AI Summer Program
2-week program teaching AI and machine learning fundamentals through hands-on projects. Students build neural networks and work with real datasets.
Jane Street Academy of Math and Programming (AMP)
A free, five-week in-person summer program in New York City for graduating high school seniors who have experienced barriers to advanced STEM education, covering number theory, combinatorics, algorithms, Python programming, data analysis, and game theory, with all costs covered plus a $5,000 scholarship.
Kode With Klossy
Free 2-week coding camps for young women and gender-expansive youth teaching web development, mobile app development, and data science.
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab High School Internship
Paid summer research internship at Berkeley Lab. CS students work on data analysis, machine learning for scientific computing, and visualization.
MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI)
Prestigious 4-week STEM program at MIT with courses in AI, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles, and quantum computing. Requires online prerequisite courses.
MIT MITES Summer
Free, six-week residential STEM program at MIT for rising high school seniors (11th graders) from underrepresented or underserved backgrounds. Students take rigorous math, science, and humanities courses, complete a project, and live in MIT dorms. Highly selective; all costs covered.
MIT Women's Technology Program (WTP)
A free four-week summer program at MIT that introduces rising senior girls with strong math/science backgrounds but little prior exposure to engineering, through hands-on classes and projects in either EECS or mechanical engineering.
NASA SEES (STEM Enhancement in Earth Science) Internship
Free virtual NASA internship where students use real NASA satellite data and computational tools to study Earth science phenomena.
NCAR Pre-College Internship Program (PRECIP)
Six-week summer internship at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado where high school students work on real research projects in atmospheric, climate, and earth-system science with scientists, plus workshops on writing scientific abstracts. Out-of-area students must have a parent/guardian/chaperone with them for the duration.
NSLC Game Design (National Student Leadership Conference)
A residential summer program held at UCLA where students entering grades 9-12 learn game design fundamentals, prototype original video games, and explore careers in the gaming industry alongside peers from across the country.
NYU Tandon CS4CS (Computer Science for Cyber Security)
A free 4-week summer program for rising 10th–11th graders. Students learn Python programming and cyber fundamentals including white-hat hacking, cryptography, steganography, and digital forensics through lectures and labs. Held on NYU campus in Brooklyn with college credit option.
Pioneer Academics
Online research program pairing students with university professors for 2-3 month research projects. Computer science track covers AI, algorithms, and theoretical CS.
Project SEED Summer Research Program (CS Track)
ACS-sponsored paid summer research program for economically disadvantaged students. Some labs focus on computational chemistry and bioinformatics.
Sacramento State Cyber Security Academy
Part of Sac State's Summer Youth Academies, a 1-week in-person program covering cyber basics, ethical hacking, and forensics. Offered via CCE (College of Continuing Education) as a paid summer program in Sacramento.
Simons Summer Research Program
A highly selective six-week residential research program at Stony Brook University pairing rising high school seniors with faculty mentors for hands-on original research in science, math, or engineering, culminating in a poster symposium.
SJSU Cyber-AI Summer Camp
A free week-long summer program (July 21–25, 2025) at San José State University for Bay Area high schoolers. Students delve into cybersecurity and AI through hands-on labs and projects. Hosted by SJSU's cybersecurity and AI departments.
SJSU Cybersecurity Summer Camp
San José State University week-long camp covering Linux commands, network security, threat detection, and ethical hacking. Collaboration among SJSU engineering and information programs.
Stanford AI4ALL
Free 2-week virtual AI program for rising 10th graders focused on increasing diversity in AI. Covers machine learning, ethics, and hands-on projects.
Stanford Applied Cyber Summer Workshops
Stanford's cybersecurity club hosts workshops covering practical skills in analyzing, exploiting, and defending computer systems. Open to Silicon Valley high school students.
Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes - Computer Science
Intensive summer program with computer science courses in AI, data science, cybersecurity, and web development taught by Stanford instructors.
Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes – Introduction to Natural Language Processing
An online Stanford Pre-Collegiate course for students in grades 10-11 that teaches Python and the Hugging Face Transformers library to apply pretrained language models, covering how GPT-style systems are trained and issues of bias and data quality in NLP.
SUMMET – Summer Mines Engineering and Training
Free residential program at Colorado School of Mines for rising high school seniors who are prospective first-generation college students, providing a college-life preview through engineering, science, and technology workshops on the Mines campus in Golden, Colorado.
Tech companies - High School Intern Programs
Companies like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon offer select high school internship programs. Extremely competitive but provide real-world software engineering experience.
U.S. Cyber Challenge (Cyber Quests & Camps)
A national STEM initiative to identify cyber talent. High school students compete in Cyber Quests (online CTF-style rounds) to qualify for free week-long Cyber Camps at federal cyber centers. Camps include lodging and are by invitation.
UC Berkeley ATDP - CS Courses
Summer academic program offering computer science courses including Python, web design, data science, and computer programming on the Berkeley campus.
UC Berkeley Cybersecurity Clinic Summer Intensive
Advanced program for high school students covering network security, cryptography, ethical hacking, and hands-on labs with Berkeley mentors.
UCLA Game Lab High School Summer Institute
A UCLA Summer Institute where students ages 15-18 approach game-making as a form of artistic and technical practice, culminating in original playable games. Offered in both virtual and residential formats, with participants earning UC college credit.
Under the Hood: A Data Science & AI Experience (University of Minnesota)
A two-tiered summer program at the University of Minnesota for rising 11th and 12th graders that teaches Python fundamentals and predictive modeling in its beginner week and neural networks, computer vision, and generative AI with PyTorch in its advanced week.
University of San Diego GenCyber Summer Camp
A free GenCyber-funded day camp at USD (San Diego, July 25–29, 2025) for incoming 10th–12th graders. Campers learn cybersecurity basics including network security and cryptography through lectures and labs. Also open to STEM teachers.
USF High School CyberCon
A week-long summer cybersecurity camp held in Tampa at University of South Florida. Teens attend workshops and panels by USF faculty and industry (FBI, Cisco) with hands-on labs in networks, vulnerabilities, and OS. Features an ongoing Capture-The-Flag contest among campers.
ECFinder provides links to outside extracurricular opportunities for informational purposes only. Students and families should research each program before applying. ECFinder does not operate or control the listed organizations and is not responsible for their actions or policies.