All high school students are welcome to apply. We look for ambitious, self-driven students with a passion to learn more about STEM.

We understand that students may not enter the program with a clearly defined research question, although some may have one already. Regardless, we anticipate that your research question will evolve and become more focused as you learn and collaborate with your mentor. Your mentor's role is to guide you in the direction of the most productive work, rather than completing the research project on your behalf. In terms of logistics, we expect students to have established a research question by the conclusion of the fourth week. This question will then undergo evaluation and refinement with your Research Mentor. Subsequently, over the following four weeks, you will be responsible for creating an outline, an initial draft of the research paper, and ultimately a final draft by the end of the eighth week.

At the conclusion of the program, all mentors assess students' research papers and provide a brief evaluation. Furthermore, students often discover that their Research Mentor has developed a distinct perspective on their academic capabilities. Naturally, this raises the question of whether the mentor can provide a recommendation letter. In such cases, it is completely acceptable to ask your mentor for a letter of recommendation. However, similar to any academic mentor, they are under no obligation to fulfill this request. Their decision to write a recommendation letter will likely be based on their assessment of your performance throughout the program.

Yes, we have limited financial aid available. Please contact us for more information.

This is an online program. Meetings with the Research Mentor take place via Zoom.

At the beginning, we will facilitate the introduction between you and your Research Mentor via email. Subsequently, you and your Research Mentor will directly coordinate to determine a suitable time for your weekly meetings. The Research Mentor will then send you an invitation, which includes a personalized Zoom link, to join the meetings.

The program runs four times per year: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. For more details, please see the Programs page.

If your goal is to publish a paper, this program is not for you. Writing a research paper of publishable quality requires original ideas that often take years of work to develop. The purpose of writing the paper is for the student to learn how the tools taught by their mentor can be applied in practice to specific situations. It is a powerful exercise that can demonstrate command of theoretical skills.

Our mentors are current PhD candidates at the best STEM universities in the United States. We exclusively source our mentors from the US News & World Report Top 20 Universities. However, this program operates independently of these universities.