Computer Science Programs & Competitions for High School Students

Computer science extracurriculars run from USACO and hackathons to AI research programs and industry-backed summer academies like Google CSSI.

The strongest CS applicants pair a competition result or research project with a self-directed build — use these programs for the structured half of that story.

52 verified programs match this page; 24 of the featured listings are completely free; 9 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

• Quantum Computing Summer School Programs — Various Universities & Google: Discover advanced quantum computing in hybrid summer programs for grades 11-12. Gain hands-on STEM experience, boost college applications, and explore
• Stanford AI4ALL — Stanford University: Discover a free summer program empowering high school juniors with hands-on AI experience, skill-building for college applications, and diversity-focu
• Microsoft High School Internship Program — Microsoft: Paid summer internship offering hands-on computer science experience for high school juniors and seniors. Boost college applications while developing
• Meta Hacker Cup — Meta: Global programming competition for high school students to master algorithms and coding. Build problem-solving skills and boost college applications.
• Women's Technology Program at MIT — MIT: Empower your STEM journey with a free four-week summer program for high school women at MIT. Gain hands-on engineering skills and boost your college a
• Google Generation Scholarship — Google: Empowering high school seniors with a $10,000 scholarship for aspiring computer scientists from underrepresented groups. Boost college applications an
• CodeCombat Championship — CodeCombat: Compete in a free online coding competition for grades 6-12. Build game AI, enhance programming skills, and boost your college applications with hands
• Summit STEM Fellowship (SSF) — Summit Education: The Summit STEM Fellowship (SSF) is a virtual summer program for top STEM students around the world. Students learn from mentors at Harvard, Stanford,
• Frontiers Science Research Program — Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Explore STEM fields in this two-week summer program for grades 10-12. Gain hands-on experience in engineering, computer science, or biotech to boost c
• Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program — Girls Who Code: Free 2-week intensive coding program for high school girls hosted at top tech companies and universities, covering programming, web development, and r
• Stanford Compression Forum Summer Internship — Stanford University: Data compression research internship at Stanford. Work with researchers on multimedia compression.
• NYU Courant GSTEM — NYU Courant Institute: Free program for girls in math and computer science at NYU. Hands-on workshops with NYU Courant faculty.
• IEEE Presidents' Scholarship — Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: Earn the IEEE Presidents' Scholarship for high school seniors excelling in STEM. Perfect for college applications and advancing skills in computer and
• Palantir Women in Technology Scholarship — Palantir Technologies: Empower your future in computer science with this free scholarship and mentorship opportunity for high school women. Boost skills, gain experience, an
• NYU Tandon CS4CS — NYU Tandon School of Engineering: Explore computer science and cybersecurity in this free, hands-on summer program for high school students. Build skills, boost college applications, a
• MITES Saturdays — MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Programs: Explore free in-person STEM courses for 9th-10th graders at MIT. Build advanced math, science, and engineering skills to strengthen college applicatio
• Carnegie Mellon Informatics & Mathematics Competition (CMIMC) — Carnegie Mellon University: Challenging hybrid contest spanning math and computer science.
• American Computer Science League (ACSL) All-Star Contest — ACSL: Top scorers from ACSL compete at All-Stars. Programming and CS theory.
• DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): A DARPA-run autonomous cybersecurity competition where systems found and fixed software vulnerabilities in real time at DEF CON 2016.
• Congressional App Challenge — U.S. House of Representatives: Join a nationwide competition to design innovative apps, showcase your coding skills to Congress, and boost your college applications. Open to grades
• MIT Battlecode — MIT: Develop coding, AI, and problem-solving skills in this free hybrid competition for high school students. Boost college applications with hands-on prog
• Columbia Engineering SHAPE — Columbia University: Explore engineering, coding, and robotics in a hands-on summer program at Columbia. Perfect for building STEM skills and enhancing college application
• Google Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI) — Google: Competitive free 3-week Google-hosted summer program in computer science for graduating high school seniors from underrepresented groups, including co
• Georgia Educational Technology Fair — Georgia Educational Technology Fair, Inc.: Statewide technology competition where Georgia students showcase digital projects and skills across multiple tech categories.
• Google Code Next Program — Google: Free multi-year program at Google labs teaching computer science and career readiness. Includes mentorship and internships.
• Google Women Techmakers Scholars Program — Google: Empowering high school women in STEM, this virtual scholarship program builds computer science skills and boosts college applications. Open to 12th-gr
• Columbia University Science Honors Program (SHP) — Columbia University: Selective Saturday science/math program during the academic year in NYC.
• Generation Google Scholarship — Google LLC: Google awards $10,000 scholarships to high school seniors from underrepresented groups planning to study computer science or a related field. Recipien
• MIT Blueprint — HackMIT: Join a free high school hackathon at MIT to build apps, learn coding, and gain hands-on experience. Boost your college applications with mentorship an
• Carnegie Mellon CS Scholars (CSS) — Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science: Full-scholarship pre-college program in CS for rising seniors from underrepresented groups.

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