Data Science Programs & Competitions for High School Students

Data science sits between math, coding, and the domain you care about — these programs teach statistical modeling, visualization, and machine-learning basics on real datasets.

It is one of the most employable skills a high schooler can demonstrate, and one of the least crowded application niches.

21 verified programs match this page; 12 of the featured listings are completely free; 8 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 21+ curated programs for high school students:

• NASA International Space Apps Challenge — NASA: Solve real-world space and climate challenges in NASA’s global hackathon. This free competition lets high schoolers build coding, data science, and te
• Kaggle Data Science Competitions — Kaggle/Google: Join exciting online data science competitions for high school students! Build Python coding skills, explore AI, and strengthen your college applicati
• Penn Data Science Academy — Wharton Global Youth Program: Master Python, statistics, and business analytics in this hands-on summer program for grades 10-12. Build data science skills and boost college applic
• High School Research Academy (HRA) — The University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences: High school research academy offering hands-on STEM experience in biology, physics, and data science. Build skills for college applications in this fr
• UC San Diego Research Scholars — University of California San Diego: Join a hybrid STEM summer program for high schoolers (grades 9-12) to gain hands-on research experience, build college-ready skills, and present at a
• NYU GSTEM Summer Program — New York University (Courant Institute): Gain hands-on STEM research experience in NYU’s prestigious summer program. Perfect for high school juniors seeking mentorship, data science skills, a
• AIcrowd Challenges — AIcrowd: Tackle real-world challenges in AI and data science through free virtual competitions for high schoolers. Boost STEM skills, enhance college apps, and
• Citadel Data Open Competition — Citadel LLC: Data science competition hosted by leading hedge fund. Demonstrates quantitative skills to elite finance industry employers.
• NASA SEES High School Summer Intern Program — The University of Texas at Austin - Center for Space Research: Remote data-driven NASA projects with on-campus residency for finalists.
• NASA GeneLab for High Schools (GL4HS) — NASA GeneLab: Explore bioinformatics and genomics in this free online summer program for high school students. Gain hands-on research skills and boost your college
• MIT Sloan Business Analytics Program — MIT Sloan: Master data analytics and strategy in this hands-on summer program for high school students. Develop Python skills and boost college applications with
• Modeling the Future Challenge — The Actuarial Foundation: Engage in a free virtual competition tackling real-world issues through data science, statistics, and risk modeling. Build STEM skills and boost your
• SEES High School Summer Intern Program — The University of Texas at Austin / NASA: Explore a free hybrid summer program where high schoolers in grades 10-12 gain hands-on experience in NASA-affiliated earth, space, and data science r
• NWEA Data Science for Everyone Competition — NWEA: Join a free virtual data science competition for high school students to predict student performance using real-world education data. Build skills for
• SECME AI Contest (High School) — SECME: Explore AI and machine learning in this free high school competition. Build programming skills, analyze energy data, and boost your college applicatio
• Penn Experimental Psychology Research Academy — University of Pennsylvania: Immerse in cognitive psychology and experimental research at this competitive summer program. Build APA-style writing and stats skills to boost your c
• UCSC Science Internship Program (SIP) - Data Science Track — UC Santa Cruz: Gain hands-on data science research experience in astronomy, bioinformatics, and more through this hybrid high school internship. Boost STEM skills fo
• Makridakis Forecasting Competitions — Makridakis Open Forecasting Center (MOFC): A series of international data-driven forecasting competitions advancing methods in time-series prediction and uncertainty estimation.
• Wharton Moneyball Academy — Wharton Global Youth Program, University of Pennsylvania: Data analytics in sports with Wharton faculty; coding, stats, and modeling.
• Notre Dame Summer Scholars — University of Notre Dame Pre-College: Transform your summer with this immersive high school program offering hands-on experience in neuroscience, law, and more. Boost college readiness and
• Summit Research Scholars (SRS) — Summit Education: Summit Research Scholars (SRS) helps students launch their high school research journeys. The program is taught by an ISEF Grand Prize Winner, NYU pro

Frequently asked questions