Engineering Programs & Competitions for High School Students

Engineering programs for high schoolers range from university summer intensives to design competitions and real research placements in mechanical, electrical, aerospace, and biomedical engineering.

Admissions officers look for evidence you have actually built something — these programs give you that evidence.

172 verified programs match this page; 23 of the featured listings are completely free; 3 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

• 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
• James Dyson Award — James Dyson Foundation: International STEM competition challenging high school innovators in Grades 11-12 to design groundbreaking solutions. Win $40k and boost college appli
• NASA HUNCH (High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware) — NASA: Design and build aerospace hardware used on the ISS in this hands-on high school STEM program. Boost engineering skills and strengthen college applica
• NASA Student Launch — NASA: Design and launch high-power rockets in this exciting STEM competition. Gain hands-on aerospace experience, boost college applications, and explore en
• Beaver Works Summer Institute — MIT: Elite summer program for high schoolers in Grades 10-11 focused on STEM fields like drones and cybersecurity. Gain hands-on experience and boost colle
• Geek Picnic Festival & Science Events — Geek Picnic: Geek Picnic is a large open-air popular science and tech festival with talks, exhibits, and hands-on activities for all ages.
• Invent Now America Invention Competition — National Inventors Hall of Fame: A U.S. competition where high school students design and submit original inventions for recognition, scholarships, and national exposure.
• Robo-Magellan Robotics Competition — Seattle Robotics Society: Robo-Magellan is an autonomous outdoor robot navigation contest where teams build robots to reach GPS-marked waypoints.
• Texas High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) — NASA Johnson Space Center: Explore aerospace and engineering through a free hybrid program for Texas high school juniors. Build STEM skills, gain hands-on experience, and boost
• Materials Science & Engineering Olympiad — ASM Materials Education Foundation: Test your materials science and engineering skills in this free high school competition. Top students join a hybrid camp, gaining hands-on experience
• New Jersey Governor's School of Engineering & Technology — Rutgers University: NJ's premier engineering summer program at Rutgers. Hands-on projects and college-level coursework for NJ students.
• 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
• 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
• Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP) — University of Iowa Belin-Blank Center: Discover a six-week summer program for high schoolers in grades 10-12 to gain hands-on STEM research experience with Iowa faculty mentors. Boost skill
• Robofest Robotics Competition — Lawrence Technological University: Robofest is an autonomous robotics competition for 4th–12th grade students organized by Lawrence Technological University.
• SAE Autonomous Vehicle Challenge — SAE International: Design and build autonomous vehicles. Cutting-edge experience with AI, machine learning, and robotics in transportation.
• Duke Annual Robo-Climb Competition — Duke University: A Duke University robotics challenge where high school teams design robots to autonomously climb a vertical structure.
• SeaPerch Underwater Robotics Program — Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Foundation & RoboNation: Build underwater robots in this hands-on STEM competition for grades 6-12. Gain engineering skills, boost college applications, and explore marine rob
• ExploraVision Science Competition — Toshiba & NSTA: Imagine future technologies in this free virtual STEM competition for grades 9-12. Build science communication skills and boost college applications w
• Robotix Robotics Competition — Technology Robotix Society, IIT Kharagpur: Robotix is IIT Kharagpur’s annual robotics competition featuring diverse technical challenges for student teams.
• BEST Robotics Competition — BEST Robotics: Free robotics competition. Six-week design challenge.
• E-Yantra Robotics Competition — IIT Bombay (e-Yantra Project, CSE Dept.): A major educational robotics competition by IIT Bombay that teaches embedded systems and robotics through themed challenges.
• TARGET Science and Engineering Program — Fermilab: Explore a free, in-person high school internship in physics, engineering, and computing. Gain research skills, hands-on STEM experience, and boost you
• Lehigh University Pre-College Programs — Lehigh University: Pre-college programs at Lehigh University covering engineering, business, arts, and sciences.
• 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
• Rice Office of STEM Engagement Programs — Rice University: Transform your summer with hands-on STEM research and engineering projects at Rice. Perfect for high school students aiming to boost skills and streng
• DARPA Grand Challenge (Autonomous Vehicles) — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): A historic DARPA competition that advanced autonomous ground vehicle technology through real-world desert races.
• Simons Summer Research Program — Stony Brook University: Explore STEM fields in the fully funded Simons Summer Research Program. Conduct hands-on research, gain mentorship, and boost college applications. Pe
• 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,
• DARPA Prize Competitions — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): Open prize challenges from DARPA that fund and reward breakthrough solutions in science, engineering, and national security technology.

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