Humanities Programs & Competitions for High School Students

Humanities programs — great-books seminars, classics institutes, and interdisciplinary summer schools — reward the readers and arguers that STEM-heavy applicant pools underrepresent.

Depth in the humanities is a differentiator precisely because it is rare: sustained work here reads as intellectual conviction, not resume filler.

17 verified programs match this page; 10 of the featured listings are completely free; 2 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 17+ curated programs for high school students:

• Telluride Association Summer Seminars (TASS) — Telluride Association: Explore a free in-person summer program for high school students in grades 10-11. Build leadership skills, study humanities, and boost your college ap
• Telluride Association Sophomore Seminars (TASS) — Telluride Association: Explore a free summer program for rising juniors focused on Black experience, leadership, and humanities. Build critical thinking skills and strengthe
• The Concord Review Published Author — The Concord Review: The only quarterly journal in the world to publish academic history papers by high school students. Publication is extremely prestigious and valued by
• Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP) — Telluride Association: Completely free 6-week intensive seminar on critical thinking and intellectual discourse. One of the most prestigious humanities programs. ~3% accepta
• Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies — Stanford University: Pre-collegiate programs at Stanford University in humanities, bioscience, business, and social justice.
• Harvard Pre-College Program — Harvard Summer School: Selective two-week academic immersion with Harvard faculty and peers.
• Stanford Summer Humanities Institute (SHI) — Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies: Explore philosophy, history, and literature in this immersive summer program for high schoolers. Build critical thinking and writing skills to boost c
• Harvard-Westlake Summer Research Internship — Harvard-Westlake School: 8-week research internship placing students with university professors and industry researchers. Students complete publishable research projects.
• Harvard Secondary School Program — Harvard Summer School: Earn college credit in a prestigious summer program for high school students. Develop skills in STEM, humanities, or social sciences while boosting co
• Johns Hopkins Pre-College Program — Johns Hopkins University: Pre-college programs at Johns Hopkins University for high school students in Baltimore.
• MIT INSPIRE — MIT: National research competition for high schoolers in humanities, arts, and social sciences. Build research skills, boost college applications, and comp
• UCSB Research Mentorship Program (RMP) - Humanities & Social Sciences — UC Santa Barbara: Explore social sciences in UCSB's summer research program for grades 10-12. Gain hands-on experience, develop writing skills, and boost college applic
• Verto Education Pre-College Program — Verto Education: Pre-college program at Verto Education for high school students.
• Brown Pre-College Program — Brown University: Ivy League pre-college program at Brown University with 300+ courses and Open Curriculum philosophy.
• St. John's College Summer Academy — St. John's College: Week-long great books seminars for students ages 15-18 on St. John's College's Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses; discussion classes of 20 or fewer led
• All-Russian Olympiad of Schoolchildren — Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation: Nationwide multi-stage academic competition for Russian school students across dozens of subjects.
• NAACP ACT-SO — NAACP: The NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics: a year-round achievement program where students in grades 9-12 compete in

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