| Application deadline | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Cost | Last year's cycle (2026): $7,401; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: $7,465; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Financial aid | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: Verified-need scholarship: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Scholarships are restricted to applicants whose need can be reliably verified. Award size, documents, budget, and timing vary and are not guaranteed.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Expenses and aid conditions | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 application fee: $85. Nonrefundable.; Enrollment deposit: $1,000. Nonrefundable and applied to the total.; Course materials and academic field trips: $300. Required 2026 fee.; Program and health-center fees: $429. $325 program fee plus $104 health-center fee.; Residential room and board: $3,440. Shared room and specified meals; not available as an option to international students because they must reside.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: Possible laboratory-material fee: $0–$149.3. Only disciplines needing laboratory materials may charge this fee; Pioneer caps it at 2% of $7,465 tuition, or $149.30. Actual applicability and amount depend on placement.; Verified-need scholarship: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Scholarships are restricted to applicants whose need can be reliably verified. Award size, documents, budget, and timing vary and are not guaranteed.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Stipend or pay | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Eligibility | Grades 10–12; Grade timing: Unconfirmed — check official site | Grades 9–12; Grade timing: Unconfirmed — check official site | Grades 9–12 when applying; check the provider's rules for graduating seniors |
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| Additional eligibility | Residency: Domestic and international high-school students; Requirement: Complete at least grade 9 before the program; Requirement: Pursue a rigorous high-school curriculum; Requirement: Attend every class from the first day with no late arrival; Requirement: International participants must obtain required immigration documents and meet health-insurance requirements; Exclusion: Late arrival or partial attendance was not allowed; Exclusion: International applicants could not choose commuter status; Exclusion: Admission to the summer program does not constitute or guarantee USC undergraduate admission | Requirement: Apply according to grade entering in the fall; Requirement: Meet the selected course's Emerald, Magenta, or Indigo tier; Requirement: Provide qualifying recent test scores, prior CTD course history, or an admission portfolio; Requirement: Complete any course-specific academic prerequisites; Requirement: Demonstrate English proficiency through approved testing when required; Exclusion: Course eligibility varies and admission is not universally open; Exclusion: Grade-acceleration requests are rarely approved; Exclusion: International students may face separate language, visa, travel, and residential requirements | Requirement: Be a high-school student in grade 9-12 under the current admission description; Requirement: Demonstrate academic readiness, intellectual curiosity, independence, integrity, and sustained interest in one or more proposed research areas; Requirement: Be able to read scholarly material, write in academic English, attend live online seminars and professor meetings, and complete intensive independent work; Requirement: Secure counselor support before submission and arrange the official transcript plus counselor or teacher assessment after submission within the published window; Requirement: Complete the video interview and proctored timed writing if the initial application passes screening; Requirement: Commit to the complete seminar, literature-review, topic-development, individual-mentoring, and original-paper process for the assigned term; Exclusion: Applicants are not guaranteed admission, a specific discipline, a particular professor, a scholarship, publication, college admission, or transfer-credit acceptance; Exclusion: Professors do not choose students and are not identified to applicants before admission and matching; Exclusion: Test scores are optional, not a stated admission requirement; Exclusion: A discipline can fill before the final deadline, and an application may receive conditional or waitlist status; Exclusion: The current program costs $7,465 and spans multiple academic divisions |
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| Session dates or duration | Catalog terms: 4 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: 1–3 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Format | In person | In person | Online |
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| Housing and supervision | Residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site | Residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site | Non-residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Location | Los Angeles, California | Evanston, Illinois | Online and available to high-school students worldwide |
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| Selection and application | Selection: Rolling admission based on academic preparation, essay, recommendation, transcript, and course capacity; popular classes can fill early. Application materials: Applicant-written 300-500 word essay; One online recommendation from a teacher, counselor, or mentor | Selection: Course-dependent academic admission using CTD eligibility tiers; applicants qualify through test scores, prior CTD coursework, or portfolio review, and courses may fill. Application materials: Teacher recommendation for portfolio applicants | Selection: Pioneer uses holistic review of academic history, essays, interests, school materials, a video interview, and proctored timed writing. Decisions generally take six to eight weeks and may be admit, conditional, waitlist, or deny. The official pages publish no acceptance rate or automatic GPA/test threshold, and placement capacity varies by discipline. Application materials: Required short-answer responses and longer essay; Video interview after initial screening |
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| Official sources | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-21Source 2 · checked 2026-08-21Source 3 · checked 2026-08-21 | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-21Source 2 · checked 2026-08-21Source 3 · checked 2026-08-20 | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-20Source 2 · checked 2026-08-20Source 3 · checked 2026-08-20Source 4 · checked 2026-08-20 |
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