| Application deadline | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Cost | Last year's cycle (2026): $2,500; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): $635–$15,987; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Financial aid | Last year's cycle (2026): Need-based scholarship after acceptance: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. First come until funds exhausted; next-cycle terms unknown.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 residential media scholarship: $15,987. One Session C award covered tuition and room and board in exchange for documenting the experience; the 2026 scholarship is closed and 2027 availability is unknown.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): Historical 2026 need-based grant aid after admission: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. The published 2026 financial-aid guidance promised to meet demonstrated need for admitted students, including possible travel aid and international participants. Confirm operative 2027 terms.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Expenses and aid conditions | Last year's cycle (2026): Residence hall, meals, linens, laundry, and local program transport: $0. Included in 2026 attendance fee.; Travel to and from West Lafayette: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Participant responsibility, including optional airport shuttles.; Need-based scholarship after acceptance: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. First come until funds exhausted; next-cycle terms unknown.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 commuter or virtual application fee: $25. Residential pages refer to an application fee in refund terms but do not state its amount on the official page.; 2026 commuter or virtual registration and document fees: $658. $585 registration plus $73 document-management fee.; 2026 international visitor service fee: $500. Applies to international visitors under the published fee table; track and immigration restrictions still control eligibility.; 2026 residential media scholarship: $15,987. One Session C award covered tuition and room and board in exchange for documenting the experience; the 2026 scholarship is closed and 2027 availability is unknown.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): Application fee: $0. SSP states that applying is completely free.; Historical 2026 need-based grant aid after admission: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. The published 2026 financial-aid guidance promised to meet demonstrated need for admitted students, including possible travel aid and international participants. Confirm operative 2027 terms.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Stipend or pay | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): Historical 2026 limited lost-wages stipend: $3,000; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Eligibility | Grade 12 (provider uses rising grades) | Grades 10–12; Grade timing: Unconfirmed — check official site | Grade 11 when applying; summer rising grade is one higher |
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| Additional eligibility | Requirement: Be a rising senior in the announced cohort; Requirement: Complete the future application with transcript and accepted standardized scores if still required; Requirement: Recommended for 2026: three high-school math years and one chemistry or physics year; Requirement: Be available for the full residential week; Requirement: Follow Purdue housing, supervision, health, safety, conduct, accessibility, team, media, and travel rules; Exclusion: Assuming 2026 terms recur; Exclusion: Treating recommended coursework as a guaranteed admission threshold; Exclusion: Missing the full session or required application documents; Exclusion: Assuming STEP guarantees Purdue, Engineering Honors, scholarship, credit, recommendation, award, or admission advantage | Ages 16–18; Residency: Residential and virtual tracks accepted qualifying domestic and international students in 2026; Residency: Commuter applicants generally had to reside in California, commute locally, and stay with an adult relative in the Bay Area; Residency: International applicants had track-specific English-language, insurance, and visa requirements; Requirement: Have completed grade 10 or 11 by the start of summer classes under 2026 rules; Requirement: Hold at least a B average or 3.0 GPA; Requirement: Be age 16 by the applicable 2026 start date; Requirement: Meet course prerequisites and select courses available to high-school students; Requirement: Meet English-language requirements when applicable; Requirement: Meet housing, health-insurance, immigration, and track-specific location rules; Exclusion: Students under 16 by the applicable start date were not eligible in 2026; Exclusion: Students over 18 before summer classes were directed to the visiting-student application rather than Pre-College Scholars; Exclusion: Residential students could not take online courses and had to live in assigned housing; Exclusion: Commuter students could not use non-family homestays, co-ops, Airbnb, or program housing; Exclusion: Course availability and prerequisites are controlled by academic departments | Ages 15–18; Requirement: Be a current high-school junior graduating in 2028 for the Summer 2027 cycle; Requirement: Be at least 15 but not yet 19 while the program operates; Requirement: Complete the credited coursework required by the chosen project by June; Requirement: Astrophysics: high-school physics plus precalculus, or calculus when physics is unavailable; Requirement: Bacterial Genomics or Cell Biology: biology plus Algebra II; Requirement: Biochemistry: biology, chemistry and strong algebra skills; Requirement: Be able to live and work intensively on an assigned campus for five weeks; Exclusion: Current freshmen, sophomores and seniors are not eligible; Exclusion: Self-study does not substitute for credited prerequisite courses; Exclusion: A project or campus preference is not a guaranteed assignment; Exclusion: The program is not a drop-in camp or individually arranged lab placement |
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| Session dates or duration | Catalog terms: 1 week; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: 6–8 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: 5 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Format | In person | In person / Online | In person |
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| Housing and supervision | Residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Location | West Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue University campus | Berkeley, California | Assigned university campus; 2027 sites not announced |
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| Selection and application | Selection: Rolling review until limited sessions fill; waitlist afterward. No acceptance rate is published. | Selection: Complete applications were reviewed on a rolling basis, with course enrollment subject to capacity, prerequisites, and academic-department discretion. The program does not publish a current acceptance rate. | Selection: SSP describes a holistic, contextual and need-blind admission process with limited capacity. It does not promise admission based on grades, prestige, test scores or ability to pay. Application materials: Student essays and contextual information requested by the portal |
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| Official sources | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-20Source 2 · checked 2026-08-20Source 3 · checked 2026-08-20 | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-21Source 2 · checked 2026-08-21Source 3 · checked 2026-08-21Source 4 · checked 2026-08-20 | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-22Source 2 · checked 2026-08-22Source 3 · checked 2026-08-22Source 4 · checked 2026-08-22Source 5 · checked 2026-08-22Source 6 · checked 2026-08-20 |
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