| Application deadline | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Cost | Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: $7,465; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Financial aid | Last year's cycle (2026): U.S. family-income guarantee: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. U.S. students from families under $80,000 attended free in 2026.; Full/partial need-based aid and international aid: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Aid available where cost is a barrier; international aid considered case by case.; 2027: 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 | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Expenses and aid conditions | Last year's cycle (2026): U.S. family-income guarantee: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. U.S. students from families under $80,000 attended free in 2026.; Full/partial need-based aid and international aid: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Aid available where cost is a barrier; international aid considered case by case.; 2027: 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 | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Stipend or pay | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 Summer I or Summer II fellowship: $4,000; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Eligibility | Grades 10–12; Grade timing: Unconfirmed — check official site | Grades 9–12 when applying; check the provider's rules for graduating seniors | Grades 10–12 when applying; check the provider's rules for graduating seniors |
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| Additional eligibility | Ages 14–18; Residency: Students from the United States and abroad are eligible; international financial aid is case by case; Requirement: Be age 14-18 by the applicable program cutoff; Requirement: Have completed grade 9 or equivalent before the session; Requirement: Not be enrolled full time in a college or university by the program's first day; Requirement: Be available for the entire six-week residential session and comply with dormitory, curfew, visiting, safeguarding, and conduct rules; Requirement: Independently attempt the official application problem set and explain experiments, conjectures, proofs, and partial progress; Requirement: Submit the required recommendation, transcript, form, short answers, and any financial-aid documents; Requirement: Retain scratch work and be prepared to explain reasoning if originality is verified; Exclusion: Applicants outside the age/education window or already full-time college students at program start; Exclusion: Collaborative, copied, AI-assisted, internet-generated, uncited, or inadequately explained problem-set work; Exclusion: Applicants unable to reside for the full six weeks or follow residential/safety expectations; Exclusion: Assuming all eight problems must be solved or that prior advanced courses/research are required; Exclusion: Assuming selection guarantees aid, publication, conference presentation, college credit, recommendation, admission advantage, internship, or job | 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 | Residency: Must be able to participate at an available Project SEED site or eligible virtual project; in-person site selection considers a safe daily commute; Requirement: Document household annual income at or below 300% of applicable Federal Poverty Guidelines; Requirement: Provide an accepted tax, free/reduced-lunch, SNAP/WIC, TRIO, or SAT/ACT fee-waiver eligibility document; Requirement: Preferably be a current high-school sophomore, junior, or senior; the 2026 cycle also allowed graduating seniors; Requirement: Have completed at least one high-school chemistry course and demonstrate interest in science or chemistry; Requirement: Obtain parent/guardian permission if under 18; Requirement: Be available for the full project, normally at least eight weeks and about 40 hours weekly for in-person research; Requirement: Meet the local site's commute, safety, lab, onboarding, and schedule requirements; Exclusion: Applicants who cannot document the financial-eligibility requirement; Exclusion: Applicants without completed high-school chemistry; Exclusion: Applicants unable to commit to the selected site's full schedule or safely commute for an in-person placement; Exclusion: Assuming prior lab experience is required or guarantees selection; Exclusion: Assuming application guarantees a placement, preferred lab, virtual option, $4,000 next-cycle amount, conference trip, publication, college credit, recommendation, scholarship, admission advantage, or job |
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| Session dates or duration | Catalog terms: 6 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: 8–10 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Format | In person | Online | Hybrid |
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| Housing and supervision | Residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site | Non-residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site | Non-residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Location | Boston, Boston University campus, Massachusetts | Online and available to high-school students worldwide | Participating university, government, and industry research sites; virtual projects may also be offered |
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| Selection and application | Selection: About 80 high-school students are selected through demonstrated mathematical thinking in the problem set, academic context, recommendation, transcript, and short answers. PROMYS does not publish the current applicant count or acceptance rate. Application materials: One recommendation | 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 | Selection: Local coordinators select among financially and academically eligible applicants based on performance, science interest, full-summer availability, site capacity/budget, safe commute, and mentor/project fit. ACS publishes no single current acceptance rate. |
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| Official sources | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-20Source 2 · checked 2026-08-20Source 3 · checked 2026-08-20Source 4 · checked 2026-08-20Source 5 · checked 2026-08-20Source 6 · 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 | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-20Source 2 · checked 2026-08-20Source 3 · checked 2026-08-20 |
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