Top 10 Psychology Summer Programs for High School Students in 2025-2026

Psychology summer programs for high school students give you a chance to explore how people think, learn, and make decisions. These programs introduce you to topics like personality, memory, social behavior, and mental health while allowing you to experience what studying psychology in college might look like.

In this blog, we’ll explore the top psychology summer programs for high school students, explain what each one offers, and help you see which options fit your goals. You’ll get details on program topics, learning formats, and what makes each program different.

• What Are the Best Psychology Summer Programs for High School Students?
• Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes
• Harvard Summer School’s Secondary School Program (SSP)
• Summer@Brown
• Johns Hopkins Pre-College Summer Programs
• University of Notre Dame Summer Scholars Program
• USC Psychological Summer Program
• NSLC on Psychology & Neuroscience
• Wake Forest Summer Immersion Psychology Institute
• Camp Psych
• Messiah University’s Psychology Camp
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Takeaways

What Are the Best Psychology Summer Programs for High School Students?

Through psychology summer programs, you’ll learn how to study human behavior through research, data analysis, and case work. You might design small experiments, review findings, or discuss how psychologists study memory, stress, and decision-making. These experiences help you explore careers in psychology and build skills that strengthen your college applications, especially for top psychology schools like Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton.

This blog highlights ten psychology summer programs for high school students, each with different strengths and formats. You’ll also find a table that summarizes every program’s name, location, and dates so you can quickly compare your options.

Let’s discuss each program one by one.

1. Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes

• Dates: July 6–July 17, 2026
• Location: Online
• Cost: $3,200 tuition; additional course materials may cost up to $100

The Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes is an online academic program for students who want to study a subject in greater depth. The program offers over 75 online summer courses in various areas, including artificial intelligence, creative writing, engineering, mathematics, philosophy, and psychology.

The Topics in Psychology course runs for two weeks and is fully online. Classes meet live Monday through Friday for two hours each day, with an additional hour reserved for office hours if you need help or want to ask questions.

In this course, you explore how psychologists study human behavior. Topics include social psychology, memory, perception, development, and psychological disorders. Outside of live class time, you can expect to spend two to three hours per day on readings and assignments.

The course is open to students in grades 8–11 who are between 13 and 19 years old during the program dates. Applicants must submit their academic records and a $65 application fee by March 13, 2026. The course is ungraded and doesn’t offer college credit.

2. Harvard Summer School’s Secondary School Program (SSP)

• Dates: June 20–August 8, 2026
• Location: Online or on campus at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Cost: $4,180–$15,735 tuition, depending on format (online, commuter, or residential); $75 application fee

Harvard Summer School’s Secondary School Program (SSP) is a summer option for high school students who want to experience college-level coursework and earn college credit. This Harvard pre-college program runs for four or seven weeks and is intended for students who can handle the academic expectations at Harvard.

Psychology and Neuroscience courses are offered only in the seven-week SSP, which is available online, as a commuter program, or on campus at Harvard. These courses examine how the brain works and how human behavior is studied.

Some of the psychology courses offered through the seven-week SSP include:

• Neurobiology (BIOS S-50)
• Neuroinvesting: Neuroscience and Financial Decision-Making (ECON S-1915)
• The Neuroscience of Learning (PSYC S-1609)
• Introduction to Psychology (PSYC S-1)
• The Psychology of Eating (PSYC S-1470)
• The Psychology of Close Relationships (PSYC 1503)
• Explaining Beauty: The Hidden Functions Behind Aesthetics (PSYC S-1812)
• Deductive Logic (PHIL S-12)
• Power and Privilege in the Criminal Justice System (PSYC S-1872)
• Creative Law: Ethics and AI (LSTU S-134)

Students who complete SSP courses earn college credit and can request an official Harvard transcript listing their grades and credits. To be eligible for Summer 2026, students must graduate from high school in 2026, 2027, or 2028, be at least 16 years old by June 20, 2026, and not turn 19 before July 31, 2026.

3. Summer@Brown

• Dates: June 15–July 25, 2026
• Location: Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
• Cost: $3,096–$8,372, depending on program length (1–3 weeks) and housing option (commuter or residential)

Summer@Brown allows high school students to take college-level courses at Brown University during the summer. This Brown pre-college program primarily offers on-campus courses in Providence, Rhode Island with a limited number of hybrid options.

Summer@Brown offers short psychology courses that explore how people think, behave, and make decisions. While the course list for Summer 2026 hasn’t been released yet, here are some good examples of what’s usually offered based on last year’s sessions:

• Psychology of Willpower and Motivation
• Stranger than Fiction: Debunking Popular Myths in Psychology
• Abnormal Adolescent Psychology
• Current Controversies in Mood Disorders
• Psychology of Stress and Trauma
• Free Will and the Brain: Neuroscience of Decision-Making
• Child Development in Societal and Cultural Contexts
• Psychology Across Species: Animal Cognition and Behavior
• Psychology of Gender
• Mental Health: Global Perspectives

After completing a course, students receive a digital certificate of completion. Those enrolled in courses lasting two weeks or longer also receive a course performance report that summarizes their work.

The 2026 session runs from June 15 to July 25 and is open to students completing grades 9–12 who are between 14 and 18 years old. Summer@Brown is a popular summer program, so submitting a strong application is important. In 2025, more than 5,900 students from all 50 U.S. states and 80 countries attended the program.

For more information on how to apply, check out our complete guide to Summer@Brown.

4. Johns Hopkins Pre-College Summer Programs

• Dates: Between late June and early August
• Location: Online or on campus at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
• Cost: $1,950 (online); $4,660 (on-campus commuter); $6,140 (on-campus residential) per two-week program; $85 non-refundable application fee

Johns Hopkins’ Pre-College Summer Programs offer college-level courses in medicine, neuroscience, and psychology for high school students. These short, intensive courses allow students to earn academic credit while exploring advanced subjects.

For Summer 2026, the program runs three sessions between late June and early August. Students may attend online or on campus in Baltimore, Maryland. On-campus participants take classes at Johns Hopkins and use the university’s academic facilities, while online students join live instruction remotely.

Psychology and Brain Sciences courses focus on the study of behavior and the brain in academic settings. Next year’s offerings include Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Psychopathology and Its Development, and Psychological Profiling. These courses introduce core concepts commonly taught in undergraduate programs in psychology and neuroscience.

Applicants must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and submit transcripts or progress reports showing grades through December 2025. Students must also complete ninth grade before the program begins.

Read our blog on Johns Hopkins’ Pre-College programs to learn more about how to apply.

5. University of Notre Dame Summer Scholars Program

• Dates: June 27–July 11, 2026
• Location: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
• Cost: $75 non-refundable application fee; $300 non-refundable enrollment fee; $4,900 for tuition and room-and-board balance

The University of Notre Dame Summer Scholars Program is a two-week, on-campus program that requires you to take one college-level course. Classes are small, taught by Notre Dame faculty, and built around discussion.

In Summer 2026, Notre Dame will offer Psychology and the Self, a course that explores how people form identity, navigate relationships, and respond to conflict and bias. You’ll study topics such as self-concept, aggression, and prejudice, and examine how these forces shape behavior in everyday life.

You’ll take part in discussions, analyze films and documentaries, and work through challenging readings that connect psychology with philosophy. Readings include scholarly articles alongside selected works by writers such as Aldous Huxley, Walker Percy, and Herman Hesse.

To be eligible, applicants must be current sophomores or juniors (rising juniors or seniors) with strong academic standing and meaningful extracurricular involvement. Students must also be at least 16 years old by August 1, 2026.

To explore this program more deeply, check our guide to the Notre Dame Summer Scholars.

6. USC Psychological Summer Program

• Dates: June 22–July 17, 2026
• Location: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
• Cost: $11,570 total estimated cost (residential); $8,130 total estimated cost (commuter)

The USC Psychological Summer Program, also called “Psychological Science and Society,” is a college-level summer course for high school students interested in psychology. The program runs on USC’s campus in Los Angeles and offers both commuter and residential options.

In the course, you learn how psychologists study the mind and behavior. Topics include research methods, personality, motivation, relationships, the mind–body connection, and the impact of social media on mental health. You can expect to work through activities, discussions, labs, and projects that show how psychology applies to real-world situations.

Admission is competitive and reviewed on a rolling basis, which means applying early increases your chances of securing a spot. To be eligible, you must have completed at least ninth grade and be taking challenging high school courses. The application requires a 300–500-word essay, one letter of recommendation, and an official high school transcript.

If you want to explore more options at USC, check out our full guide to USC’s summer programs.

7. NSLC on Psychology & Neuroscience

• Dates: Multiple sessions in June and July 2026
• Location: Duke University (Durham, North Carolina); University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, California); and University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
• Cost: $4,295–$4,495 (residential, varies by campus)

The National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC) offers Psychology & Neuroscience, a residential nine-day program focused on the brain and human behavior.

You’ll explore how brain structure shapes personality, memory, emotion, and mental health while studying on campus at Duke University, UC Berkeley, or the University of Michigan. Students live in supervised dorms and use campus dining, offering a realistic preview of college life. You can also expect:

• Clinical diagnostics simulations
• Anatomy-focused workshops
• Psychology skill-building workshops
• Brain scans and imaging activities
• A student-led mental health awareness campaign

Since NSLC is also known for its leadership programs for high school students, you can also expect a leadership curriculum in all its programs. This means that there are also workshops on effective communication and empathy, alongside the academic lectures.

The program is open to students ages 14–18 who have completed at least one year of high school. Students may also attend NSLC during the summer immediately following high school graduation.

8. Wake Forest Summer Immersion Psychology Institute

• Dates: July 12–17, 2026; July 19–24, 2026
• Location: Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Cost: $3,500 tuition

The Wake Forest Summer Immersion Psychology Institute offers hands-on, on-campus learning in psychology and neuroscience. Over six days, you explore how the brain works and how emotion, perception, and bias shape human behavior.

The program combines interactive lessons with lab-based activities focused on brain disorders, sensation and perception, and the psychology of addiction. Students complete structured lab work and research-based activities, including:

• Guided sheep brain dissection
• Brain training and neuroplasticity activities
• Conducting observational research
• Sensory perception lab
• Team research presentations

The program doesn’t offer high school or college credit. Instead, students who complete the institute receive an official Wake Forest University Certificate of Completion, which documents participation in the Psychology Institute.

9. Camp Psych

• Dates: July 12–17, 2026
• Location: Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
• Cost: $1395 camp fee, including lodging, meals, and activities

Camp Psych is a one-week residential program at Gettysburg College for high school students who want to see what studying psychology is like. You’ll spend the week exploring how psychologists ask questions, run studies, and make sense of human behavior.

During the week, you’ll work in small groups with Gettysburg College psychology professors and resident advisors, many of whom are current or former psychology majors. The program is hands-on and interactive, giving you a chance to take part in psychology research activities.

Camp Psych is open to rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, with occasional spots for recently graduated seniors. No prior psychology experience is required. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the program is filled, so make sure to apply early.

10. Messiah University’s Psychology Camp

• Dates: 2026 dates to be announced
• Location: Messiah University, Upper Allen Township, Pennsylvania
• Cost: $699 for residential campers; $599 for commuting campers

Messiah University’s Psychology Camp is a short summer program for high school students who want an introduction to psychology in a small, campus-based setting. You learn directly from Messiah University psychology faculty, including published researchers and practicing clinical psychologists, through interactive lessons and guided activities.

The camp introduces how psychology is studied and applied across different areas of the field. You explore core topics such as:

• Biological basis of behavior
• Sensation and perception
• Stress and coping
• Developmental psychology
• Abnormal and clinical psychology
• Cognition and memory
• Problem solving and decision-making
• Leadership and communication

The program is held on Messiah University’s suburban campus in Pennsylvania, offering both residential and commuter options. It’s open to students entering grades 10–12.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the best psychology summer programs for high school students in 2025?

Some of the strongest programs include offerings from Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Ivy League schools like Harvard and Brown. These programs stand out for college-level coursework, selective admissions, and hands-on exposure to psychology.

2. Are there free psychology summer programs for high school students?

Most psychology summer programs charge tuition, especially those hosted on college campuses. Fully free options are rare and usually tied to research labs, nonprofits, or competitive fellowships. If cost is a concern, you can look for programs that offer financial aid.

3. What subjects do psychology summer programs typically cover?

Psychology summer programs often cover topics like behavior, cognition, mental health, social psychology, and research methods. Many programs also include applied areas such as relationships, motivation, stress, and decision-making.

4. How can psychology summer programs help with college admissions?

These programs show colleges that you’ve explored psychology beyond the classroom and can handle advanced academic material. They also provide concrete experiences you can reference in applications and essays, especially if you’re considering psychology as a major.

5. When should I apply for psychology summer programs?

Most psychology summer programs open applications between late fall and early winter. Many use rolling admissions and fill spots quickly, so applying early improves your chances. Try to finalize your application several months before the summer.

Takeaways

• Psychology summer programs allow high school students to study psychology in academic settings, often taught by college faculty.
• More selective programs include Stanford, Harvard SSP, and Summer@Brown, while options like Camp Psych and Messiah University work well for students new to psychology.
• Many programs give you hands-on projects, faculty feedback, and early exposure to college-level psychology, which can strengthen your applications and future opportunities in the field.
• If you need help choosing the right psychology program or preparing your application materials, consider working with an admissions consultant for personalized guidance.