High School Summer Institutes is ideal for students looking to experience undergraduate work without the pressure of a grade. This opportunity gives students a course on campus to discover a new passion in an interdisciplinary environment.

Non-credit

Residential

Accepts International Students

Financial Aid

Final project

Application fee waiver

High School Summer Institutes allow students to discover a new passion, or dive deeper into an existing one. Each institute has a specific theme or focus and includes traditional undergraduate classroom activities like lectures, discussions, small group collaboration, and final projects. Students interact with WashU instructors from across a variety of disciplines and examine the connections between these different fields of study and research.

These two-week programs are ideal for students who want to experience undergraduate curriculum without the pressure of a grade and network with a variety of departments and instructors.

Creative Immersion Institute
In this institute, you will not only develop your storytelling and creative writing skills; you will also experience the impact of a university community on your writing. As you experiment in a number of creative writing genres (photo essays, poetry, memoir, scripts), you’ll share your projects with other students—and reflect on their projects. Morning workshop will be a place where we experiment with writing prompts and experience the power of workshop, as we share our projects. Afternoon sessions will be a place for us to engage with writers from across the Washington University campus and responding to prompts designed to focus on a particular skill. For instance: performing arts faculty might share an exercise in gesture & body language that inspires a line in your poetry. Environmental studies faculty will share perspectives that shape your fictional descriptions of place. Campus librarians will inspire your understanding of history and memoir as we learn from campus archives. Above all, you will experience creative writing at Washington University—and transform your writing as you explore these new perspectives.
This program is ideal for students with a strong interest in creative writing or performing arts. While this program is designed to build confidence, students should come prepared to share their work and receive constructive feedback from peers and instructors.
Prerequisite: at least two years of high school English.

Environmental Studies Institute
How do we preserve the world for future generations? What can we do as individuals and as a society to minimize harmful effects on the environment? Students answer these questions and more as they discover the ecological principles that are the basis of environmental studies and sustainability. Students explore how environmental studies incorporates concepts from politics, social sciences, anthropology, economics, ethics, and philosophy.
This program is ideal for students with a strong interest in issues involving the environment. It is not a substitute for AP Environmental Science.
Prerequisite: at least two years of high school science including biology.

Healthcare Continuum Institute
Healthcare is an issue that affects us all. While we often think of healthcare as being confined to the walls of a hospital or doctor’s office, we all must realize that health does not exist in a vacuum. People leave their doctors’ offices and enter the real world, where numerous barriers to healthy lifestyles or access to treatment are common. In this institute, we will take a look at healthcare from a variety of perspectives, from community-based efforts to promote health and wellness to new advances in personalized medicine and therapeutics. We will use real-world examples and case studies to learn about the social determinants of health, and apply our knowledge of biology and public health to specific examples of challenges faced by our healthcare system. Students will gain a better understanding of how researchers, healthcare workers, social workers, policy makers, and public health professionals collaborate to address complicated problems with a multidisciplinary approach.
This program is ideal for students with a strong interest in viewing healthcare with a broader lens not just clinical medicine.
Prerequisite: at least two years of high school science including biology.

Research Development Institute
This institute focuses on conducting and engaging research. While different disciplines require different ways of conducting research, all disciplines require that one engage in research. To engage in research means to be responsive to and in conversation with others, their ideas, and their research methods. The different ways that we can engage and conduct research—and what we understand research to be—will be our topic of study. Come prepared to contribute your views on these topics and be willing to complicate your current views of research and the ways it can be conducted.
Over the course of two weeks you will conduct research on a topic of your choice, which means that when possible, we will focus on practical, applied work with primary and secondary sources, which should provide a good foundation for advanced research and writing in college, and we’ll give some thought to the different methods by which different audiences and scholarly disciplines select, analyze, evaluate, incorporate, and document the works of others. This is not a lab-based research program.
This program is ideal for students who want to develop their critical thinking and research skills, and explore deeper a specific academic interest or field of study.
Prerequisite: must have completed at least 3 years of high school English

High School Summer Institutes: Creative Immersion Institute

Jul 14 - Jul 27

2 weeks

Residential

3185 USD

High School Summer Institutes: Environmental Studies Institute

Jul 14 - Jul 27

2 weeks

Residential

3185 USD

High School Summer Institutes: Healthcare Continuum Institute

Jul 14 - Jul 27

2 weeks

Residential

3185 USD

High School Summer Institutes: Research Development

Jul 14 - Jul 27

2 weeks

Residential

3185 USD

High School Summer Residential Programs
High School Summer Institutes: $3,185

A $50 nonrefundable application fee is due upon submitting an application for a high school summer residential program.

Once a student has been admitted, we require a $500 nonrefundable deposit. The nonrefundable deposit will hold a student's place in the program and is deducted from the total program fee due.

Program fees for residential programs cover:

1 - Tuition for course work as follows:
High School Summer Institutes: noncredit course curriculum

2 - Academic success enrichment activities including: tutoring, specialized workshops, advising, and group study sessions

3 - College readiness enrichment activities including: seminars/webinars, panel discussions, informal Q&As, and access to online college readiness course

4 - Community enrichment activities including: social activities and weekend outings

5 - Housing in a secured, air conditioned residence hall on campus

6 - Meal stipend to cover three meals a day

7 - Laundry services

8 - Transportation pass for light-rail and buses

9 - Use of South 40 Fitness Center.

Textbooks, travel to and from the program, personal expenses, or other expenses related to online course work including computers or WiFi are not included in a program fee.

Financial Aid

Need-based Scholarships
We do offer need-based scholarship assistance for all of our programs. In order to be considered for a need-based scholarship, we must receive a completed application for scholarship assistance. Please note that our pre-college programs are not eligible for aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Scholarships are determined based on family income. There are no income cut-offs for scholarship assistance; all students are welcome and encouraged to apply. Scholarships typically start at $100. Full scholarships are available.
Scholarships do not cover travel to and from campus, personal expenses, or other expenses related to online course work including computers or WiFi access. Scholarship awards are non-transferable between pre-college programs.
Children of Washington University employees and returning students are eligible for a 10% discount.

Application Fee Waiver Request
We are happy to waive our application fee for high school summer residential programs when it presents a financial hardship. If you do qualify, simply indicate so on your program application.