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+# summer programs
+
+the landscape of summer programs for teen builders is massive and mostly noise. there are hundreds of programs marketed at ambitious high schoolers, and most of them exist to take your money or pad your resume without teaching you much. here's an honest breakdown of what's actually worth your time.
+
+the fundamental question: **do you want to learn, or do you want a credential?** the best programs give you both, but most only give you the second.
+
+## research programs
+
+these are the "prestigious" ones. they're genuinely good for learning, but the admissions process is brutal and the prestige factor has made them weirdly competitive for what they are.
+
+### RSI (Research Science Institute)
+- **what:** 6 weeks at MIT. free. you do real research with a mentor and write a paper.
+- **selectivity:** <2.5% acceptance rate (~80 students from 3000+ applicants)
+- **honest take:** this is the gold standard and genuinely excellent. the alumni network is insane. but it's become a college admissions meta-game — a disproportionate number of RSI alumni end up at MIT/Harvard/Stanford, which means admissions officers weight it heavily, which means more people apply for the credential rather than the experience. if you get in, go. if you don't, it's not a signal that you're not good enough — it's a signal that 2.5% acceptance rates are mostly luck.
+- **who it's for:** people who genuinely want to do research. if you're applying because it looks good, you'll have a bad time.
+
+### SSP (Summer Science Program)
+- **what:** 5 weeks doing real astrophysics or biochemistry research. you literally track asteroids or study enzyme kinetics.
+- **selectivity:** ~10-15% acceptance rate
+- **honest take:** more focused and less prestige-obsessed than RSI. the community is incredible. people who go to SSP tend to love it more than any other program. underrated relative to RSI.
+
+### PROMYS / ROSS / SUMaC
+- **what:** intensive summer math programs. PROMYS is at BU, ROSS is at Ohio State, SUMaC is at Stanford.
+- **honest take:** if you love math — like actually love it, not "I'm good at AMC" love it — these are life-changing. they'll show you what real mathematical thinking looks like. PROMYS and ROSS are more proof-based and theoretical. SUMaC is slightly more applied. all three have incredible communities.
+- **who it's for:** future mathematicians and people who think proofs are fun.
+
+### Clark Scholars
+- **what:** 7 weeks at Texas Tech doing independent research with a faculty mentor. stipend included.
+- **honest take:** less well-known than RSI but the research quality is comparable. the smaller size means more mentorship. good for people who want to do real research without the prestige pressure.
+
+### Garcia (Stony Brook)
+- **what:** 7 weeks of materials science and engineering research.
+- **honest take:** very strong if you're into materials science, polymers, nanotech. one of the better STEM research programs that isn't impossibly selective.
+
+### Simons Summer Research Program
+- **what:** 8 weeks at Stony Brook doing research with a faculty mentor. stipend included.
+- **honest take:** solid program, good research output. less name recognition than RSI but similar quality of experience.
+
+### MITES (MIT)
+- **what:** now called MOSTEC (MIT Online Science, Technology, and Engineering Community). semester-long online program with an on-campus component.
+- **honest take:** MIT restructured this. still good for building a connection with MIT, but it's not the same intensive summer experience it used to be.
+
+## startup / builder programs
+
+### LaunchX
+- **what:** 4 weeks building an actual startup. ~10% acceptance rate.
+- **honest take:** one of the few programs where you actually build something real. the business focus is genuine — you go through customer discovery, prototyping, pitching. good for people who want to start companies, not just learn about startups.
+
+### Buildspace
+- **status: shut down (august 2024).** farza felt it was "done" and couldn't find the next path. RIP. it was genuinely one of the best online builder communities while it lasted.
+
+### Pioneer
+- **status: made its final investment in early 2026.** pioneer was great while it ran — a global tournament for ambitious outsiders. 300+ founders in 50+ countries. the community still exists but the program is no longer accepting new applications.
+
+### TKS (The Knowledge Society)
+- **what:** 10-month program for ages 13-17. weekly 3-hour sessions, cohorts of ~30 students. runs in SF, NYC, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Dubai, plus virtual.
+- **honest take:** TKS is polarizing. some alumni swear it changed their lives, others think it's overhyped. the community is the real value — you'll meet other ambitious teens. the curriculum on "emerging tech" can feel surface-level if you're already technical. good for: people who want a peer group. less good for: people who already have one.
+
+### Interact
+- **what:** fellowship for 18-23 year olds. two fully-sponsored summer retreats, seminar course, grants for projects.
+- **selectivity:** <10% acceptance rate
+- **honest take:** incredible community. the people who go through Interact tend to be the most interesting young people in tech. but it's 18+, so it's more of a college-age thing. worth knowing about now so you can apply later.
+
+### YYGS (Yale Young Global Scholars)
+- **what:** 2 weeks at Yale. seminars, lectures, discussions.
+- **honest take:** overrated as a learning experience, fine as a networking experience. you'll meet interesting people from around the world. don't pay full price — apply for financial aid.
+
+## internships as a teen
+
+most companies don't have formal high school internship programs. the ones that do (NASA SHIP, NIST SHIP, some defense contractors) are structured but often bureaucratic. here's how to actually get an internship as a teen:
+
+### the cold email strategy
+1. find startups doing work you care about (< 50 employees is ideal)
+2. write a specific email about what you'd contribute, not what you'd learn
+3. include a link to something you've built
+4. follow up once after a week. don't follow up more than that.
+5. expect a ~5% response rate. send a lot of emails.
+
+### the network strategy
+- go to local hackathons and meetups
+- contribute to open source projects
+- be active in relevant online communities
+- the best internships come from people who already know your work
+
+### formal programs
+- **NIST SHIP:** 7 weeks at NIST. unpaid. must live within 50 miles of Gaithersburg, MD or Boulder, CO. good for research-oriented people.
+- **Fred Hutch SHIP:** 8 weeks, paid. biology/cancer research focused.
+- **NASA internships:** various centers. competitive but legitimate.
+- **Ladder Internships:** remote placements at startups. can be hit or miss depending on the company.
+
+### the real talk
+the best internship you can get as a teen is at a small startup where you'll actually do real work. big company internships for high schoolers are usually glorified job shadowing. find a 5-20 person startup doing something you care about, prove you can contribute, and offer to work for free or cheap. that's how I ended up at Orbit (neurotech startup, youngest intern) — not through a program, through building relationships and demonstrating capability.
+
+## the meta-advice
+
+**fit > selectivity.** the best program for you is the one that matches what you actually want to do, not the one with the lowest acceptance rate. a summer spent building your own project can be more valuable than any program. programs are good for: meeting people, getting mentorship you can't get otherwise, and doing work that requires resources you don't have. they're not good for: getting a line on your resume.
+
+if you're choosing between a prestigious program and working on your own thing — ask yourself: will this program give me something I can't get on my own? if the answer is just "prestige," skip it.
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