A former admissions reader explains how to write about research in college applications, from the activities list and essays to mentor letters.

Fifteen data science research ideas for high school students, grouped by field, from air quality and sleep studies to stylometry and portfolio modeling.

 A Harvard professor on what students really need to learn to build machine learning models, and the 12-week program starting this fall.

Scholar Launch's Fall 2026 cohorts run 12 weeks starting in September, built to sit alongside a normal course load instead of competing with it. Students in grades 9 to 12 pair with a Faculty Advisor and a Teaching Assistant to move from an interest to an original research product, whether that's regenerative medicine, portfolio optimization, film scoring, or a topic they bring themselves. Apply by August 23 for two complimentary Teaching Assistant sessions, or by August 31 for one. One program is already waitlist only, so the earlier cohorts are worth a look first.

The 2026 World Cup is more than a tournament. Explore five sports research topics, from psychology to AI, and turn your interest into a real project.

In April, Yale rewrote its mission statement to read simply: "Yale's core mission is to create, disseminate, and preserve knowledge through research and teaching." Gone is the older language about improving the world and educating future leaders. The reaction was loud, but both the praise and the criticism miss the more useful point for students and families deciding where to spend four formative years.

Summer 2026 isn't just for the lab and the data set. Scholar Launch is offering 9 advanced summer research programs for high school students across the social sciences, business, humanities, and arts. Rolling admission is open now, programs start in June, and several are already down to their final spots.