Applications are being accepted for the 2025 Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars programs, which bring together high school students from around the world for challenging, engaging academic experiences.

Building on its inaugural success in 2024, Dartmouth Precollege has added a Leadership Institute to the lineup and now features hybrid and online options, in addition to residential courses.

Ryan McCallum, vice president of the Transformation Office, says feedback from the first participants has been “phenomenal,” and the Precollege team is excited about the upcoming season.

“We always wanted to increase our reach and give the best of Dartmouth to the broadest audience that we can,” says McCallum, reflecting on the diverse array of classes on offer. Whether students study on campus or online, they will have “a very Dartmouth-first experience.”

Precollege Summer Scholars, for rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, offers intensive two-week explorations of 20 different subjects, among them business, writing, medicine, neuroscience, clean energy, web applications, and data science. Depending on the course, students can choose from hybrid, commuter, and fully residential models. 

The program also includes the Leadership Institute, which combines on-campus learning and outdoor leadership experiences at an Appalachian Mountain Club lodge in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

The regular and extended application deadlines are Jan. 28 and March 25, respectively. 

The Precollege Online Program is open to students age 13 and older and offers courses year-round. The catalog currently includes classes in finance, biology, regenerative medicine, and psychology, with more on the way. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis.

Taught and designed by Dartmouth professors, lecturers, and other seasoned instructors selected for their expertise in their field and love of teaching, the courses reflect current academic research and keep high school students’ priorities top of mind. 

“Precollege Summer Scholars has compelling courses that are serving the precollege learner’s interest. Courses that help learners gain perspective on topics like data science, the usage of artificial intelligence, or foundations of business are all very relevant,” says McCallum, who notes that the term “artificial intelligence” was coined at Dartmouth.

In Problem Solving With AI, students will explore foundational AI techniques and their applications to fields such as robotics, economics, and genomics.

“I hope (students) see the power of solving some of these complicated problems with both your ingenuity and allowing the machine to actually accomplish the task,” says instructor Chase Yakaboski, Thayer ’24, a research fellow with the Broad Institute, Harvard Medical School, and Boston Children’s Hospital. 

Lura Pascale, the Transformation Office’s executive assistant and operations manager, says the teaching quality made a big impression on last year’s participants.

Their feedback about the instructors and how well they worked with the students is a testament “to why Dartmouth is so amazing, and why the program was able to be successful,” Pascale says.

Returning instructor Patroklos Karantinos, the Tuck Bridge Fellow manager, will again lead the popular Business Foundations, which helps students become conversant in key concepts such as economics, strategy, and marketing. Reflecting the importance of teamwork in the modern workplace, for the culminating project students work in groups to estimate a fair price for a publicly traded company, based on what they have learned. 

Students are “very energized” by hands-on activities, says Karantinos, who looks forward to applying what he learned last summer to this year’s Foundations class. “My goal is to make it an even more fun experience and to incorporate what’s special about Dartmouth during those eight or nine days we will spend together.”

Along with academic rigor, enjoyment ranks high among the program’s priorities.

“One of our requirements for this job is to ensure everybody leaves with a smile,” says McCallum. “We were able to do that last year, and we plan to do it again this year.”