PhD-Level Research for High Schoolers
Founded by Stanford, Harvard, and UC Berkeley researchers, Echelon Scholars helps high school students conduct world-class mentored research.
100% of our students publish at real, peer-reviewed, PhD-level journals and conferences, putting them on the same path our founders used to gain admission and continue their work at top universities.
The Echelon Difference: Our Philosophy
It’s no secret that research is highly valued by top universities. At Penn, one-third of admitted students had research experience, and at Caltech, 45% of the Class of 2027 conducted research in high school. Even after college, top employers and research labs place paramount value on research experience.
Yet the data reveals a gap between participation and impact. Roughly 200,000 U.S. high school students engage in some form of research each year, but there are only ~12,000 Ivy League seats available. Most high school research never reaches a level advanced enough to prepare students for academia, industry, or admission to the world’s most selective universities.
At Echelon Scholars, our founders experienced the value of high-ROI research opportunities firsthand. As high school students, they stood out by publishing their work in postgraduate-level, peer-reviewed journals —a standard of excellence rarely achieved at the high school level. This approach not only set them apart in the admissions process, but also gave them the academic credibility and research foundation that helped them succeed at institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.
Our Mentors
Research at:
Our Students
Publish at:
ACM International Conference on Software and Computer Applications
IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics
IEEE MIT Undergraduate Research Technology Conference
ElSevier Journal of Informatics in Medicine Unlocked
IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference
IEEE International Conference on Pattern Recognition and ML
IEEE International Conference on Computer and Signal Processing
IEEE International Conference on AI x Business
IEEE Conference on AI, Science, Engineering, and Technology
IEEE FedCSIS
IEEE Baltimore Section Conference
Our Research Program
At Echelon Scholars, our research program combines selective admissions, individualized mentored research, and an exclusively post-graduate level publication focus.This distinctive structure has produced an unbroken track record of successes for our high school students each year. Unlike most summer research programs, we provide research opportunities which go far beyond a standard research project, and are competitive at the highest level.
We host two cohorts each year. Our process is highly selective, and we have historically only worked with 20 high school students each year between both cohorts.
Selected students will receive 1-1 unlimited mentoring with a published researcher from a top school like Harvard, Stanford, Duke, or MIT.
Our in-house panel of peer published academic reviewers and research scientists simulates the same process journals use, and return expert feedback for the student.
100% of our mentors have published 3x+ times in the postgraduate level while they were high schoolers. 100% of their students have done the same.
Our high school students and mentors have achieved several of the most
competitive fellowships, titles, and scholarships, including:
Softbank Foundation Fellow (Full Tuition Scholarship)
International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) Grand Finalist
Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) Finalist
World Giftedness Center's Global Talent Mentoring Awardee
Atlas Fellowship ($50k Scholarship)
Coca Cola Scholar ($20k Scholarship)
Featured Student Publications
Timothy W. - Enhancing the Binary Classification of Wildfire Smoke Through Vision-Language Models
John C. - Implementation of Convolutional Neural Networks for Classifying Lung Cancer Types from Histopathological Images
Pradyun G. - Estimating the Carbon Footprint of Small Language Models Powering Edge Device Applications
Mihit P. - Novel Cash-Flow Based Underwriting Model using Gradient Boosted Decision Trees
Sai B. - Improving Machine Learning Based Sepsis Diagnosis Using Heart Rate Variability
Tanush V. - Hybrid Quantum-Classical Method for Bank Account Fraud Detection using Quantum Encoding and Quantum Machine Learning
Tarang P. - A Hybrid Approach for Drug Interaction Prediction using Knowledge Graphs and Gradient Classifiers
Ajay P. - A Novel Diagnosis and Prognosis Model for the RUNX1 Mutation in AML
“I highly recommend Echelon Scholars. Their mentors and curriculum made for a truly life changing experience.”
Matthew, (Cambridge University ‘28)
“The program was one of the most enriching experiences I’ve had—especially being able to learn directly from experienced researchers. The process wasn’t always easy, but it was incredibly rewarding to grow through each draft and every piece of feedback with my mentor. With their guidance, I found the clarity and direction I needed to shape my work and the confidence to present it in front of a professional audience. Echelon Scholars is a unique experience where you can turn promising ideas into published work that earns real recognition in academia.”
Mihit, (University of Washington ’29)
“Echelon Scholars sets an incredible standard for student research, and I would highly recommend them to any ambitious student.”
Theodore, (UC Berkeley M.E.T. ‘29)
How much does the program cost?
Our tuition fee is $12,500. We do offer need-based financial aid which involves a supplementary application portion and covers between 10-50% of the program.
What fields can I do my research in?
At Echelon Scholars, to achieve our goals of postgraduate-level, peer-reviewed outcomes, we believe students must contribute to the state-of-the-art. Thus, our research opportunities focus on interdisciplinary research where there is at least one element of technical skills used, such as AI/ML, data science, molecular biology, statistics, applied math, and medical research. Our high school students have done research on a huge variety of fields, from cutting-edge biomedical research, to using neural network algorithms to do cash-flow based financial underwriting for credit cards to using data science for tracking animal migration patterns. All original research topics are ultimately chosen by our students after conducting a thorough literature review with their mentors, as is done in top university labs and research institutes - a high standard most summer research programs do not adhere to.
