Founded by Stanford, Harvard, and UC Berkeley researchers, Echelon Scholars focuses exclusively on the extremely ambitious goal of postgraduate-level, peer-reviewed publication for our students.
We are proud to have maintained a 100% publication success rate after working with many dozens of students. This selectivity begins during the admissions process, where we uphold the highest of standards.
The selective admissions process begins with an online application covering your academic background, interests, and goals. Thoughtful, specific responses help us understand what drives you and why you are ready to pursue research beyond the high school classroom.
Selected applicants are invited to a live virtual interview with our admissions team. We explore your intellectual interests, motivation, and readiness for independent work, while giving you and your parent or guardian an opportunity to ask questions about the research experience.
We request academic documentation: a transcript, report card, or available AP, PSAT, SAT, or ACT scores, as well as a substantial example of your written, analytical, or project-based work. This may be an academic essay, research analysis, school report, presentation, or EC project.
Our team considers your application, interview, and supporting materials together to assess your preparation and potential. Successful applicants receive an admissions offer and next steps for enrollment, mentor assignment, and beginning their research.
Postgraduate-level research takes sustained commitment. Most scholars work on their project for about six months, meeting their mentor weekly and working between sessions. You own your work from data analysis to manuscript revisions, and you hold it to the integrity standards that peer review requires.
You do not need prior research experience, but you do need to be willing to work past the high school curriculum. Scholars learn to evaluate published papers, apply technical and analytical methods, and defend their findings. We look for students who take on unfamiliar material and use hard feedback to improve.
We want students who have questions they care about and ideas of their own to contribute. With unlimited-hour, one-on-one mentorship, we guide scholars toward publication in peer-reviewed venues, including IEEE and ACM conferences.
“The clarity of direction I gained by going over each piece of feedback with my mentor is something I couldn't have done alone. I am proud to have taken an idea from its first concept through to submitting it as a paper at an IEEE conference.”
You can find more answers on our FAQ page.
No. Our mentors have worked with students across the full spectrum of experience, and we are confident we can get you across the finish line to publishing at a post-graduate, peer-reviewed academic level.
Most scholars spend about six to nine months on their research. You will meet with your mentor every week and complete work between sessions. The more time you commit each week, the faster the research can be completed.
Our tuition fee is $12,500, which is paid in two installments.
We do offer competitive, need-based financial aid which involves a supplementary application portion and can cover between 10-50% of the program tuition.
The Echelon Guarantee: If your research is not accepted by a peer-reviewed, postgraduate-level journal or conference on the first attempt, we will continue providing mentorship and publication support at no additional tuition cost until it is accepted.
The application takes you through the first step. Our admissions team will reach out about an interview if you are selected.
