Economics & Business & Leadership


FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Stanford ONLINE Pre-Collegiate Summer Institute: Business 

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Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes is a summer enrichment program that provides passionate and intellectually curious students currently in grades 8–11 with intensive study in a single online course. Courses will be offered in two sessions this summer. Each session runs for two weeks, with courses meeting Monday–Friday. Please note that students may only attend one course per summer.

Berkeley Business Academy for Youth – High School Entrepreneurship

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Great ideas are everywhere. Yet, great businesses built on top of great ideas are far more rare. B-BAY, a proven business program for youth, lets you experience the powerful combination of great ideas and great business sense by developing a business idea and creating your team’s business plan–all in just two weeks.

Every year, 50 high-school students from around the globe spend two weeks learning at B-BAY, where:

  • They immerse themselves in the culture, academics, and life at Berkeley

  • Berkeley Haas professors and corporate guest speakers share their insights and real-world experience

  • Classroom instruction is supplemented with independent research and computer lab assignments and team projects

  • Teams work together to create a comprehensive business plan

  • Teams present their business plans at the end of the session

You’ll meet a panel of undergrads from UC Berkeley and other universities who will talk about their college experience and answer questions. Admission advisors from Berkeley Haas and UC Berkeley Undergraduate Admissions will lead an interactive session to help you better understand the domestic and international college admission process and how to apply to CAL. You will also get a head start on how to approach and write your UC personal statement and college application essay.

Other activities include  a campus tour, a scavenger hunt, karaoke night and more.

Yale Young Global Scholars: Politics, Law, and Economics (2024 app closed. 2025 app OPENS Sept 2024)

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Politics, Law, & Economics (PLE) is a session aimed at students with an interest in understanding diverse economic theories, the values and practices of government, and legal frameworks in historical and comparative perspectives. Students learn key ideas in topics such as public policy, human rights, market regulation, governance structures, international policy, and conflict and cooperation across borders.

The session builds students’ critical thinking and analytical skills, enabling them to examine social systems and present-day issues through the lenses of economic, legal, and political theory. During PLE, students draw extensively on interdisciplinary approaches to build their expertise and increase their exposure to a wide array of topics within the session theme, preparing them to be more informed and engaged global citizens.

George Washington University Summer Immersion Programs: global Business perspectives

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High school students in the Pre-College Program spend a summer in Washington, D.C., taking advantage of GW's expertise in global development, international relations, public policy and administration, politics, diplomacy, history, biomedical engineering, museum studies and the arts. Top-tier faculty and scholar practioners guide, inspire and empower students through immersive programs that connect academic experience with real-world practice. Our summer programs are intensive and exciting, allowing students to experience the academic rigors of learning in a college environment. They are academically-challenging courses that integrate lectures and seminars with exploration of area organizations.

Pre-College also offers a transformative introduction to college life. Students develop confidence in their ability to become part of a new community, participating in recreational and social activities while making friends with peers from around the world. 

International Business: In an increasingly mobile world, major companies are growing globally. Business decisions and processes are influenced by global policies and regulations. This course aims to demonstrate the complexities of building a multinational organization and focuses on the challenges of cross-border commerce by competing interests in international policies and trade agreements. The course will also highlight visits to global business organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Entrepreneurship: Being situated in Washington D.C., students are in the heart of the nation’s capital, where the worlds of politics, business, and technology converge and new, innovative ideas are being brought to life. In this course, students will explore topics such as technology innovations, social entrepreneurship and leading the business development process as they formulate an idea and pitch it to prospective investors.

Wharton - Leadership in the Business World

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Designed to provide students with a glimpse of Wharton’s undergraduate curriculum, LBW offers opportunities to learn about leadership in 21st century organizations through a dynamic and rigorous mix of classes with Wharton professors and business leaders, real-time business simulations, and team-building activities.

Each summer, LBW students:

  • Attend lectures and presentations from outstanding Wharton faculty and guest speakers

  • Participate in classroom discussions about core business subjects, including research-based theories of leadership and teamwork

  • Practically apply real-world business practices through Wharton Interactive’s digital simulations and case competitions

  • Conduct research on business enterprises and speak with successful leaders across the industries of finance, entrepreneurship, entertainment, real estate, retail, and more

USC Summer Classes

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USC Summer Programs extends a tradition of excellence to outstanding high school students through a diverse offering of four-week summer courses. As a “Summer Trojan,” you will balance academic and campus life as you prepare for college — and earn college credit. USC Summer Programs’ courses are taught by USC faculty and experienced professionals of the USC academic community. Our faculty create an engaging academic experience by combining lectures, hands-on workshops and labs, and guest speakers. Each course is designed to be more interactive, engaging and challenging than accelerated high school classes or the broad introductory courses offered by other summer pre-collegiate programs.

Exploring Entrepreneurship: Have you ever thought about starting your own business? Do you think you have an entrepreneurial mind? In the “Exploring Entrepreneurship” course, you will be immersed in the real world of establishing and building a company. The course blends business theory and the practice of being an entrepreneur.

Introduction to Business: The “Introduction to Business” course provides you with insights on how businesses are managed. A great variety of factors determine a company’s success, including marketing, operations, finance, and leadership, to name a few. This course will give you the basics for understanding how these different divisions work independently as well as rely on each other for a company to prosper. A closer look at selected industries — such as entertainment, sports, and real estate — will provide a deeper understanding of the interplay and influences of these business areas. Students have an opportunity to learn how consumer and economic trends influence how these industries operate and, on the flip side, how these industries can drive consumer interests and economies. The course also offers insights into entrepreneurship — from sole proprietorship examples to exploring niche markets — and much more. The importance of sustainability, creativity and innovation, ethics and corporate social responsibility, and doing business in a diverse world with a diverse workforce will also be discussed.

Analytics: The Power of Data for Businesses: How does TikTok know what videos to serve you? How is Tesla getting cars to drive themselves? How does Amazon deliver your order the next day? It all comes down to data analysis. In “Analytics: The Power of Data for Businesses” course, you will learn the fundamental techniques businesses use to answer these questions and get hands-on experience manipulating data yourself. You will learn how to organize and clean data so it is ready for analysis. Then, once cleaned, you will learn how to visualize it and draw insights from those visualizations. You will learn algorithms that businesses use to classify and cluster data to predict future behavior and identify target markets. And maybe most importantly, you will gain a data analyst’s eye, keen to find opportunities to apply these algorithms to the world around you.

Building Sustainable Businesses: The Challenge of a Generation: Countering global warming and other environmental damage may very well take major changes to key parts of the global economy. Innovators find opportunity in times of change, and many are stepping up to innovate the ways we generate and distribute energy; grow and process our food; move around in our communities and travel over long distances; build our homes; design and manufacture everyday consumer products; and more….We can’t avoid the headlines about intense storms, rampant floods, failed crops and climate refugees. But in this course, we will look at the opportunities that we have to revolutionize our economy and change the relationship between humans and the Earth.

Columbia University NYU residential summer

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For a truly immersive college experience, students who will be 16 years of age or older at the program’s start are eligible to reside on our Morningside Campus: a serene academic community where they will always be mere steps away from classrooms, libraries, amenities—and New York City.

Courses:

  • Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Social Justice

  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation: Changing the World via Venture Creation

  • Game Theory: A Course in Mathematical Economics

  • Globalization: Challenges in International Economics & Politics

  • Introduction to Business, Finance, and Economics

  • Investment Portfolio Management

Classes meet twice daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, separated by a 2-hr midday break. All residential students are welcome to join the various activities, outings, and workshops available throughout the day, as well as weekly special events Friday and Saturday. 

Brown – Pre-College Programs

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With so many students from different locations, backgrounds and interests, studying at Summer@Brown you'll join a community of peers who bring broad and deep perspectives to living and learning together. 

Outside of class, you’ll participate in workshops, activities and events—scheduled from morning to night—that inform, engage and entertain. Along the way, you’ll make new friends from around the world and learn to live independently and responsibly: skills that will prepare you well for life in college and long after. 

Summer@Brown provides the opportunity to embrace the challenge of college-level academics without the pressure of formal grades and credit, in classes taught by instructors just as interested in your learning as you are, alongside students just as engaged as you.

Also see Summer@Brown Online.

Georgetown University Summer Immersion Programs: Economics Policy academy

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Georgetown's Economics Policy Academy provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the complex role played by states and other governing entities in relation to markets, through the lens of both economics and political science. You will study theoretical concepts from both fields and practice applying them to real-world problems—both in the U.S. and abroad—to assess the situations and evaluate policy solutions. By the end of the program, you will have a deeper understanding of not only the key philosophical and theoretical concepts behind an economic policy which affect all facets of our life, such as price interventions and regulations, but also the main issues the U.S. economy faces today.

More programs below:

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FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Berkeley Business Academy for Youth – Middle School Entrepreneurship

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It’s time to leave your lemonade stand and cookie-selling days behind. B-BAY is a business academy where you’ll learn what it really means to be an entrepreneur by creating, running, and closing down your own business–all in just two weeks.

This hands-on approach to learning–guided by experienced professors, mentors, and real entrepreneurs–introduces students to business fundamentals such as finance, marketing, and accounting. You will learn about entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. At the same time, you will develop leadership and teamwork skills that will serve you well in life.

Every year, middle school students from around the globe spend two weeks in the B-BAY program where:

  • Corporate guest speakers share their insights and real-world experience.

  • Class sessions are taught by professors, PhD candidates, and undergraduate students at Berkeley Haas.

  • Students work individually and in teams on classroom projects

Like any good summer program you’ll also get a personalized, guided tour of the UC Berkeley campus.

Middle school students who participate in B-BAY 

  • Build confidence and learn about your strengths through teamwork.

  • Learn business fundamentals and vocabulary.

  • Create a business and learn what it takes to survive against competition.

  • Learn to use computer software essential to business.

  • Develop communication skills as you present what you have learned.

  • Have fun!

Camp BizSmart – Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs

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At Camp BizSmart, aspiring young entrepreneurs acquire essential skills needed to be successful in school, at home and in a future career, by solving actual business problems from the CEO’s of hot Silicon Valley companies. Over 10-days, students work in teams and are mentored by industry experts. On day 10, students present and defend their solutions before a panel of venture capital and angel investors.