Fellowships & Grants for Ambitious Teens: 16 Verified Programs
Fellowship listicles age terribly: famous programs shut down and keep getting listed for years, and award amounts change while old blog posts circulate the stale numbers. We verified all 16 programs below against their official sites in July 2026 and re-checked every deadline in late September, including two catches most lists have missed: the Thiel Fellowship is now $250,000 (not the widely quoted $100k) and Davidson’s top award is now $100,000. And two famous programs teens still ask about are confirmed dead. They’re at the bottom so nobody wastes an application season on them.
At a glance: status and next deadline
| Program | Status | Who can apply |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Trivial Fellowship | Apply by Dec 15 (priority) | Ages 14–20, not yet started university |
| MIT PRIMES / PRIMES-USA | Open now · due Nov 2 | High school sophomores and juniors (homeschoolers included) living in the US |
| Research Science Institute (RSI) | 2027 dates TBA | High school juniors only (seniors ineligible) |
| SPARC | Apply spring 2027 | Talented high schoolers (exact age bounds not published) |
| ESPR | Next cycle: 2027 | Ages 16–19, mathematically talented |
| Rise (Rise for the World) | Annual · check ~Jan | Ages 15–17 at the cycle cutoff |
| Davidson Fellows | Opens fall 2026 (not yet open) | 18 or under |
| Regeneron Science Talent Search | Open now · due Nov 5 | US high school seniors with original research |
| Breakthrough Junior Challenge | Closed · next cycle TBA | High school students, global (historically ages 13–18) |
| Masason Foundation | Annual · check Jan | Roughly ages 8 through early 20s, any nationality, with an exceptional-talent bar (recent cohorts select ~25–35 people) |
| Emergent Ventures | Rolling · open | Minimum age 13, explicitly teen-friendly |
| Z Fellows | Rolling · open | Technical builders of all ages, explicitly including high schoolers |
| O'Shaughnessy Fellowships & Grants | Next cycle: ~Jan 2027 | Open worldwide, any age or background |
| Thiel Fellowship | Rolling · open | 22 or younger, no degree, and you must actually leave or skip college if selected |
| Interact Fellowship | Opening soon | Ages 18–23, only the top of this page's age range |
| Hack Club | Always open | Teens 13–18, worldwide |
Green = open now or rolling · Amber = closed or between cycles. Full details per program below.
Research fellowships & mentorship
Non-Trivial Fellowship
Non-Trivial (UK nonprofit)
- Who can apply: Ages 14–20, not yet started university; worldwide
- What you get: Free tiered online research fellowship (Foundations → Fellows → Scholars): mentorship, project grants, and scholarship prizes up to $10,000. Topics span AI safety, biosecurity, and policy.
- Timing: Next cycle posted: priority deadline December 15, 2026; final deadline January 4, 2027
Apply by Dec 15 (priority)
The strongest fit on this page for an AI-minded teen who wants to do real research rather than another extracurricular. Completely free (donations voluntary).
MIT PRIMES / PRIMES-USA
MIT Mathematics Department
- Who can apply: High school sophomores and juniors (homeschoolers included) living in the US; Boston-area students are mentored in person, others remotely. Math and bioinformatics only: PRIMES closed its computer science section to new applicants in 2025
- What you get: A free year-long research mentorship with MIT researchers, ending in a real paper.
- Timing: PRIMES 2027 applications open now. Deadline November 2, 2026 (11:59 pm EST)
Open now · due Nov 2
Research Science Institute (RSI)
Center for Excellence in Education + MIT
- Who can apply: High school juniors only (seniors ineligible); international students included. 100 students per summer
- What you get: A cost-free 6-week summer research program at MIT: one week of STEM coursework, five weeks of mentored research, and a conference-style paper and talk.
- Timing: RSI 2026 closed; 2027 dates not yet posted at our September check (historically a December deadline for US applicants)
2027 dates TBA
Arguably the most prestigious line on this page, and genuinely free.
SPARC
SPARC Inc. (nonprofit)
- Who can apply: Talented high schoolers (exact age bounds not published)
- What you get: A free ~10-day summer camp in California: applied rationality, causal modeling, cognitive science, and programming labs.
- Timing: 2026 session runs July 22–Aug 1; apply in spring for 2027
Apply spring 2027
ESPR
FABRIC team
- Who can apply: Ages 16–19, mathematically talented; Europe-oriented but takes international applicants
- What you get: A free camp (tuition, room, board; travel scholarships available) in the UK, covering game theory, cryptography, logic, and AI evaluation.
- Timing: 2026 admissions closed (camp runs July 26–Aug 5); annual cycle
Next cycle: 2027
Major scholarships & prizes
Rise (Rise for the World)
Schmidt Futures + Rhodes Trust initiative
- Who can apply: Ages 15–17 at the cycle cutoff; worldwide
- What you get: A lifetime fellowship: a four-year post-secondary scholarship (tuition + living stipend), a funded residential summit, technology package, and grant access.
- Timing: Annual cycle; recent cycles closed mid-to-late January. The exact 2027-cohort deadline wasn't posted at our check
Annual · check ~Jan
Davidson Fellows
Davidson Institute
- Who can apply: 18 or under; US citizens/permanent residents; requires an already-completed significant piece of work
- What you get: $100,000, $50,000, and $25,000 scholarships (amounts were raised recently, though old blogs still say $50k top). A serious AI project can enter under Technology or Outside the Box.
- Timing: 2026 closed; 2027 application opens fall 2026
Opens fall 2026 (not yet open)
Regeneron Science Talent Search
Society for Science
- Who can apply: US high school seniors with original research
- What you get: $3.1M awarded per year: 300 Scholars, 40 Finalists, top award $250,000.
- Timing: 2027 cycle open now. Deadline November 5, 2026
Open now · due Nov 5
Check the fine print on citizenship/school eligibility on their site; that page was unreachable during our verification.
Breakthrough Junior Challenge
Breakthrough Prize Foundation
- Who can apply: High school students, global (historically ages 13–18)
- What you get: A $250,000 scholarship, plus a $100,000 science lab for your school and $50,000 for your teacher, all for a short science-explainer video.
- Timing: 2026 challenge closed September 15, 2026. The next challenge has not been announced yet
Closed · next cycle TBA
The lowest barrier to entry on this page: it's a video, not a research paper. An AI-topic explainer is a natural angle.
Masason Foundation
Masayoshi Son (SoftBank)
- Who can apply: Roughly ages 8 through early 20s, any nationality, with an exceptional-talent bar (recent cohorts select ~25–35 people)
- What you get: Scholarship funding, research support, facilities, and a network, with support continuing for years and no repayment.
- Timing: Annual generations; the 2026 window opened in January
Annual · check Jan
Builder grants & founder programs
Emergent Ventures
Tyler Cowen / Mercatus Center (GMU)
- Who can apply: Minimum age 13, explicitly teen-friendly; worldwide, with dedicated India/Africa/Caribbean/Ukraine tracks
- What you get: Non-dilutive grants for "zero to one" ideas, sized case-by-case (the official site publishes no range). A long history of funding teenagers and AI projects.
- Timing: Rolling. Apply any time
Rolling · open
For a 14-year-old with a genuinely original project, this is the most realistic first grant on the page.
Z Fellows
Cory Levy + a Silicon Valley mentor network
- Who can apply: Technical builders of all ages, explicitly including high schoolers; anywhere
- What you get: A free one-week program (mostly virtual) plus an optional $10,000 investment and ongoing mentorship. You can do the program without taking the money.
- Timing: Rolling; small cohorts (~10) run several times a year
Rolling · open
O'Shaughnessy Fellowships & Grants
O'Shaughnessy Ventures
- Who can apply: Open worldwide, any age or background. Their youngest recent applicant was 13
- What you get: $100,000 equity-free for a year (10 Fellows) plus $10,000+ grants (up to ~20 recipients) for builders, researchers, and creatives, including AI projects.
- Timing: 2026 window closed April 30; the next cycle typically opens around January
Next cycle: ~Jan 2027
Thiel Fellowship
Thiel Foundation
- Who can apply: 22 or younger, no degree, and you must actually leave or skip college if selected; worldwide
- What you get: $250,000 over two years (recently raised, though older articles still say $100k) plus the founder/investor network. No equity taken.
- Timing: Rolling. Apply any time
Rolling · open
The famous one, but note what it actually requires: dropping out. For most teens it's a thing to know exists, not a plan.
Interact Fellowship
Interact (alumni-run nonprofit)
- Who can apply: Ages 18–23, only the top of this page's age range
- What you get: Fully sponsored retreats twice a year, a seminar, project grants, and a strong lifelong community of young technologists. Free.
- Timing: 2026 applications forthcoming. Signup list open now
Opening soon
Hack Club
Hack Club (teen-led nonprofit)
- Who can apply: Teens 13–18, worldwide
- What you get: Not one fellowship but the most accessible funding-adjacent ecosystem for teens: recurring "you ship a project, we ship you hardware/grants" programs, plus fiscal sponsorship and banking for teen-led organizations.
- Timing: Always on. Individual programs have their own dates.
Always open
The strongest pure fit for an AI-coding teen who wants to start earning support for shipped work this month, not next application season.
Shut down or unverifiable: don’t waste an application on these
- Atlas Fellowship: confirmed shut down. The official site carries the founders’ notice that no future programs will run.
- Pioneer: confirmed wound down. Their site states they stopped making new investments in 2024.
- 776 Foundation Fellowship: status unverifiable. The site is up but exposes no program details, and we found no cohort announcement since 2025. Treat with caution.
- Neo Scholars: active, but college-only (current US undergraduates), so it doesn’t belong on a teen list.
How we verified this, and what we couldn’t
Every program’s eligibility, award, and timing was read from its official site on July 20, 2026, and every deadline was re-checked on September 28, 2026. Things we deliberately don’t state because they aren’t official: Emergent Ventures’ grant amounts (the site publishes no range), Rise’s exact 2027 deadline (not posted; recent cycles closed in January), and Regeneron’s citizenship fine print (their eligibility page was down; check it directly). Programs’ cycles change every year, so always confirm on the official page before planning an application around a date here.