If you’re a high school student looking to make the most of your summer while exploring new interests, summer camps in NYC can offer an exciting mix of academics, creativity, and adventure. These experiences give you the chance to dive deeper into subjects you enjoy, try something completely new, and learn in a more hands-on, engaging environment.

Imagine spending your summer in New York City, attending workshops, building projects, performing on stage, or exploring the city’s cultural landmarks. Picture learning filmmaking, developing coding skills, or participating in outdoor and team-based activities. These programmes combine skill-building with fun, creating a balanced and enriching experience.

How do you choose the right summer camps in NYC for high school students?

With so many options available, it’s important to look for camps that offer meaningful engagement rather than just general activities. Some camps focus on academic enrichment, while others emphasize creativity, performance, or outdoor experiences. 

Across NYC, summer camps can include workshops, group projects, performances, field trips, and collaborative challenges. You might design a game, shoot a short film, participate in a debate, or explore museums and cultural sites as part of your experience.

You’ll learn from experienced instructors, collaborate with peers, and develop essential skills such as creativity, communication, and teamwork. Along the way, you’ll gain confidence, build new interests, and create memories that go beyond the classroom.

To help you get started, we’ve curated a list of 15 Summer Camps in NYC for High School Students. They’ve been selected for their engaging activities, diverse offerings, and ability to provide meaningful and memorable summer experiences.

For adjacent opportunities, you can check out summer internships in NYC for high school students and research programs in NYC for high school students.

15 Summer Camps in NYC for High School Students

1. NYC Summer Academy

Location: The School of New York Times, New York City, NY
Cost: $6,195 (day) | $7,695 (residential); limited need-based scholarships available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 15–20 students
Dates: Multiple 2-week sessions (June 7th – July 31st)
Application Deadline: Rolling; priority till April 10th
Eligibility: Students aged 15-18 (rising grades 10-12 and graduating seniors); open to international students

This pre-college journalism camp places you directly into the process of reporting, writing, and producing stories in a fast-paced media environment. You’ll work on core skills like interviewing, research, editing, and narrative construction, while also exploring specialized tracks such as photojournalism, opinion writing, and multimedia storytelling.

The curriculum is built around how journalism actually functions, and you can expect to analyze current events, develop story pitches, and refine your work through feedback from professional journalists and editors. Beyond writing, you’ll engage with media ethics, editorial decision-making, and the role of storytelling across industries like business, culture, and politics.

Why it stands out: It blends hands-on reporting with direct exposure to industry professionals, allowing you to experience how journalism operates beyond the classroom while building a portfolio of published-style work.

2. Immerse Education’s New York Summer School

Location: Columbia University / Barnard College, New York City
Cost: Varies; summer school scholarship available through our bursary programme
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; small groups of around 7 participants per class
Dates: 2 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Students aged 15-18; open to international students

Among the more academically immersive summer camps in NYC, the Academic Insights Program lets high school students experience university life firsthand. You will live on campus and study in small groups of 7–10, learning from tutors from top universities like Oxford and Cambridge. Participants can explore over 20 subjects, including Architecture, AI, Business Management, Computer Science, Economics, Medicine, Philosophy, and more.

The courses are experiential and hands-on — you may find yourself conducting dissections in medicine, designing a robotic arm in engineering, participating in a moot court for law, or building creative writing portfolios and business case studies. By the end of the program, you’ll complete a personal project, receive written feedback, and a certificate of completion. You can find more details about the application here.

Why it stands out: You’ll study under expert academics, be guided daily by a university student mentor, complete a project you can show in future applications, and experience genuine university college life — with other campuses worldwide as alternatives.

3. Columbia Business School Youth About Business Summer Camp

Location: Columbia Business School, New York, NY
Cost: ~$2,799 – $3,000; scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; ~50 students per session
Dates: Northeast Session I: July 6-10; Global Session II: July 13-17
Application Deadline: May 31st
Eligibility: High school students (completed freshman year) through graduated seniors; ages 14-17; open to international students

At the Columbia Business School Youth About Business Summer Camp, you step directly into the world of corporate finance through an intense mergers and acquisitions simulation. You explore critical business topics like corporate strategy, law, marketing, company valuation, and finance. During the program, you take on C-suite executive roles, negotiate a complex mock business deal with peers, and pitch your finalized transaction to a panel of executive judges.

A uniquely practical feature of this camp is that actual investment bankers, attorneys, and accountants directly mentor your team throughout the process. By the end, you will have built skills such as critical thinking, confident communication, advanced negotiation, and teamwork.

Why it stands out: It challenges high schoolers to tackle sophisticated corporate consolidations rather than basic startup concepts, providing unparalleled, hands-on exposure to executive-level finance.

4. Pratt STEAM Lab Summer Camp

Location: Pratt Institute Research Yard, Brooklyn, NY
Cost: $50/wk
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 280 students annually
Dates: typically six one-week sessions between July 6th – August 14th
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: All high school students who are NY state residents and U.S. citizens or permanent residents; not open to international students

Pratt STEAM Lab is one of the most hands-on summer camps in NYC, giving you the chance to explore diverse weekly topics spanning Animation, Sports Science, Woodworking, Glam Lab, Nature’s Toolbox, and Architecture on Wheels. Throughout the program, you get to engage in exciting activities like designing your own animated character, making paper from scratch, creating biomaterial keychains, and building a custom architectural bike cart.

Along the way, you develop hands-on maker skills, learn world-building concepts, and how to apply technology creatively. Guided by working professionals at Pratt’s state-of-the-art Research Yard, you benefit from a unique learning environment that gives preference to underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students.

Why it stands out: It ensures that high-quality STEAM education remains accessible to all youth regardless of their financial background.

5. NYU’s Computer Science for Cyber Security (CS4CS)

Location: New York University
Cost: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 45-50 students
Dates: July 13th – August 7th
Application Deadline: May 15th
Eligibility: High school students currently in 10th or 11th grade from New Jersey and Nassau County; not open to international students

This three-week summer program introduces you to the foundations of cybersecurity and computer science in a structured, beginner-friendly environment. You explore how digital systems are built and secured while learning core concepts in programming, problem-solving, and computational thinking. The curriculum is designed to be hands-on, helping you understand how engineers approach real-world security challenges and identify and address vulnerabilities.

Beyond technical learning, the program emphasizes inclusion in STEM, aiming to support students who have historically had fewer opportunities in fields like computer science and engineering. By the end, you gain both foundational technical exposure and a clearer sense of whether cybersecurity or CS could be a future academic direction.

Why it stands out: It combines early-stage cybersecurity training with an inclusive, access-focused environment that supports underrepresented students in STEM.

6. Seidenberg Summer Game Development Program

Location: New York City Campus, NY
Cost: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; small cohort sizes
Dates: July 13-17
Application Deadline: May 1st
Eligibility: High school students entering 12th grade (Rising seniors); open to international students

Among the more tech-focused summer camps in NYC, the Seidenberg Summer Scholars program lets you dive into the world of game development and mobile hacking. Throughout the experience, you explore core topics like computer programming, game interactivity, and user experience design.

You will engage in hands-on activities such as building playable video games, participating in an intensive team hackathon, developing a mobile application for a real-world cause, and taking guided tours of local tech companies. By collaborating closely with peers on these projects, you learn essential professional skills, including ideation, coding, project execution, and public presentation.

Why it stands out: It blends rigorous, project-based programming instruction with exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to New York City’s top tech headquarters and startups.

7. New York Film Academy Teen Summer Camps

Location: New York Film Academy, NY
Cost: 1-Week: $1,325 – $1,725; 3-Weeks: $3,725 – $4,525; 6-Weeks: $6,225 – $7,325; Online: $825 (1-week) to $2,025 (3-weeks); $25-$75 application fee and housing fees (~$1,900+) are additional; discounts are available for SAG-AFTRA members (15%), Military dependents (10%), and siblings (10%)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approx. 12-16 students per cohort
Dates: Multiple Sessions: Primarily running from June 21st – August 8th; specific start dates vary by location and program length (1, 3, or 6 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions (year-round admissions)
Eligibility: Students aged 14-17; open to international students

NYFA Teen Summer Camps are hands-on training programs where you explore film, media, acting, and other creative disciplines through practical, project-based learning. You spend most of your time actively creating, whether that means filming scenes, acting on camera, writing scripts, designing game concepts, or producing short documentaries.

The programs are led by working industry professionals who guide you through the technical and creative process, helping you understand how ideas move from concept to final production. Along the way, you also build transferable skills like collaboration, communication, and creative problem-solving, which are essential across any artistic or media-related field.

Why it stands out: It offers industry-style creative training in NYC, where you build real media projects under professional mentorship while developing a strong creative portfolio.

8. School of Creative and Performing Arts (SOCAPA) Summer Camps

Location: New York City
Cost: Varies by program length and campus; residential options available; scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; typically 10-18 students per discipline
Dates: Summer (2-week and 3-week intensive sessions) between June 14th – August 8th
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions until programs fill
Eligibility: High school students (ages 14-18); open to international students

SOCAPA is a hands-on creative summer camp where you train in filmmaking, acting, photography, music, dance, or musical theater through intensive, project-based work. You spend your time writing and shooting films, performing scenes, producing music, building photo portfolios, and collaborating with other young artists in a studio-style environment. Each track is taught through practice-driven workshops where you learn both technical skills and creative decision-making by working on real projects from start to finish.

You also regularly share work, receive feedback, and refine your projects through guided critique and collaboration. The environment is designed to simulate a pre-college creative setting where you take responsibility for your schedule, your projects, and your growth as an artist.

Why it stands out: It combines serious, project-based creative training with an immersive summer camp experience across multiple artistic disciplines.

9. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Summer Camp – Teen Camp Conservation Innovators

Location: Bronx Zoo (WCS), Bronx, NY
Cost: $1,350 (Regular/Non-Members); $1,215 (WCS Members); scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; ~15 to 25 campers per session
Dates: July 27th – August 7th
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students entering 9th or 10th grade in fall; open to international students

At the WCS Teen Camp Conservation Innovators, you spend two weeks putting your passion for animals into action to protect vulnerable species. You tackle topics like habitat preservation, the severe impacts of climate change, and the application of nature-based solutions. Throughout the program, you participate in close-up animal encounters, converse directly with working conservation professionals, design creative fixes for environmental problems, and practice acting as a wildlife advocate.

The program features the advantage of using the Bronx Zoo as your daily classroom, giving you exclusive access to world-class facilities and global experts. Ultimately, you walk away having built practical skills in scientific problem-solving, innovative design, and environmental advocacy.

Why it stands out: It empowers students to move beyond standard biology lessons by networking directly with real-life WCS scientists to tackle urgent, real-world extinction and climate crises.

10. Broadway Artists Alliance Camps

Location: Midtown Manhattan, New York City, NY
Cost: Varies by program format; application fee $25 ($5 returning Star Members); scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; approximately 12-14 students per cohort
Dates: Session 1: July 8-12; Session 2: July 21-25; Session 3: July 27-31; Session 4: July 27th – August 2nd
Application Deadline: Full Consideration: March 12th; Latecomers: April 4th (reviewed only if space remains; most 2026 sessions are currently on a waitlist basis)
Eligibility: Students aged 10-21; open to international students

Broadway Artists Alliance shows how summer camps in NYC can also function as serious pre-professional training, offering a professional-level musical theatre programme where you study voice, acting, and dance through intensive workshops and performance-based classes led by Broadway professionals. You train in audition-based cohorts alongside other serious young performers, working directly with Tony Award winners, casting directors, agents, choreographers, and working Broadway artists.

The focus is on developing “triple-threat” skills while also learning how the Broadway industry functions, from auditions and casting to performance and career preparation. Across summer intensives and workshops, you build technique through master classes, electives, and one-on-one feedback, culminating in showcases performed for industry guests in New York City.

Why it stands out: It functions like a Broadway audition pipeline where you train directly with industry professionals and perform in front of real casting and theatre decision-makers.

11. Parsons School of Design – Fashion Industry Essentials with Teen Vogue

Location: Online (developed by Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York City)
Cost: $999; limited scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; no fixed cohorts
Dates: Flexible, self-paced (typically completed within ~3-6 months)
Application Deadline: Rolling enrollment
Eligibility: High school students and adult learners; no formal prerequisites; open to international students

Parsons’ Fashion Industry Essentials program, developed in collaboration with Teen Vogue, introduces you to how the modern fashion industry operates across areas like marketing, media, styling, and retail. The curriculum is structured around industry-relevant modules and assignments, where you work on projects such as brand strategy, trend analysis, and content creation.

You learn directly from professionals working in fashion and media, gaining insight into real workflows and career pathways. The program is fully online and self-paced, allowing you to move through content while completing practical assignments. It focuses less on garment construction and more on the business, communication, and cultural side of fashion, making it useful if you are exploring roles beyond design.

Why it stands out: It offers a structured, industry-focused curriculum created with Teen Vogue, giving you direct exposure to how fashion careers operate beyond the design studio.

12. Summer High School Academic Program For Engineers (SHAPE)

Location: Columbia University, New York City, NY
Cost: Commuter: $6,241; Residential: $11,492; need-based scholarships are available for U.S. students
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 25 students per class
Dates: Session 1: July 6-24; Session 2: July 27th – August 14th
Application Deadline: March 2nd
Eligibility: Rising 10th through 12th graders plus recent high school graduates; you should be at least 16 to enroll as a residential student; open to international students 

SHAPE stands out among summer camps in NYC for high school students because it immerses you in rigorous, college-level STEM coursework right on Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus. You will dive deep into diverse engineering fields, choosing from focused topics like robotics, biomedical, electrical, chemical, sustainable, and healthcare engineering, alongside computer science, AI, and data analytics.

Throughout the three weeks, you get to tackle hands-on projects such as designing and coding an autonomous robotic car, constructing prototype biomedical devices, building functional solar ovens, and bringing digital models to life with 3D printers. You also participate in professional development workshops that teach public speaking and resume building, giving you a comprehensive preview of the true college engineering experience.

Why it stands out: It goes beyond standard high school academics by treating you like a real undergraduate, combining authentic, faculty-taught college courses with practical professional development in a world-class Ivy League research environment.

13. LIU Brooklyn Girls Ice Hockey Summer Camp

Location: Northwell Health Ice Center, East Meadow, NY
Cost: $500
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; cohort size not specified
Dates: August 25-27
Application Deadline: Rolling (Until filled)
Eligibility: School girls aged 10-16; open to international students

At the LIU Girls Ice Hockey Summer Camp, you experience firsthand what it takes to train at the collegiate level. You will cover essential topics ranging from fundamental stickhandling and skating to advanced angling, dekes, and faceoffs. Throughout the program, you will execute collegiate-style drills, compete in intense small-area games, and participate in live game play.

You receive direct, hands-on instruction from elite Division I staff, including an Olympian and former professional players. By the end, you learn important on-ice techniques, sharpen your in-game decision-making, and build advanced hockey IQ.

Why it stands out: It provides a rare opportunity to practice exactly like a Division I athlete while being mentored by world-class, championship-winning coaches.

14. Camp Broadway NYC

Location: New York City, NY
Cost: Mainstage: $1,695; Ensemble: $925; scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 100-120 students per session
Dates: Mainstage: July 13-17; Ensemble: April 25-27
Application Deadline: Rolling / until program fills
Eligibility: Students aged 10-17; open to international students

In this camp, you work in age-based ensembles to explore acting, singing, movement, and storytelling while learning how a stage production comes together from the inside. You rehearse scenes, develop performance skills, and collaborate with other young theatre enthusiasts under the guidance of Broadway professionals, including performers, directors, and choreographers.

Older students in the Mainstage track engage in more structured performance work and production processes, while younger participants in Shining Stars focus on creative expression and foundational theatre skills through group activities. Across all levels, the experience culminates in performance opportunities that simulate real Broadway environments.

Why it stands out: It is one of the longest-running Broadway youth programs in NYC, giving students direct exposure to professional theatre culture while learning performance skills in an authentic Broadway-style setting.

15. Urban Journalism Workshop – NYU

Location: New York University (NYU), East Village, New York City, NY
Cost: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly Selective; 20 students
Dates: July 12-18
Application Deadline: March 18th
Eligibility: High school students (minimum age 16); must live and attend school in the NYC metropolitan area (NY, NJ, CT); not open to international students

The Urban Journalism Workshop is a residential, hands-on journalism program where you train like a reporter in New York City. You learn directly from NYU faculty and working journalists while developing core skills in reporting, interviewing, writing, and multimedia storytelling. You actively produce stories, build news packages, and publish your work on the program’s platform, The Spectrum.

Throughout the week, you live in NYU dorms, explore the city as a reporting ground, and visit professional newsrooms to understand how real editorial teams operate. You also gain exposure to college admissions guidance and the broader media industry while working on stories that reflect real-world reporting practices.

Why it stands out: It places you inside a real newsroom-style workflow at NYU, where you report, write, and publish stories while living in New York City and learning directly from professional journalists.

Turn a New York Summer into Future Possibility

A summer in New York can feel like more than a break, especially when every day invites you to create, experiment, perform, and grow.

That is what makes summer camps in NYC so exciting, giving you room to explore new interests while building confidence, friendships, and practical skills.

Whether you are coding, filming, designing, performing, or solving real challenges, each experience helps you see how curiosity can turn into future direction.

Open our Career Exploration blogs to discover inspiring industries, fresh pathways, and smart next steps that can turn one unforgettable summer into bigger ambition for whatever comes next after.