This page covers research opportunities, science competitions, HOSA® chapters, and health-related extracurricular activities for Massachusetts high school students.
Summer Research Programs
Massachusetts offers more high school summer research opportunities than virtually any other state in the country, reflecting its unmatched concentration of research universities and medical centers.
MIT MITES and OEOP Programs: MIT’s Office of Engineering Outreach Programs operates several pipeline programs for high school students, including MITES Semester (a year-long virtual program for juniors) and MITES Summer (a residential summer program). While engineering-focused, many projects have biomedical applications, and the programs are specifically designed for students from underrepresented backgrounds. These programs are highly competitive and provide generous stipends, on-campus housing, travel reimbursement, and full academic support. Visit oeop.mit.edu.
Harvard SHURP and Outreach Programs: Harvard Medical School’s Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Program (SHURP) is primarily for undergraduates, but Harvard’s broader outreach includes opportunities for high school students through the Harvard Catalyst program, the Broad Institute’s educational outreach, and individual lab placements facilitated by teacher recommendations and personal connections. Visit hms.harvard.edu and broadinstitute.org.
Boston University RISE Program: BU’s Research in Science and Engineering (RISE) program is a six-week summer program that places high school students in university research labs. Projects span biology, chemistry, engineering, and biomedical sciences. The program includes a stipend and provides structured mentorship alongside hands-on research experience. Visit bu.edu/summer/high-school-programs.
Tufts University: Tufts offers pre-college summer programs that include science and health courses, and individual faculty members at Tufts and its medical school may accept high school research students. Contact faculty directly or through Tufts outreach offices. Visit tufts.edu.
UMass Campus Programs: UMass Amherst, UMass Lowell, UMass Boston, and UMass Dartmouth offer summer STEM programs and may have research opportunities for local high school students through departmental outreach, teacher connections, and formal programs. These programs are typically less competitive than Harvard and MIT offerings and provide excellent mentorship.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dana-Farber’s education programs may include research exposure for high school students, particularly through its community outreach and diversity initiatives. Contact Dana-Farber’s Office of Faculty Development and Diversity or visit dana-farber.org.
Independent Research: If formal programs are not accessible, conduct independent research under a teacher’s guidance. Public health data analysis using Massachusetts DPH data, literature reviews, or small experimental studies can all produce meaningful work for science fair submission and application enrichment.
Science Competitions
Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair (MSSEF): The state science fair for high school students, serving as a qualifying event for ISEF. Health science, biomedical, and behavioral science projects are well-represented. Regional fairs across the state feed into MSSEF. Talk to your science department about entry procedures and deadlines. Visit scifair.com.
Regeneron Science Talent Search: The most prestigious pre-college science competition in the country, based on original independent research. Massachusetts consistently produces a high number of scholars and finalists. Visit societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts. Science Olympiad: Massachusetts has strong Science Olympiad participation with health-related events including Anatomy and Physiology, Disease Detectives, and Forensics. Visit scioly.org. USABO and USNCO: National Biology and Chemistry Olympiads for students seeking deep content mastery beyond the AP® level.
HOSA® and Health Science Clubs
HOSA® (Future Health Professionals) has chapters at Massachusetts high schools. Massachusetts HOSA® sends qualifying students to the international competition. Competitive events cover medical terminology, health career exploration, biomedical debate, CPR/first aid, epidemiology, and more. If your school has a chapter, join early. If not, charter one with a faculty advisor. See our CTE and HOSA® page.
Beyond HOSA®, consider pre-med or health careers clubs, Red Cross Clubs, Science Olympiad teams, debate teams (health policy and bioethics topics), and service organizations with health-focused projects. The key is sustained involvement with increasing leadership over time, not a long list of superficial memberships. See our Extracurriculars for Medicine page.
Making the Most of Massachusetts’s Resources
Massachusetts offers so many opportunities that the challenge for high school students is not finding activities but choosing wisely among them. Focus on depth rather than breadth. A student who works in a single BU research lab for two years, volunteers consistently at Boston Medical Center, and serves as president of their school’s HOSA® chapter has a stronger profile than a student who briefly participated in a dozen programs. The relationships you build through sustained engagement produce stronger letters of recommendation, deeper learning, and more compelling application narratives than scattered, short-term involvement ever can. Use Massachusetts’s extraordinary resources strategically, choosing the activities that genuinely align with your interests and committing to them with consistency and purpose.
Mentorship and Long-Term Research Relationships
The most valuable research experiences develop over time. If you secure a summer position at a Boston-area lab, ask your mentor whether you can continue during the school year on a part-time basis (a few hours per week after school or on weekends). Massachusetts’s MBTA transit system makes it feasible for Boston-area students to commute to university labs throughout the school year. Long-term research involvement allows you to take on greater responsibility, contribute more meaningfully to projects, and potentially earn co-authorship on publications. It also produces stronger letters of recommendation, since your mentor can speak to your growth over an extended period rather than just a brief summer.
Students outside the Boston metro area should explore research opportunities at nearby UMass campuses, community colleges with faculty research programs, and regional organizations. UMass Amherst, UMass Lowell, and UMass Dartmouth all have faculty conducting funded research who occasionally accept motivated high school students. Ask your AP® science teachers about connections to local researchers; teachers in Massachusetts frequently maintain professional relationships with university faculty and can facilitate introductions that open doors to research experiences. Community colleges with active science departments (Middlesex, Bristol, Massasoit, Berkshire, and others) may also have faculty conducting research who welcome motivated high school students as research assistants, particularly in biology, chemistry, and environmental science.
Building a Cohesive Extracurricular Profile
Massachusetts offers so many extracurricular options that the temptation is to do a little of everything. Resist this temptation. Medical schools and competitive colleges want to see depth, not breadth. Choose 3 to 5 activities that you pursue consistently throughout high school: at least one clinical experience (hospital volunteering, EMT when eligible), one research or academic competition (summer research, science fair, Science Olympiad, HOSA®), and one community service commitment. Within each activity, seek increasing responsibility and leadership over time. A student who begins as a hospital volunteer freshman year, becomes a shift leader by junior year, and trains new volunteers as a senior tells a more compelling story than a student who visited ten different hospitals once each.
Document every activity with dates, hours, responsibilities, and brief reflections on what you learned. These records will form the core of your college activity list and, eventually, your medical school application. Massachusetts’s competitive academic environment means that many of your peers will also have strong extracurricular profiles, so the quality, depth, narrative coherence, and genuine meaning of your activities matter significantly more than their total quantity or variety.
References
MIT OEOP. “Programs.” MIT, 2025. https://oeop.mit.edu/. Accessed March 2026.
BU. “RISE Program.” BU, 2025. https://www.bu.edu/. Accessed March 2026.
Society for Science. “Regeneron STS.” 2025. https://www.societyforscience.org/. Accessed March 2026.
HOSA. “About HOSA.” HOSA, 2025. https://hosa.org/. Accessed March 2026.