Research vs. Pre-College vs. Enrichment Programs: What's the Difference?

Summer-program terminology can be confusing because these categories often overlap.

Pre-college programs

Usually hosted by universities and designed to give high-school students an academic and/or residential college experience.

Students may take classes, live in dorms, participate in campus activities, and sometimes earn college credit.

Programs range from open enrollment to highly selective.

Research programs

Students participate in research, either through an individual project or as part of an existing research group.

The strongest research experiences generally involve more than learning about research. Students formulate questions, analyze data, conduct experiments, write code, work in a lab, or otherwise contribute to the research process.

Some require substantial prior knowledge.

Enrichment programs

This is the broadest category.

These programs help students explore or deepen an interest, from creative writing and mathematics to marine biology, entrepreneurship, engineering, or theater.

They may be highly academic, project-based, recreational, or some combination.

The categories aren't rankings.

A research program isn't automatically "better" than an enrichment program, and a university pre-college program isn't automatically more rigorous.

Start with the experience the student wants, then find the program type that provides it.