Summer Springboard The Foreword Research Fellowship

Your mentor is a PhD researcher or industry expert from a network The Foreword says spans more than 150 fields, and every mentor goes through a credential review, a live interview, a background check and training before working with students. If your project needs expertise outside that network, The Foreword finds and vets someone new for you.

After you enroll, you fill in a short form about your interests, goals and schedule, and mentors whose expertise fits decide whether to take your project on, so the person you get has chosen to work with you. Most students are matched within one to two weeks. Former Summer Springboard students can ask for an instructor they had, and anyone can share preferences, but neither a particular person nor a mentor from a particular university is guaranteed.

You and your mentor each rate the match after the first session. The Foreword will rematch you as often as needed if your mentor's expertise doesn't fit your project, the first session goes badly, your mentor misses sessions or stops responding, or your schedules don't line up. It won't rematch you just to get a mentor from a particular university or with a more advanced degree.

Each session lasts about an hour and runs over Zoom inside your private Foreword workspace, which also lets you message your mentor, share files and work on documents between meetings. You can split a session into two 30-minute calls if that suits you better. You and your mentor set the pace, and The Foreword says most students meet every week or two during the school year and weekly in the summer, with short assignments to finish in between.

You have six months from enrollment to finish, which your mentor can extend by up to two months, and The Foreword recommends allowing at least ten weeks so you have time to work between sessions. The rules on individual sessions are strict. Assignments are due 24 hours before your next session, and a session canceled with less than 24 hours' notice, missed without notice or joined more than ten minutes late counts as used, although The Foreword will reinstate one missed session as a one-time courtesy.

All you need is a computer and a reliable internet connection. If your project calls for a lab or special equipment, you'll have to arrange access yourself.

You leave with a finished project of your own, built through three milestones: a defined research question, a working draft and the final piece. It can be original research using data you collect or public datasets, a literature review, or a creative or applied project such as a podcast, website, short film, business or nonprofit. Along the way, a second expert gives two rounds of written feedback on your drafts.

The work has to be your own. The Foreword doesn't accept AI-generated projects and may check what you submit with Turnitin. For safety and ethical reasons, it also can't support projects involving testing on vertebrate animals, hands-on work with bodily fluids, controlled substances, weapons or sexual content.

Finish all ten sessions and you also get a certificate of completion. Recommendation letters are only available to students who complete the full Fellowship, and whether to write one is up to your mentor. If your mentor can't, a PhD-qualified member of The Foreword's academic team can write one instead.

What it won't give you is college credit, since The Foreword isn't accredited, or a guaranteed publication. You get access to a database of research journals, science fairs and competitions, but those organizations make their own decisions. Projects that survey or measure people usually need Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval before they can be published or entered, and your mentor helps you work out whether yours does.

The Fellowship is designed for students in grades 9 to 12 who are at least 13, and anyone under 18 needs a parent's or guardian's permission. If you're outside that grade range, The Foreword asks you to check with its admissions team. Students from any country can join, with sessions scheduled around time zones.

There's no minimum GPA, required coursework or recommendation letter, and you don't need previous research experience or a finished research question. Some projects do need skills you bring yourself. Advanced computer science work, for example, requires enough coding experience to write and debug code on your own between sessions. The Foreword has no fixed acceptance rate and decides on fit and timing, and if you aren't accepted, you can reapply after six months.

If you're adding the Fellowship to a Summer Springboard campus course, that course has its own admission rules, including a 3.0 GPA.

The Fellowship costs $3,398 for 10 sessions, or $2,498 if you're a Summer Springboard or Global Leadership Adventures alum, a direct family member of one, or enrolled in one of their programs in the same year, which covers students adding it to a Summer Springboard course. The lower rate is applied with a code when you enroll, and the Summer Springboard course itself is a separate cost.

Need-based aid of up to $1,500 is available on the standard price, judged on household income with proof of income, but it can't be combined with the $2,498 rate. A family receiving the full award would pay about $1,898 ($3,398 minus $1,500). Paying by credit card adds a 2.75% fee, which you avoid with an eCheck or mailed check, and a returned payment costs $25. Payment plans are offered only on a limited basis, on request.

Cancel before your first session and you get the full tuition back. After that, The Foreword refunds unused sessions as long as you've completed no more than five, and after five there's no refund. Refunds must be requested within 12 months of paying, after which leftover sessions become credit toward a future Foreword program. Card processing fees aren't refunded, and neither is tuition when a journal or competition turns your work down or you don't finish within the program window. Separately, if you're unhappy with your mentor after the first session, The Foreword will either rematch you or refund you in full.

Applications go through the Summer Springboard application portal and are accepted year-round on a rolling basis, so there's no deadline, although applying early gives you the widest choice of mentors.

1. 1

   Apply through the portal, choose The Foreword Research Fellowship and pay tuition, which is refunded if you aren't accepted.

2. 2

   Have a consultation call with an admissions team member, with a parent or guardian joining, to talk through your interests and goals.

3. 3

   If the Fellowship is a good fit, you're accepted and enrolled.

4. 4

   Create your account and fill in a short form about your interests, goals and availability.

5. 5

   Get matched with a mentor, usually within one to two weeks of submitting the form.

6. 6

   Meet your mentor for your first session, or start up to three months later if you ask for a deferral when you apply.