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31 Research Opportunities + Internships for High Schoolers in 2024

What’s covered:.

• Research Opportunities and Internships for High School Students
• How to Find Research Opportunities in High School
• How Will Doing Research Impact Your College Chances?

Research drives innovation across every field of study, from natural sciences to health to history. Pursuing curiosity can impact industries, drive policy, and help us to better understand the world around us. Without curiosity and research, our society would surely stagnate. 

Contrary to popular belief, however, you don’t have to be a seasoned professional to conduct meaningful research. There are plenty of opportunities for high school students to get a head start on their future careers and contribute to substantial change. Keep reading to learn about 30 great opportunities for students looking for early chances to conduct research! 

Research Opportunities and Internships for High School Students 

1. memorial sloan kettering human oncology and pathogenesis program.

Application Deadline: February 9

Location: New York, NY

Duration: Eight weeks (June 27 – August 22)

Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) is one of the most well-known cancer centers in the world. The Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) at MSK hosts a Summer Student Program for students to conduct independent research projects while participating in extracurricular activities, training, and other opportunities.  

During the eight-week program, participants work with a mentor who will act as a supervisor to help them develop their research skills. Additionally, students have the opportunity to complete an independent research project that aligns with their mentor’s work. All participants will present their projects at a poster session at the end of the summer.

To participate, you must have completed at least 9th grade by June 2024, be at least 14 years old by June 27, have a 3.5 GPA in science subjects, and submit two letters of recommendation. This is a paid opportunity—participants will receive a stipend. 

2. Rockefeller University Summer Science Research Program  

Application Deadline: January 5 

Duration: Seven weeks (June 24 – August 8) 

The Rockefeller University Summer Science Research Program allows high school students to conduct real, innovative research over seven weeks through the renowned Rockefeller University, under the guidance of leading scientists. 

SSRP scholars will be able to design and conduct their own research project as part of a themed research track, which is modeled after a Rockefeller research topic and/or technique, with the help of scientist mentors from the Rockefeller community. Most of the research will be conducted in the RockEDU Laboratory—a 3,000-square-foot research space specifically dedicated to developing biomedical research skills.

Students must be at least 16 years old by the start of the program to participate.  

3. Lumiere Research Scholar Program

Application Deadline : Varies by cohort. Main summer deadlines are March 15, April 15, and May 15

Location:  Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!

Duration: Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year

Founded by Harvard & Oxford researchers, the Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program pairs high-school students with PhD mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project . At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have written an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as medicine, computer science, psychology, physics, economics, data science, business, engineering, biology, and international relations.

This program is designed to accommodate your schedule—you can participate in the summer, fall, winter, or spring, and the program is also conducted fully remotely. While you must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate high academic achievement (most students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3), no previous knowledge of your field of interest is required. The cost of the program ranges from $2,800 to $8,900, but financial aid is available.

Note that this is a selective program. Last year, over 4000 students applied for 500 spots in the program. You can find more details about the application here .

4. Research Science Institute (RSI)

Application Deadline: December 13 

Location: Cambridge, MA

Duration: Five weeks (June 23 – August 3) 

The prestigious RSI, which takes place at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) annually, brings together 100 of the world’s top high school students. The free program blends on-campus coursework with off-campus science and technology research. 

Participants complete individual research projects while receiving mentorship from experienced scientists and researchers, and present their findings through oral and written reports in a conference-style setting at the end of the program. 

5. NYU Tandon – Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering (ARISE)

Application Deadline: March 6

Duration: 10  weeks (June 3 – August 9)

Open to New York City high school students who will complete 10th or 11th grade in June 2024, the ARISE program provides access to college-level workshops and lab research across fields like bio, molecular, and chemical engineering, robotics, computer science, and AI.

Over the course of 10 weeks—four virtual and six in person—participants will receive guidance from graduate or postdoctoral students at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. 

6. Simons Summer Research Program

Application Deadline: February 7

Location: Stony Brook, NY

Duration: Five weeks (July 1 – August 9) 

During Stony Brook ’s Simons Summer Research Program, high school students conduct hands-on research in areas like science, math, and engineering while working with faculty mentors. Simons Fellows have the opportunity to join real research teams and learn about laboratory equipment and techniques. They also attend weekly faculty research talks and participate in special workshops, tours, and events. 

At the closing poster symposium, students will receive a stipend for their participation. To apply, you must be at least 16 years old by the start of the program and currently be in your junior year. 

7. SPARK Summer Mentorship Program

Application Deadline: N/A

Location: Greater Seattle area

Duration: 8-10 weeks 

SPARK is a summer mentorship program that pairs high-achieving and highly motivated high schoolers with industry experts, university professors, and mentors to conduct research on customers and financial markets. The program is only open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.  

8. MDI Biological Laboratory – Biomedical Bootcamp 2024

Application Deadline: March 18 

Location: Bar Harbor, ME

Duration: One week (July 15 – 19) 

In this bootcamp, students will receive a hands-on introduction to biomedical research at MDI Biological Laboratory. Participants will learn essential scientific skills such as experimental design and hypothesis testing, cutting-edge laboratory techniques, data analysis, bioinformatics, and scientific communication. 

During the program, scientists and bioentrepreneurs at the lab will help participants explore scientific ethics at large, as well as career paths in biomedicine, research, and entrepreneurship in Maine and beyond.

Participants must be at least 16 years old by the start of the program and must be entering their junior or senior year in September 2024, or graduating in June 2024. 

9. Boston University – Research in Science & Engineering (RISE) Internship  

Application Deadline: February 14  

Location: Boston, MA

Duration: Six weeks (June 30 – August 9)  

RISE is a six-week program for rising seniors with an interest in pursuing a major and/or career in STEM. There are a multitude of tracks available, in areas such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, and neuroscience. In each track, students conduct research under the mentorship of Boston University faculty, postdoctoral fellows, or graduate students. They will also attend weekly workshops with their peers. 

10. The Wistar Institute – High School Program in Biomedical Research

Application Deadline: March 31 

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Duration: Four weeks (July 15 – August 8) 

A leading biomedical research organization, The Wistar Institute is an ideal setting for students to learn research skills. Participants will complete their own research project while being trained in a principal investigator’s laboratory. They’ll also attend seminars, receive mentorship, and deliver a final presentation about their work.

Students are expected to participate Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Absences of more than two consecutive days cannot be accommodated. Students will receive a stipend of $1,000 upon completion of the program, to compensate for commuting costs or other personal expenses accrued during the program. 

11. California Academy of Sciences – Careers in Science (CiS) Intern Program

Application Deadline: April 1, 2024

Location: San Francisco, CA

Duration: Multi-year, year-round participation (after school and on weekends)

This long term program gives San Francisco students from communities that are underrepresented in STEM the opportunity to learn about the world of science and sustainability. Students receive mentorship, develop career skills, and more—all while getting paid for their work. Students also attend workshops and conferences throughout the course of the program. 

12. NASA OSTEM Internship

Application Deadline: February 2

Location: Varies

Duration: Varies

NASA offers a variety of internships for high school students across its numerous campuses. Interns gain real-world work experience by working side by side with research scientists and engineers, which will strengthen their resume and help prepare them for their eventual careers. All participants must be at least 16 years old and enrolled in high school full time.

13. New-York Historical Society Student Historian Internship Program

Application Deadline: April 7

Duration: July 9 – August 15

Not all research is conducted in STEM subjects! Developed for students interested in history, the New-York Historical Society’s Student Historian Program gives participants the opportunity to conduct research on a history topic—2024’s theme is Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass’ America . During the program, participants will work with historian mentors, visit history archives around New York City, lead gallery tours, and develop their historical thinking, communication, and digital media skills.

Applicants must be entering grades 10, 11, or 12, and live in the New York City metro area. This opportunity is unpaid for most participants, but some interns with demonstrated financial need can potentially receive a stipend.

14. Adler Planetarium Summer High School Internship  

Application Deadline: March 1

Location: Chicago, IL

Duration: Six weeks (July 8 – August 14)

During this summer internship program, students will learn about the Adler Planetarium and the career opportunities within it and planetariums and museums in general, in areas ranging from Visitor Experience and Learning to Research. Students will also get the chance to see how research gets translated into a museum experience. 

15. Zuckerman Institute Brain Research Apprenticeships in New York at Columbia University (BRAINYAC)

Application Deadline: TBA for 2025 program

Duration: Eight weeks  

BRAINYAC participants receive the rare opportunity to work on research in a lab at Columbia University , one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, as high school students, which results in a stronger, more comprehensive understanding of how scientific discovery happens. They connect with real scientists, acquire essential research and laboratory skills, and learn about advances in neuroscience research. 

In order to apply, you must be in 10th or 11th grade and must be nominated by one of the program’s partners—S-PREP, Lang Youth Medical, Double Discovery Center, Columbia Secondary School, or BioBus.  

16. Brookfield Zoo King Conservation Science Scholars Program

Application Deadline: Rolling admission 

Location: Brookfield, IL

Duration: N/A

Interactive workshops, fun activities, research, and community-based projects are at the core of this exciting internship. It’s an excellent opportunity for students who love animals and also want to gain research skills in the domains of zoology, environmental science, and conservation. 

As a King Scholar, you’ll learn about different topics through Foundation Courses, such as Diversity Awareness and Introduction to Conservation, all while networking with others and preparing for college and an eventual career in a related field. After one year of participation, you’ll be invited to apply for scholarships and paid positions at the zoo. 

17. The Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) at the American Museum of Natural History  

Application Deadline: March 8

Duration: One year (August to June) 

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the most iconic and fascinating places in New York City. Its Science Research Mentoring Program is an amazing opportunity for NYC high school students to conduct a yearlong research project with Museum scientists. 

Students in SRMP get paid to learn how scientific research is conducted. Depending on their topic of study, students can learn a variety of different research skills, like working with DNA in the lab, analyzing data from space-based telescopes, reading scientific articles, and learning to code and analyze data in Python, R, and other programming languages. 

18. Anson L. Clark Scholars Program

Application Deadline:   February 15

Location: Lubbock, TX

Duration: Seven weeks (June 16 – August 1) 

Through the Anson L. Clark Scholar Program, an intensive seven-week summer research program for twelve highly qualified high school juniors and seniors, students will gain hands-on experience with practical research alongside experienced and knowledgeable faculty at Texas Tech University .

Students can choose to participate in research in one field from a broad variety of options, including cell and molecular biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, engineering, history, and more! 

To apply, students must complete an online application that includes short essays, high school transcripts, test scores (at least a PSAT if no others are available), three recommendations (at least two from teachers), and a list of the student’s top five activities.

19. UChicago Data Science Institute Summer Lab Program  

Application Deadline: January 16 

Duration: Eight weeks (June 10 – August 2)

The Data Science Institute Summer Lab Program is an immersive eight-week paid summer research program at the University of Chicago . During the program, high school and undergraduate students are paired with a data science mentor, whose expertise could be in computer science, data science, social science, climate and energy policy, public policy, materials science, biomedical research, or another related field.

Participants will hone their research methodology, research practice, and teamwork skills. No prior research experience is required to apply. All participants will receive access to applied data science research, which they will use to craft a research project. The project findings will be presented in a video that will be shown at an end-of-summer symposium.

20. UT Austin College of Natural Sciences High School Research Academy

Application Deadline: March 24

Location: Austin, TX

Duration: Five weeks (June 10 – July 17) 

Through UT Austin ’s HSRA, high school students participate in interdisciplinary research projects being conducted by active College of Natural Sciences laboratories in fields such as biochemistry, biology, environmental science, genetics, neuroscience, genome engineering, data analytics, ecology, and more. 

There is a scholarship fund for underserved groups, so some stipends and free tuition scholarships may be available to students with demonstrated financial need. 

21. Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience – Summer Research Internship

Location: Jupiter, FL

Duration: Six weeks (June 17 – July 26) 

The MPFI Summer Research Internship offers rising juniors and seniors an immersive laboratory experience where they can learn from seasoned researchers. The program is designed specifically for students with an interest in brain structure, function and development, and the advanced imaging techniques and technologies used in neuroscience. 

Program participants will participate in research projects alongside MPFI scientists, prepare a written scientific abstract based on their research project, and deliver a short presentation at the end of the summer. Research tracks include neuroscience, scientific computer programming, and mechanical engineering as it relates to neuroscience.

Applicants must be entering their junior or senior years in a Palm Beach or Martin County high school, be residents of one of those two counties, and be at least 16 by the beginning of the internship. Interns will be paid at a rate of $12.50 per hour.

22. Lincoln Park Zoo Malott Family Zoo Intern Program

Application Deadline: March 11 

Duration: Seven weeks (June 24 – August 9) 

During this paid seven-week program, high school students learn how to educate others about animal and conservation sciences while crafting digital messages to engage audiences. The program culminates in a final project. Throughout the internship, students meet with researchers and the Animal Care staff to explore careers in the animal science and conservation fields. 

Applicants must be Chicago residents between the ages of 15-18, and must be entering grades 10-12 or their freshman year of college by the start of the internship.

23. The Scripps Research High School Internship Program  

Application Deadline: April 19

Location: La Jolla, CA

Duration: Seven weeks  

The Scripps Research Institute’s La Jolla, California headquarters is proud to offer a seven-week hands-on research experience for San Diego County high schoolers. The program is specially designed to expose students to careers in the biological and chemical sciences, to provide hands-on laboratory experience, and to motivate and prepare students for continuing education in STEM. 

Because Scripps is committed to increasing the number of students from underrepresented communities in STEM college programs, a special emphasis is placed on identifying and recruiting students who are from groups that are historically underrepresented in the sciences. All students will receive a $4,760 stipend.

24. QuarkNet Summer Research Program  

Application Deadline: January 31

Location: DuPage County, IL

Duration: Seven weeks (June 17 – August 2) 

High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a strong interest in STEM have a unique opportunity to work with scientists on research projects during this paid seven-week program at the prestigious Fermilab, located just outside of Chicago near Batavia, IL.

Interns are encouraged to indicate areas in which they have a particular interest, although research projects vary yearly based on the work ongoing at the lab. Broadly speaking, Fermilab’s focus is on particle physics.

Required application materials include a questionnaire, a letter of recommendation, and an essay. To apply, students must have U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status and must provide evidence of identity and eligibility to work in the United States. Participants will be paid at a rate of $17.20 per hour.

25. RISE Environmentor Internship

Location: Far Rockaway, NY

Duration: Six weeks (July 1 – August 15)

The Environmentor Internship offers a great opportunity for 9th through 11th graders who live or attend school near the Rockaway Peninsula to gain firsthand research experience. Participants are mentored by scientists from local universities and research institutions as they work on projects focused on the Rockaway shoreline. Past research topics have included sea turtle strandings, octopus behavior, mussel denitrification, and dolphin fin morphology.

Students will also take part in water safety courses, receive CPR training, and explore on-water activities like kayaking and surfing. Students receive up to a $1,200 stipend, as well as community service hours for their participation in the program.

26. Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR)

Application Deadline: February 24

Location: Stanford, CA

Duration: Eight weeks (June 10 – August 1)

Students in this summer program are given the chance to perform research on a medically oriented project and work side by side with Stanford University students, researchers, and faculty. Students can choose from eight areas of research, including topics like immunology, cancer biology, and bioinformatics, which are all designed to increase their interest in the biological sciences and provide a deeper understanding of how scientific research is conducted.

The program is open to current high school juniors and seniors. Students will receive a minimum $500 stipend for their participation in the program.

27. Secondary Student Training Program

Application Deadline: February 16

Location: Iowa City, IA

Duration: June 19 – July 26

High schoolers in grades 10 and 11 can take part in an immersive research experience, which will allow them to explore their interests, enhance their academic skills, and build relationships with their peers during this research-focused summer program.

Participants can choose from a multitude of research areas, ranging from biology to industrial and systems engineering to religious studies. The program culminates with students creating and presenting a poster of their findings. All participants will live on the University of Iowa ‘s campus for the duration of the program, and have access to all of the university’s libraries, study areas, and computer facilities.

Although this program is quite expensive, with a fee of $7,500, financial aid is available to cover up to 95% of the cost.

28. Young Scholars Summer STEMM Research Program

Location: Urbana, IL

Duration: Six weeks (June 20 – August 2)

This program, offered by the prestigious Grainger College of Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) , allows students to gain hands-on research experience in fields such as cancer immunology, AI, physics, quantum mechanics, and electrical engineering. They will also build valuable general life skills by participating in seminars on topics ranging from the college admission process to how to communicate scientifically.

The program is open to rising 10th through 12th graders from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

29. Summer Science Program (SSP)

Duration: Varies depending on location and field of focus

Students in the SSP get the chance to work in small teams on a real research project and gain firsthand experience taking and analyzing data. Research opportunities are offered in three fields—astrophysics, biochemistry, and genomics—and are held at a variety of institutions, including University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Georgetown University , Purdue University , and New Mexico State University .

The program is open to high school juniors, although a small number of exceptional sophomores have attended the program. You must be between 15-19 to participate, and have completed prerequisite coursework, which varies by field. Financial aid is available for this program.

30. The Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program

Application Deadline: January 29

Location: Bar Harbor, ME, and Farmington, CT

Duration: 10 weeks (June 1 – August 10)

Students immerse themselves in genetics and genomics research while learning about laboratory discovery and scientific communication, as well as building professional skills. Over the course of the 10-week program, students work with a mentor to develop a research project, implement their plan, analyze their data, and report their results.

This prestigious program is competitive. Just 40 students are selected to participate annually. Participants receive a $6,500 stipend and have their room, board, and travel expenses covered.

31. Fred Hutch Summer High School Internship Program

Application Deadline: March 31

Location: Seattle, WA

Duration: Eight weeks (June 24 – August 16) 

This full-time, paid internship opportunity offers students a chance to immerse themselves in activities at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, one of the top cancer research centers in the world. The program begins with two weeks of laboratory training and is followed by six weeks of mentored activities, research seminars, workshops focused on college and careers, and social activities.

The program is open to high schoolers entering their senior year with a strong interest in science and high academic achievement, and is specifically aimed at students from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical science. Interns receive a stipend upon successful completion of the program.

How to Find Research Opportunities in High School 

Define your area of interest .

Before you start looking for opportunities, narrow your area of interest a bit, whether it’s cancer, engineering, computer science, neuroscience, or something else entirely. Also bear in mind that while there may be more STEM opportunities available for high school students, research isn’t limited to these fields—research is also a key component of the social sciences, humanities, and other non-STEM fields. 

While you should be somewhat specific about what you’re hoping to research, don’t narrow your scope so much that it’s impossible to find a valuable opportunity, especially since opportunities for high schoolers in general are more limited than they are for students who have completed at least some college.

Talk to People in Your Immediate Circle 

Teachers, neighbors, your family, parents of friends, friends of your parents—any of these people could know about a research opportunity for you, or at least know someone else who does. Throughout your life, you will find that networking is often the key to finding career opportunities. 

Leveraging your network can help you uncover unique opportunities crowdsourced by the people who know you best—the best opportunities aren’t always hosted by large universities or programs. 

Reach Out to Local Institutions and Laboratories 

In addition to networking with your immediate circle, reach out to local facilities, such as labs, hospitals, clinics, and universities that conduct research. Even if opportunities aren’t publicized, these institutions and laboratories may be willing to make room for you. Remember: when pitching your idea, don’t make it too niche—this will make it more difficult to find a fit and market your skills to labs. 

Cast a Wide Net 

Research opportunities are hard to secure, especially when you’re a young student, so you need to be persistent. You may need to write a hundred emails, but if you put in the effort and cast a wide net, you’ll vastly improve your chances of landing a great opportunity. 

Try not to be too picky, either. Of course, you shouldn’t just accept any offer , especially if it doesn’t appeal to you. But even if the opportunity doesn’t align perfectly with your skills and interests, it can still be a great chance to gain experience and make you a better candidate for future experiences.

How Will Doing Research Impact Your College Chances? 

How much participating in research enhances your college admissions profile depends on many factors, including the scope of the project, the prestige of the program or institution, your individual role and performance, the institution’s connections to or sponsorships by certain colleges, and even how much weight a college places on extracurricular activities in general. 

Generally speaking, there are four tiers of extracurricular activities that colleges think about when reviewing applicants’ activities. Selective, competitive, and prestigious activities are often found in the top tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 includes things such as being a highly recruited basketball player or an award-winning national science fair competitor. 

Tier 2 is similar, but is usually reserved for activities that are less exceptional than those in Tier 1. Tiers 3 and 4 are reserved for more common extracurricular achievements, such as holding school leadership positions or being a member of a debate team.

Research usually falls into Tier 2, and some particularly prestigious opportunities could even be Tier 1. That’s because it’s somewhat unusual for high school students to conduct research in professional and collegiate settings, so it’s more likely to impress colleges than other kinds of extracurricular activities.

Do you want to find out the impact research and other extracurricular activities might have on your chances of admission to top colleges and universities? Try using CollegeVine’s free chancing calculator ! 

Our tool evaluates your admissions profile, by accounting for factors like your grades,standardized test scores, and extracurriculars (including research!) to show you how you stack up against other applicants and how likely you are to get into hundreds of different colleges and universities. You’ll also receive tips on how to improve your profile and your odds—all for free.

Disclaimer: This post includes content sponsored by Lumiere Education.

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More From Forbes

A blueprint for high school students to pursue research and get published.

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Regardless of their future career interests, high school students who are curious and enjoy discovering answers to questions should consider research. Research isn’t restricted to just the STEM field; there are countless questions in every field that need to be answered.

Doing research while still in high school can be a great way for students to stand out in college ... [+] admissions process.

Research can be a life-changing experience for a high schooler. It gives them a chance to gain hands-on instruction beyond the classroom and be exposed to the dynamics of a lab environment. In addition, students learn how to work with others as they gain analytical, quantitative and communication skills.

Participating in research can also give students a competitive edge when applying to college. This is especially true for candidates of BS/MD programs , where medical-focused activities are expected. Some BS/MD programs, like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s 7-Year Program , are specially designed to train future physician-scientists.

How To Pursue Research

While many students want to secure a research position, it isn’t always easy to know how to get started and make progress. Here are a few different methods students can pursue to gain research experience.

Look For Local Research Projects

Depending on where you live, you might be able to find local labs at universities, hospitals or companies where you can get research experience. Start local first to see what types of positions might be available to students.

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When reaching out, add a cover letter that is tailored to each specific organization. You should introduce yourself in a way that demonstrates your academic background, your interest in their research and how you would like to contribute on a voluntary basis. The email should also include your CV or resume so that they can see any relevant coursework or experiences you may have.

When sending out these emails, remember to cast a wide net. These organizations are getting emails from college and graduate students, too, so you might need to email quite a few people before you get a response. If you don’t hear back within two weeks, send a follow-up email. Oftentimes, persistence pays off.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions or if you don’t have local options available, you can also consider virtual opportunities. Virtual work might be a good option due to the flexibility that often accompanies it.

However, cold-emailing professors or companies can be time-consuming and a risk. Even if you secure a position, you need to ensure that you are being flexible and realistic. Some positions might only be available during the hours students are at school, so expecting to get a position that will work around your class schedule or weekends only might be unrealistic. Having open availability and working on their timetable will make more opportunities feasible.

In addition, for these types of positions, you will need to show you can add value. This might require you to learn new skills on your own time, like a new coding language, so you can contribute to the success of the project.

Join A Summer Camp Or Structured Research Program

A structured research program can be the most beneficial experience for students because there is often a clear plan in place: students are expected to show up for a set number of hours per week and have clearly established deliverables on what will be accomplished during that time.

Camps like Rising Researchers, which are open to high school students of all ages, even give students college credit and help the students get their research published at the end of the camp. Nicole Cooksey, one of the instructors at Rising Researchers, says, “Rising Researchers helps students go beyond static learning—the hands-on camp means students acquire new skills and the ability to write a research paper.”

Some parents might hesitate to commit to a paid summer camp. While many of the most prestigious summer camps like Research Summer Institute (RSI) and Texas Tech’s Clark Scholars program are free, they are often very competitive and only open to students over the age of 16 or 17. Paid programs can be a good alternative because it still provides students with dedicated instructors whose sole focus will be on mentoring the student.

Start An Independent Research Project

Pursuing independent research is another option, but it is not a good fit for every student because it requires long-term commitment and dedication in order to make progress. Students who undertake this task should be prepared to spend at least a year from start to finish researching, writing their paper and submitting it for publication. The review and publication step can often take the longest, sometimes more than one year. For high school seniors, this could mean their paper might not be published before college application season kicks off.

How To Get Started

For the self-starters who want to begin an independent research project, the first step should be to make a list of your future career interests. Writing it down can help you decide what areas of research you might want to consider. Next, read previous research journals to get an idea of topics that might be of interest to you and possible to do on your own.

Once you have settled on a general topic, think about what questions you want to ask and answer in your research. These questions will help you create your thesis statement, which should address a specific question or problem.

The final step is to gather your sources and begin writing your paper. Look for resources from reputable sites, such as:

• PubMed: A great tool for finding research articles on a variety of subjects
• PubMed Central: Curates research articles without paywalls
• Google Scholar: Find Primary literature on all scientific topics
• Directory of Open Access Journals: Find additional open-access journals here
• CDC - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• The Public Library of Science: find peer-reviewed articles for free

Add Research To Your Student Resume

Undertaking a research project when you are still in high school requires effort on your part, but your persistence can pay off. Adding research to your student resume can help you stand out to competitive colleges and demonstrate a strong passion for a particular subject.

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How to do Research in High School

• Sasha Chada
• October 15, 2021

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The common perception is that research is a serious thing undertaken by serious people; academics in lab coats poring over beakers, writing equations on whiteboards, and shouting eureka. This image, while entertaining, is far from reality.

In this article, we’ll show you the different kinds of research, explain how you can begin getting involved with them as a high school student, and cover what the end goals of the research are. While there are numerous fields of research, not all of them will be accessible to you, though there are still myriad research options available to you, both independently and collaboratively.

Fields of Research

Some fields lend themselves to research more easily than others, especially for high school students. That said, most fields will have openings for students to involve themselves in some capacity. Here, we’ll discuss a few popular ones and a few which are likely unattainable for students in most circumstances.

Popular research fields include biology, chemistry, and related topics in the medical field, especially for students who want to be pre-meds. Sociological fields, including political science and economics, are less popular but still well represented.

Math and physics are much harder to get involved with as a high schooler, especially in any meaningful way. Students interested in business and economics usually find other ways to get involved. Archaeology usually isn’t an option due to safety concerns. Finally, some fields don’t offer the kind of research easily done by high school students, such as philosophy.

While you may not find research opportunities directly related to the field you want to explore, you can still find ways to involve yourself. If you are interested in the sciences, however, we do recommend trying to get involved with research, as that stands out on a resume.

Joining a Research Team

The simplest way to get involved in research as a high school student is to join an existing research project. Every college and university has lab facilities because all faculty are required to conduct research and publish it as part of their job description. This does not mean every school will have a place for high school students who wish to participate in research, but universities are a good place to start looking.

Once you have determined the fields you are interested in, your next step is to look into what research is currently ongoing at institutions near you. Universities are good places to start, as commercial labs are harder to find places in as a student, though some have internship opportunities. Look into ongoing research projects and the professors or graduate students leading them.

Once you have located a project you want to work on or a professor you want to work with, you’ll need to take the leap of reaching out to them. Our article on internships explains how to reach out to find these positions.

Progressing In Research

When you first begin working in a lab or with a professor, the duties you will be assigned will likely feel both dull and repetitive, and will not match the excitement you may expect from research. There are two things you need to know: first, while you will likely progress to doing more independent research if you stick with it, nobody begins their time in a lab by directing experiments. Second, almost all research requires long periods of boredom before achieving (if you’re lucky) an interesting result.

The way you will progress in these positions is by learning all you can. This comes in two forms: first, learning the actual techniques used in research, the physical methodology scientists and professors use to conduct it. Second, by learning what questions to ask, and why. Research occurs when you ask an interesting question, and strive to find an answer no one has found before.

As a final important note on academic research: it is often very boring. Even the most exciting projects; astronomy in Antarctica, excavating long lost cities in the Middle East, digging up dinosaur bones in Outer Mongolia, feature long periods of tedious and repetitive work. There are flashes of excitement and discovery, but don’t expect all research to be fast-paced and flashy. Good research takes time, and a willingness to commit to doing it right. Discoveries aren’t marked with a shout of “Eureka!” but rather an investigator examining data and remarking “Well that’s odd.”

This is not meant to discourage you from doing research; on the contrary, it can be one of the most rewarding things you do. The point is to set your expectations, so you enter forewarned.

Independent Research

Of course, you may not have the access or inclination necessary to join an active research project. In this section, we’ll discuss how you can go about conducting research on your own. While the questions you ask and the answer may be smaller in scope and scale than those done in professional labs, amateur researchers can still make important contributions to science.

You should know that it is easier to do independent research in the hard sciences than in social sciences or humanities (for example, doing archaeology alone is considered grave-robbing, and is frowned upon). This is not to say it is impossible, but that the resources available to high school students allow for easier explorations in some fields than others.

Doing research on your own is difficult due to limited resources, and sometimes due to limited knowledge. That said, there are still many contributions you can make. You simply need to scale the projects you take on with the resources and knowledge you have; the more you learn, the more you are able to learn.

The end goal for most research is either publication or submission into a science competition of some kind. While it is entirely possible to just do research for the joy of having done it, having it reviewed and verified by others makes your accomplishments more credible, and easier to weigh. Which science fairs you enter should reflect the scale and scope of your research, as well as its field. More minor or harder to sum up results may work better as a publication, while engineering projects are often better suited to science fairs or competitions.

An easy place to begin if you are aiming for publication is Negative Results research. Repeating an experiment done previously, scrupulously following their methodology, and acquiring negative results, is an important part of the scientific process. Negative results indicate that more research will need to be done on a topic and that the question may not be as closed as previously thought. 

Due to the priorities of grants, however, most university labs do not devote many resources, if any, to redoing experiments to find negative results. This makes it a good niche for students who want to do independent research. Look for experiments done in the past few years, in subjects you’re interested in, with setups you can replicate at home. If you can’t find the full text of an article, reach out to the authors; scientists love discussing their work, and most will share the full paper for free if you ask.

Be sure to thank anyone you contact for their time and effort spent, and if they seem especially friendly, you should ask if the original researchers have advice for your own attempts at negative results. While they may not always be able or willing to devote time to helping you, most scientists enjoy encouraging others to involve themselves in their field.

If you do produce negative results, or if your experiments in another area do so, you can submit them to All Results Journals , which are dedicated to publishing negative results as well as positive ones. Negative results add to the pool of general knowledge by showing what can’t be done or at least can’t be done in a specific way. This prevents future researchers from wasting time by making the same mistakes.

Final Thoughts

Doing the research yourself and publishing it may feel daunting, but scientific discovery is open to all. Further, just because you aren’t directly working with scientists in a lab, doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to them. You should reach out to scientists and professors who have written papers similar to the questions you are working on, both to get their advice, and for networking opportunities. You can use the same email guidelines as asking for an internship, though instead of asking for a lab placement, you are looking for advice, guidance, or merely access to their papers. If you would like help with reaching out, or have other concerns about doing research on your own, schedule a free consultation with us. We have a long experience helping students find and explore their academic passions, and would be happy to help you discover yours.

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How to Write a Research Paper as a High School Student

By Carly Taylor

Senior at Stanford University

6 minute read

Read our guide to learn why you should write a research paper and how to do so, from choosing the right topic to outlining and structuring your argument.

What is a research paper?

A research paper poses an answer to a specific question and defends that answer using academic sources, data, and critical reasoning. Writing a research paper is an excellent way to hone your focus during a research project , synthesize what you’re learning, and explain why your work matters to a broader audience of scholars in your field.

The types of sources and evidence you’ll see used in a research paper can vary widely based on its field of study. A history research paper might examine primary sources like journals and newspaper articles to draw conclusions about the culture of a specific time and place, whereas a biology research paper might analyze data from different published experiments and use textbook explanations of cellular pathways to identify a potential marker for breast cancer.

However, researchers across disciplines must identify and analyze credible sources, formulate a specific research question, generate a clear thesis statement, and organize their ideas in a cohesive manner to support their argument. Read on to learn how this process works and how to get started writing your own research paper, integrating skills like critical thinking and advanced academic writing.

How do I choose my topic?

Tap into your passions.

A research paper is your chance to explore what genuinely interests you and combine ideas in novel ways. So don’t choose a subject that simply sounds impressive or blindly follow what someone else wants you to do – choose something you’re really passionate about! You should be able to enjoy reading for hours and hours about your topic and feel enthusiastic about synthesizing and sharing what you learn.

We've created these helpful writing resources to inspire you to think about your own passion project . Polygence also offers a passion exploration experience where you can dive deep into three potential areas of study with expert mentors from those fields.

Ask a difficult question

In the traditional classroom, top students are expected to always know the answers to the questions the teacher asks. But a research paper is YOUR chance to pose a big question that no one has answered yet and figure out how to make a contribution to answering that question. So don’t be afraid if you have no idea how to answer your question at the start of the research process — this will help you maintain a motivational sense of discovery as you dive deeper into your research. If you need inspiration, explore our database of research project ideas and easy research topics for high school students.

Be as specific as possible

It’s essential to be reasonable about what you can accomplish in one paper and narrow your focus down to an issue you can thoroughly address. For example, if you’re interested in the effects of invasive species on ecosystems, it’s best to focus on one invasive species and one ecosystem, such as iguanas in South Florida , or one survival mechanism, such as supercolonies in invasive ant species . If you can, get hands on with your project.

You should approach your paper with the mindset of becoming an expert in this topic. Narrowing your focus will help you achieve this goal without getting lost in the weeds and overwhelming yourself.

Would you like to write your own research paper?

Polygence mentors can help you every step of the way in writing and showcasing your research paper

How do I prepare to write a research paper?

Conduct preliminary research.

Before you dive into writing your research paper, conduct a literature review to see what’s already known about your topic. This can help you find your niche within the existing body of research and formulate your question. For example, Polygence student Jasmita found that researchers had studied the effects of background music on student test performance, but they had not taken into account the effect of a student’s familiarity with the music being played, so she decided to pose this new question in her research paper.

Pro tip: It’s a good idea to skim articles in order to decide whether they’re relevant enough to your research interest before committing to reading them in full. This can help you spend as much time as possible with the sources you’ll actually cite in your paper.

Skimming articles will help you gain a broad-strokes view of the different pockets of existing knowledge in your field and identify the most potentially useful sources. Reading articles in full will allow you to accumulate specific evidence related to your research question and begin to formulate an answer to it.

Draft a thesis statement

Your thesis statement is your succinctly-stated answer to the question you’re posing, which you’ll make your case for in the body of the paper. For example, if you’re studying the effect of K-pop on eating disorders and body image in teenagers of different races, your thesis may be that Asian teenagers who are exposed to K-pop videos experience more negative effects on their body image than Caucasian teenagers.

Pro Writing Tip: It’s okay to refine your thesis as you continue to learn more throughout your research and writing process! A preliminary thesis will help you come up with a structure for presenting your argument, but you should absolutely change your thesis if new information you uncover changes your perspective or adds nuance to it.

Create an outline

A research paper outline is a tool for sketching out the structure of your paper by organizing your points broadly into subheadings and more finely into individual paragraphs. Try putting your thesis at the top of your outline, then brainstorm all the points you need to convey in order to support your thesis.

Pro Tip: Your outline is just a jumping-off point – it will evolve as you gain greater clarity on your argument through your writing and continued research. Sometimes, it takes several iterations of outlining, then writing, then re-outlining, and then rewriting in order to find the best structure for your paper.

What are some key tips when writing?

Introduction.

A research paper introduction should move the reader from your broad area of interest into your specific area of focus for the paper. It generally takes the form of one to two paragraphs that build up your thesis statement and give the reader an idea of the broad argumentative structure of your paper. After reading your introduction, your reader should know what claim you’re going to present and what kinds of evidence you’ll analyze to support it.

Topic sentences

Writing crystal clear topic sentences is a crucial aspect of a successful research paper. A topic sentence is like the thesis statement of a particular paragraph – it should clearly state the point that the paragraph will make. Writing focused topic sentences will help you remain focused while writing your paragraphs and will ensure that the reader can clearly grasp the function of each paragraph in the paper’s overall structure.

Transitions

Sophisticated research papers move beyond tacking on simple transitional phrases such as “Secondly” or “Moreover” to the start of each new paragraph. Instead, each paragraph flows naturally into the next one, with the connection between each idea made very clear. Try using specifically crafted transitional phrases rather than stock phrases to move from one point to the next which will make your paper as cohesive as possible.

In her research paper on Pakistani youth in the U.S. , Polygence student Iba used the following specifically crafted transition to move between two paragraphs: “Although the struggles of digital ethnography limited some data collection, there are also many advantages of digital data collection.” This sentence provides the logical link between the discussion of digital ethnography's limitations from the prior paragraph and the upcoming discussion of this technique’s advantages in this paragraph.

What is a research paper conclusion?

Your conclusion can have several functions:

To drive home your thesis and summarize your argument

To emphasize the broader significance of your findings and answer the “so what” question

To point out some questions raised by your thesis and/or opportunities for further research

Your conclusion can take on all three of these tasks or just one, depending on what you feel your paper is still lacking up to this point.

How do I cite my sources?

Last but not least, crediting your sources is extremely important. There are many different citation formats, such as MLA, APA, and Chicago style. Research online or consult an expert to make sure you know which citation style is standard in your field of interest.

You have several options for keeping track of your bibliography:

Use a notebook to record the relevant information from each of your sources: title, author, date of publication, journal name, page numbers, etc.

Create a folder on your computer where you can store your electronic sources

Use an online bibliography creator such as Zotero, Easybib, or Noodletools to track sources and generate citations

Under our Projects tab, you can read research papers by Polygence students. You can also explore other opportunities for high school research and writing contests .

If you’re interested in finding an expert mentor to guide you through the process of writing your own independent research paper, consider applying to be a Polygence scholar today!

Your research paper helps even you earn college credit , get published in an academic journal , contribute to your application for college , and improve your college admissions chances !

Feeling Inspired?

Interested in doing an exciting research project? Click below to get matched with one of our expert mentors!

10 Research Opportunities for High School Students

Indigo Research Team

Engaging in any type of academic research in high school (scientific, anthropological, political, or humanities-driven) is an easy way to demonstrate to admissions officers that you’re intellectually curious and willing to expand your mind beyond the bounds of a traditional high school classroom. Let's take a look what are the research opportunities for high school students.

1. School Curriculum

Some high schools will offer research opportunities as part of fulfilling academic requirements for graduation. For example, the IB program requires students to produce an extended essay, an independent research piece. Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives and Research is a skills-based course where students write a research report. If you are unsure if your school offers these programs, talk to your academic advisor to discuss your options.

2. University Summer Research Programs

Many universities offer hands-on research opportunities for high school students in the form of summer research programs, where students can take part in undergraduate research. These programs cater to both science and humanities students. Some examples include: Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program , Rockefeller University Summer Science Research Program , and High School Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS) Program .

See more suggestions of summer research programs for high school students that we recommend.

3. Research-based Internships

Through research-based internships, high school students can gain first-hand immersive research experience whilst working with a professional in their industry of interest. These internships aim to sharpen students’ research skills whilst providing a platform for students to discover if research is a career path that interests them. Examples of research-based internships include Research in Science & Engineering (RISE) Internship , Stanford Institutes of Medicine Research Bioengineering Internship , A*STAR Research Internship Award , and Research Assistant Program (Singapore).

4. Academic-based Essay Competitions

Essay competitions ask students to write an essay based on a subject matter of their choice and typically encourage students to read and research beyond the school curriculum. Some examples include John Locke Institute Essay Competition , Robert Walker Prize for Essays in Law .

Kick off your Research Project this Summer with the IRIS Program!

Indigo Research Intensive Seasonal (IRIS) Programs is an intensive research program that is designed specifically for high school students. You'll have the opportunity to work alongside top professors from prestigious UK and US universities, who will mentor you in your chosen field. Don't miss out – the next IRIS Program begins on July 8, 2024!

5. Non-academic competitions

Non-academic competitions can also promote research but in a more applied and practical manner. For example, the Community Problem Solving Competition (CMPS) requires students to identify and address a local or national social problem. In the process, students gather data and research these problems then present them to a panel. Projects may focus on categories such as Civic and Cultural Issues, Education, Environment, Health Concerns, and Human Services.

6. Extracurricular activities/clubs

Certain student clubs such as Model United Nations, Debate, and/or Moot Parliament Programmes can also provide research opportunities in the form of weekly training events, helping students hone their persuasive and oratorical skills. For more science-inclined students, these same opportunities exist in Robotics and/or Math & Sciences Clubs.

7. Established research institutes

Aside from research programs provided by universities, there are also research programs provided by established institutions designed specifically for high school students. Students in New York for example could consider working with the NYC Science Research Mentoring Consortium , which is organized by the American Museum of Natural History and is composed of more than a dozen programs throughout the city. Another example is the Summer Science Intensive , which is organized by the US Department of Energy and the Joint BioEnergy Institute.

8. Non-formal school projects

If you decide not to embark on formal research programs, you can consider pursuing a research project via a non-formal arrangement within your school. Such an independent research project provides more flexibility as you can plan your own research topic and timeline. To undertake this kind of project, you will have to find a mentor/teacher within your school and negotiate arrangements around the fulfillment of the project. Again, try talking to your academic advisor about this option.

9. Non-formal outside-of-school projects

Alternatively, if your school is unable to provide you with the manpower and resources to embark on a non-formal school project, you can consider searching for resources outside of school. To do so, identify researchers and/or labs that can support your proposed research project and start cold emailing as many relevant people as you can. Be sure to attach a cover letter explaining the project and a resume to these emails!

10. Indigo Research Intensive Seasonal (IRIS) Programs

IRIS Program is an online group-format research program for high school students. You can choose to join courses in Genetics, Computer Science, Economics, or Psychology, collaborate with professors and researchers from Stanford, Columbia, and Cornell, and complete a publishable research paper in weeks. The next IRIS Program starts on July 8 until August 18, 2024. The registration is open now!

In conclusion, engaging in academic research in high school is an excellent way to demonstrate intellectual curiosity and stand out to admissions officers. From school curriculum and university summer programs to research-based internships and non-academic competitions, there are numerous research opportunities available for high school students to explore.

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Articles & Advice > Majors and Academics > Blog

Why and How You Can Get Into Research in High School

Conducting a research project in high school can give you a huge leg up on college applications. Here's why it's important and how to find opportunities.

by Stephen Turban Director, Lumiere Education

Last Updated: May 30, 2024

Originally Posted: Mar 9, 2022

As standardized tests are becoming optional for many major colleges and universities, admission teams are looking for new ways to distinguish between strong candidates. Qualitative opportunities like research projects have grown in popularity for students applying to college. These projects showcase passion and help provide proof of depth of a student’s abilities. Many students may be interested in doing research but often face the problem of how to get started. Where do you find research opportunities in high school? What should you look for? Here’s why research experience is so important for students and college admission, plus different ways to get into it.

Why do research in high school?

Research is becoming increasingly common for high school students. It’s a great way to explore areas of interest more deeply and develop academic passions—and not just in STEM fields. As a director of the Lumiere Research Scholar Program , I’ve seen students gain a truly world-class level of knowledge in fields they’re interested in through independent research. Students have investigated the strongest machine learning algorithm to detect cell nuclei, novel ways to detect ocean health in the high seas, and comparisons of 14 th -century Japanese and 19 th -century Impressionist art. In each project, students leave with a unique, deep understanding of the area they explored.

Research experience also has benefits when students apply to colleges and universities. In a recent survey of students who did research in high school, 99% of them used their experience in some way in the application for early admission. In addition, students who had done research were 26% more likely to be accepted to an Ivy League school for Early Action or Early Decision admission than the average applicant. As researchers, we want to be careful not to draw a causal link between these two. But what is true is that students who get into top schools are more likely to do research.

Related: Easy Ways to Find Research Experience in High School

How to find research opportunities

If research is so valuable, how do you find opportunities to do it? Unlike in college, where research universities often provide opportunities for students to get involved, high schools rarely provide chances for research in the curriculum—AP Research or the IB extended essay being notable exceptions. With this in mind, there are two main ways to get research experience in high school.

Research programs

Your first option is to find a research program designed for high school students. This could range from highly competitive national programs like MIT’s Research Science Institute to programs that are only available for local populations. There’s also been an increase in online research programs that provide opportunities for students to work with researchers, like this list of 24 research programs that are available this upcoming summer that students could consider. 

Cold-emailing professors and networking

Another way to pursue research is to try contacting a college faculty member directly. This can be a great way to find a research mentor and get involved in a project. If you have any connections to faculty members through family or your school, this is probably the most effective first step. This usually means there will already be some level of trust between the faculty member and you as the student, making it more likely for the researcher to take you on. If you don’t have any personal connections, try cold-emailing faculty members. To do this, you need to create an example email that shows why you’re interested in working with the faculty member and what you would add to the project. Here’s an example email to a professor who has done research on open offices:

Subject: Helping your research—Rock Bridge High School junior

Hi Professor Smith,

This is Stephen—a rising junior at Rock Bridge High School. I recently read your research paper on open offices in the Harvard Business Review , was fascinated, and wanted to reach out. Would you have 15 minutes to discuss how I could help your research?  

For a bit of background, I’ve spent the past three years working on my skills in Python and data analysis. I know that your research involves a lot of quantitative work, so I wanted to see if I could help out with that—or anything else that needs some work!

Long-term, I’m hoping to become researcher like you. So, I’d love the opportunity to work with a researcher that I admire like yourself!  

Yours, Stephen

The key here is to cast a wide net—you should try reaching out to at least 25 faculty members or PhD researchers—and show the value you can add to their work. Note how in this email I talk about how I have skills with Python that I could use to help Professor Smith’s research. I also try to draw a connection between him and myself by talking about my long-term ambitions to be a researcher. The key to email is keeping it short and to the point as well as making sure to follow up. Researchers are busy people, so they might miss your first email. Don’t be afraid to send a follow-up message. They’ll appreciate the persistence that shows!

Related: How to Write a Strong Professional Email People Will Read

How to showcase research experience on college applications

So let’s say you’ve done research—now what? How do you show it to potential schools? There are numerous ways to showcase your research in your college applications , from including it on your activities list to writing about it in some of your supplemental essays. In our most recent survey of Early Decision admits, we found that students who were accepted Early Decision and Early Action were 33% more likely to ask their research advisor for a letter of recommendation. The key is to make your research one data point in a broader story about you and your interests. It should connect to what you want to study and the other activities you’ve done. For example, one student who did research with us completed a project related to astrophysics. In her essay, she wrote about working as a stocker at a local grocery store and how some of these same astrophysics concepts related to the movement of customers in the store. The key is to make the research a proof point connected to other proof points of the type of student you are.

Does research need to be published to showcase?

A question I often get is whether you need to publish your research for colleges to take notice. The short answer is no—very few college students, much less high school students, will ever get their research published. There are some selective high school research publications you could consider. If a student gets published, it does give an added level of legitimacy to their research, but it’s certainly not necessary. The key is that the research process itself is rigorous and that you’re able to write about it clearly on your applications.

Related: Unique Ways to Stand Out on Your College Applications  

Research is hard but worthwhile. If you’re excited by a subject and would like to explore it more deeply, then research could be a great opportunity for you. It won’t be easy, and some papers can take years to finish!  But if you’re interested in it, you can join the emerging number of students who are doing research in high school!

Looking for research powerhouses to add to your college search? Check out our list of Excellent Research Universities   that are members of the American Association of Universities!

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About Stephen Turban

Stephen Turban is one of the founders of Lumiere Education  and a Harvard University graduate. He founded the Lumiere Research Scholar Program as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-on-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

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The Complete Guide To Publishing Your Research In High School

Publishing academic research is becoming a common way for the top high school students to distinguish themselves in the admission process. Yet, for many students what publication is and how to approach it is unclear and confusing. This guide’s goal is to provide a starter for any students interested in research and publication. It comes from the result of working with 500+ students as part of the Lumiere Research Scholar Program.

What does it mean to “Publish Your Research?” What does publication even mean? In short, publishing your research means that you have gone through a rigorous, peer-reviewed process that has analyzed, critiqued, and ultimately accepted your research as legitimate. Scientific publications are gatekeepers to the broader world. If a research piece is not published by a journal, it means that it has not yet passed a rigorous, external analysis of the research.

Publications use a process called the “peer review” which means that fellow researchers in the same field will analyze the paper and its contribution and give feedback to the authors. This process is often double-blind, meaning that the reviewer does not know who the author is and the author does not know who the researcher is.

Is it possible for a high school student to publish their research? The short answer is yes. The longer answer, detailed below, is that there are many different types of journals that have different selectivity rates and bars for rigor. Just like universities, some publications are extremely competitive and provide a very strong external signal for the author. Some journals are less competitive and so provide a less powerful signal. For high school students, there is an emerging group of journals focused on high school or college-level research. These journals understand the limitations of high school students and their ability to do research, and so they are often more feasible (though still difficult) for students to get into. We’ll explore some types of those journals below.

Why publish your research in high school But, why even go to the trouble of publishing? Does it really matter? The short answer again is that it does matter. Publication in a top journal, like the Concord Review , can provide a valuable signal to a college admission officer about your work.

One thing to consider is who is an admission officer (for US universities). These people are usually generalists, meaning they have a broad background, but do not have researcher-level depth in many fields. That means it’s difficult for them to distinguish good research from bad research. What is rigorous and what is just put on an application?

This means that admissions officers search for signals when evaluating research or passion projects. Was the project selected into a selective journal? Did it go through a peer-review process by respected researchers? Was it guided by a researcher who the admission officer would believe? Did the research mentor guide speak positively about the student? All of these are positive signals. The publication is thus not the only way to signal ability, but it is one of the most important for young researchers.

What type of research can get published?

Most types of research can be published. But, the more original research that you can do, the broader the options you have. In other words, if you write a literature review, then your writing and synthesis must be very strong for it to be eligible for most publications. If you do some form of data collection or new data analysis, then the bar for rigor in student publications is usually a little bit lower as the difficulty to do this type of data collection or analysis is higher.

Types of Publication Targets

At Lumiere, we think of publications like students think of universities. There are research journals (most selective), target journals, and safety journals. In short, journals range in their selectivity and rigor. The more selective the journal, the better a signal it gives.

Highly Selective High School & College Publications

The first type of journals that students should think about are highly selective high school & college-level publications. These journals include the Concord Review or the Columbia Junior Science Journal . For example, one Lumiere student’s research was recently admitted to the Cornell Undergraduate Economic Review, a rigorous college-level journal for university-level economic papers. This student was the first high school student to ever be published in the journal, a clear signal.

These journals include both a review process and a limited number of spots in the journal. The Concord Review, for example, accepts about 45 student research papers each year of an estimated 900 submissions. The Columbia Junior Science Journal, similarly, publishes between 10-20 papers each year. Most of these journals will require original research or data collection of some sort.

Rigorous, Peer Reviewed High School Publications

The next level of journals are rigorous, peer-reviewed publications. These journals, such as the Journal of Emerging Investigators or the Journal of Student Research , have a peer-review process. These journals have requirements on the type of papers that are accepted (e.g., some will accept new data analyses, some will accept literature reviews). These journals do not have a certain number of slots predefined, but they do have a bar for what type of research they will accept. For these journals, students will submit their paper and the journal will assign (or ask you to identify) a potential set of reviewers for the paper. These reviewers will be researchers in the field, who hold a PhD. The reviewers will then give back comments. The Journal of Emerging Investigators stands out here among these journals as being one of the most rigorous and providing the most in-depth, critical feedback to students.

Pay to Play Research Journals (AVOID THESE) Finally, there are some journals that are essentially “Pay-to-play” meaning that they will accept any paper as long as a fee is paid. These journals are not only not academically ethical, they can actually be a bad signal in the admission process. For example, I spoke with a former Harvard Admission Officer, Sally Champagne , about her experience with publications. During the late 2000s, there was a high spike in students from Russia submitting “publications” that all linked back to a few fraudulent journals.

You can spot a fraudulent journal if there is a high fee for submitting the paper (some journals will charge a nominal fee to recoup their costs. That is OK, especially if they have a financial aid waiver). If any paper you submit is accepted without any revisions or feedback, then this is also a sign that the publication is not rigorous.

PhD Level Publications in A Field Finally, there are publications that PhD researchers or professors target with their research. These journals are highly selective and can take years of back and forth in order for a paper to be admitted. In general, we do not recommend high school students who are working on independent projects to target these journals for their difficulty and time required. The most common way to target these journals is if you act as a research assistant for a researcher on an existing project and you are credited as a supporting author.

Other Publication Options Beyond journals, there are other ways to showcase your research. I highlight some of those below.

Practitioner publications Another way to showcase your work is to target respected practitioner publications. These are places where non-researchers go to learn about developments. For example, one student in Lumiere published a piece in Tech In Asia summarizing his research on Open Innovation and the Ventilator Market (Tech In Asia is the Tech Crunch equivalent in South East Asia). Other practitioner publications include Online Magazines like Forbes or the Financial Times, local newspapers, or online blogs like the Huffington Post can all serve as possible targets. Generally publications in these places requires direct contact with an editorial manager, who can take a call as to whether your work is appropriate or not. To get to these editorial managers, you’ll need to do some online search and send them a pitch email that explains why your work is relevant to their audience. Offering an “exclusive” can be one additional way to make it attractive to the editors.

Research Conferences Another place to showcase your research is in research conferences. In some fields, like computer science, conferences are actually more common places to publish work than journals. One advantage of research conferences is that they often will accept abstracts of research instead of full-length research articles, making the amount of effort required to get accepted lower. As well, many conferences want more researchers to populate the conference, again making the admission process easier. Example conferences for high school students to look at include the Harvard Science Research Conference or the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting . There are also field specific conferences that you should search for based on your research paper.

Competitions

Finally, a common way to showcase your research is in the form of a student competition. Science fairs, such as ISEF Regeneron , is one common way for students to showcase their work. But, there are dozens of others, including the Genius Olympiad (Environmental Issues), John Locke Essay Competition , or the STEM Fellowship Competition . Competitions can be one of the highest impact ways to show your work because it’s clear signaling. If you can win a competition with hundreds of entrants, then being able to write about it in your application shows your unique ability. In addition, competitions can often be submitted to parallel with other research publications (check your publications requirements before doing that though!).

The Final Word – Publication Can Be High Impact If you have already written a research paper, then I highly encourage you to think about submitting it to high school or college level publications. The majority of work that you have done is spent on the research paper itself. So, if you can spend an additional 10-20 hours to showcase your research, then it’s highly valuable for you.

FAQ About Publications 1. Do I need to publish my research for it to be impactful? No, but it provides a useful signal. Doing research alone is a rare and impressive way for students to showcase their academic depth. If you can publish that research, it adds a layer of external legitimacy to that research.

2. Can I publish a research that is a literature review?

Yes, though, you’ll have to think of which target journals accept that. For example, the Journal of Student Research and the STEM Fellowship Journal both accept literature reviews, but the Journal of Emerging Investigators does not. In general, the more original research that you do (i.e., data analysis, data collection, etc.) the broader the range of publications you can target. With that said, some fields (e.g. astrophysics) can be particularly difficult to do new data collection as a high school student, so for those fields a rigorous literature review is usually the best choice.

3. Are all publications the same?

No. Publications are like universities. Some are highly respected, selective, and rigorous and others are not. The key is for you to identify a journal that is as selective/respected as possible that you can get into. Watch out for pay-to-play journals, as they can become negative signals for you and your application.

Additionally, you can also work on independent research in AI, through Veritas AI's Fellowship Program!

Veritas AI focuses on providing high school students who are passionate about the field of AI a suitable environment to explore their interests.

The programs include collaborative learning, project development, and 1-on-1 mentorship.  These programs are designed and run by Harvard graduate students and alumni and you can expect a great, fulfilling educational experience. Students are expected to have a basic understanding of Python or are recommended to complete the AI scholars program before pursuing the fellowship. 

The   AI Fellowship  program will have students pursue their own independent AI research project. Students work on their own individual research projects over a period of 12-15 weeks and can opt to combine AI with any other field of interest. In the past, students have worked on research papers in the field of AI & medicine, AI & finance, AI & environmental science, AI & education, and more! You can find examples of previous projects   here . 

Location : Virtual

$1,790 for the 10-week AI Scholars program

$4,900 for the 12-15 week AI Fellowship 

$4,700 for both

Need-based financial aid is available. You can apply   here . 

Application deadline : On a rolling basis. Applications for fall cohort have closed September 3, 2023. 

Program dates : Various according to the cohort

Program selectivity : Moderately selective

Eligibility : Ambitious high school students located anywhere in the world. AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI Scholars program or exhibit past experience with AI concepts or Python.

Application Requirements: Online application form, answers to a few questions pertaining to the students background & coding experience, math courses, and areas of interest. 

Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper - apply here !

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Ten simple rules for providing a meaningful research experience to high school students

Emily a. lescak.

1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska, United States of America

Kate M. O’Neill

2 Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America

3 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Giovanna M. Collu

4 Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States of America

Subhamoy Das

5 Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States of America

Introduction

Much has been written about designing research experiences for undergraduate students [ 1 – 4 ], but what about providing meaningful experiences to high school students? There are many formal opportunities for high school students to conduct research, but early-career scientists and principal investigators (PIs) do not necessarily have much experience working with this age group, which presents different opportunities and challenges than working with undergraduates. Thus, we present guidance in this Ten Simple Rules article on how to be an effective research mentor for high school students based on our experiences as early-career biologists and our formal mentor training.

Studies show that students—and the general public as a whole—have a narrow view of what a scientist is, does, and looks like [ 5 , 6 ]. The opportunity to work in a research group may be the first time that high school students encounter a “real scientist.” Likely, it is also their first chance to peek inside the black box that is scientific research—something they may only know from the media. They will experience firsthand what it is like to work in a research environment (whether they are doing experiments or computational work) and will likely be surprised by how communication and collaboration not only are necessary to the scientific process but also make research more rewarding. Performing scientific research gives students the opportunity to witness the practical applications of concepts they have been taught in school and to observe how the experimental and analytical work done in research settings builds upon what they have learned in the classroom. Importantly, they will also experience the excitement and challenges of investigating open-ended questions without predetermined answers. Authentic research experiences can empower students to pursue research opportunities as undergraduates and to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Engaging high school students in research and the process of doing science allows them to form meaningful relationships with mentors who can help them stay on track academically, serve as role models, and help prepare them for future careers. By working with high school students from the local community, mentors can bridge the gap between scientists and the general public and encourage students to attend their local university, which is a benefit for the mentor’s institution, too. For high school students—particularly those who will be first-generation college students—getting comfortable on their local college campuses can make a meaningful impact on their educational goals. There are also opportunities for their supervisors, who are often early-career scientists (graduate students or postdoctoral fellows [postdocs]), to broaden their mentoring skills, improve their communication of the complexities of everyday science to a new audience, and learn how to develop tangible project goals that can be tackled within a finite period—all of which are excellent professional development opportunities.

Opportunities for high school students may be initiated either informally, through outreach with local schools, or formally, through an established program. We have compiled a list of programs , organized by state, that provide high school students with research experiences; please note that this list is not exhaustive. In general, placements range from the occasional half-day visit to year-long internships, and some placements are not necessarily local. Although the rules presented here are intended to guide mentors who will work with students for at least a few weeks, mentors working with students for shorter periods may also find some of these rules helpful.

Some universities and medical schools have volunteer offices or organized programs for bringing high school students into the laboratory, so check whether there are already connections to schools in your area through previous student placements. Moreover, when initiating contact with prospective mentees, consider the opportunity you have to make a meaningful impact in the lives of young people who come from historically underrepresented and underserved populations or underprivileged backgrounds. Scientific societies and funding agencies may have specific mechanisms for funding summer high school students, and many of these are intended for students who come from groups that are underrepresented in science. Example programs from the list above include the American Fisheries Society’s Hutton Program and the Short-Term Experience for Underrepresented Persons at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Some of these programs also provide stipends for the students, which relieves the additional pressure of needing to find a summer job. However you decide to bring a high school student into the laboratory, be sure to discuss with the prospective mentee what they hope to gain from the experience to make sure that your expectations are aligned before either of you commits to the placement.

It is important to recognize that working with high school students presents different challenges and opportunities than working with undergraduates. For example, high school students may be more enthusiastic than undergraduates about performing research because they have likely only engaged in simple lab exercises at school. However, they also have less scientific knowledge than undergraduates and likely are not able to spend as much time doing research because of schedule restrictions. These challenges can easily be mitigated by the mentor with some planning, and we have found mentoring high school students to be extremely rewarding.

If you decide to take on a high school student, we offer ten simple rules as guidance for providing the student with a positive experience while they are working with you. Although these rules were written with postdocs and advanced graduate students as the intended audience, we anticipate that they will also be helpful for PIs who have not yet hosted a high school student in their lab. In addition to these rules, we also recommend participating in mentor training through the National Research Mentoring Network or a similar program and familiarizing yourself with the literature on best practices in mentoring ([ 7 – 9 ] among many others) to strengthen your foundation in communicating and goal setting.

Rule 1: Check with your institution’s environmental health and safety/risk management offices to confirm the rules and regulations for working with minors

Anyone working in a research lab must be compliant with institutional safety regulations. It is important to be fully aware of the required paperwork, training, permissions, and other administrative steps before you reach out to potential mentees. Students performing computational work will likely still have some training to complete before they can begin working in the lab. As the primary mentor, it is your job to work with your PI and institutional officials (e.g., environmental health and safety officers, building managers) to find out what needs to be done for you to be able to work with the student and for the student to be able to work in the lab.

Any online training that the student can complete before they start in the lab will save valuable research time, but they will likely have to participate in on-site training too. You as the mentor may also be required to complete specific training for working with minors, and the student’s guardian will likely need to sign consent forms. If feasible, schedule an initial, in-person meeting that includes the student, their guardian, the placement coordinator (if applicable), and the lab PI to explain the nature of the work and address any concerns. When the student does start working in the lab, and if they are doing experimental work, there might be protocols or procedures in which they cannot participate directly because of their status as a minor (e.g., working with vertebrates or using high-risk equipment), but you can involve them by allowing them to observe you during these tasks if it is safe and legal to do so. Make sure that you have personal protective equipment (lab coats, gloves) in the appropriate size. Finally, be sure to document any training you and the student complete and keep copies in your office and with the lab’s personnel records.

Rule 2: Make sure that you and your PI agree on reasonable, time-bound expectations and goals for the student’s mentoring experience

Be proactive in planning the student’s placement in the lab, and discuss with your PI how you plan to manage your time with the student. Have a conversation with your PI and other lab members (if appropriate) about both the concerns associated with taking on a high school student and how the mentorship can benefit the lab’s research program, your professional development, and, of course, the prospective student! By taking these steps, you will ensure that the relationship between the student, PI, and other lab members is off to a good start and that you and your PI are on the same page regarding expectations for—and limitations of—the experience.

Rule 3: Be realistic about your expectations for the student, and provide positive feedback

For the student to have a positive experience in the lab, it is important to set them up for success by designing a realistic project. You have to consider how much time they can actually commit to the project outside of school—and also how much time you have—and whether you will have a whole day with them or only smaller blocks of time. Student availability will vary depending on the kind of placement and its required time commitment. Discuss the student’s school curriculum with them or (if possible) their teachers to ensure that the project is designed at an appropriate level. A good project will result in the student feeling that they have accomplished something, learned new information and skills, and contributed to the lab’s larger goals by the end of their time with you.

An equally important aspect of your mentoring relationship is providing positive, constructive feedback. The student may not have confidence in their laboratory or analysis skills, because they will be new to research, so make sure to praise them for their work. Positive affirmations will help them gain confidence in their abilities, which is particularly important for women [ 10 ] and other groups underrepresented in STEM [ 11 ]. Inevitably, the student will make mistakes (we all do!), but make sure you highlight what they have done well. Then, together, brainstorm ways they can improve. These microaffirmations can go a long way in inspiring them to realize their own ability.

Rule 4: Set goals early, and revisit them often

The student might have unrealistic expectations of what they can accomplish during their research experience because they are new to laboratory research. Thus, it is your duty as the mentor to explicitly set goals with both the best- and worst-case scenarios in mind and to manage expectations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with some of the resources available on goal setting [ 12 , 13 ] to ensure that the goals you set for the student are realistic.

Set overall goals for the entire duration of the student’s research experience as well as for smaller periods of time (e.g., weekly), and revisit them regularly. The overall goal could be as simple as learning a new technique or analysis method or as complex as answering a small scientific question. High school students are generally accustomed to structured approaches in their schools, so providing a structured plan will help them to be productive in the lab and not feel overwhelmed. It will be a learning experience for them to realize that experiments or analyses often present technical difficulties and that original hypotheses are not always supported. You can show them how you iteratively improve, how you learn lessons from difficult experiments or analyses, and how these factors influence your goals. You can use these instances as teaching opportunities and explain that troubleshooting and course correction are critical steps in the scientific discovery process. Finally, to put everything on paper, consider developing a document in collaboration with the student that outlines expectations for communication and goals for your time together [ 14 ]. In this document, make sure that you agree with the student and guardian how you will communicate and that the student understands that they need to let you know in advance if they are unable to be in the lab at their scheduled time. This will help them develop their understanding of professional norms and managing deadlines.

Rule 5: Design a deliverable for the end of the experience

Just like high school students have finals or class projects at the end of the term, it is important for you to work with the student to produce a final deliverable at the conclusion of the research experience. Examples of deliverables include the following: (1) a short summary to be shared with their teachers or school newspaper; (2) a presentation to their science class; (3) a summary for their college application; or for longer-term placements, (4) a poster presentation at the university/institution or a local conference. Formal mentorship programs likely require a presentation in one of these formats. Establish this expectation at the start of your time together (see Rule 4 ), and set aside time for the student to start working on the deliverable as soon as possible. Provide accessible, relevant background literature so that they can begin learning on their first day in the lab. To ensure they stay on track, set checkpoints along the way so that the student can complete the deliverable on time. If they are not part of a formal program that has a planned presentation at the end, discuss which of the various options works best for them. The experience of summarizing and presenting their research—no matter the format—is not only a valuable learning opportunity in terms of understanding their own work but also important for developing communication skills. Bear in mind that the student will need guidance in best practices for presenting and synthesizing their work. Provide them with examples and resources to empower them to be successful, and start the process early to avoid unnecessary stress.

Rule 6: Structure the student’s time when they are in the lab

Do not assume that the student has experience with time management, because it is generally managed for them by their school. Spend time explaining how you plan your schedule and manage distractions. Encourage good practices, such as planning experiments or analyses in advance and filling in their lab notebook. For long-term placements (summer or year-long), be proactive about dividing your own time between working with the student and working on your independent research. Build in dedicated time for the student to read through protocols and any other information that you provide so that they can process and reinforce the knowledge they are acquiring. If the placement requires the student to spend several hours in a row working in the laboratory, pay attention to their energy levels, and be flexible about break times because they are likely accustomed to having breaks throughout the day at school.

To enhance the student's experience, also consider introducing them to other scientists and staff at your institution so that they can learn about different aspects of research and STEM careers. This can be transformative in college planning and can also expose them to career options they did not know existed. If you teach or engage in outreach or other aspects of service, consider allowing the student to attend your classes or meetings, if appropriate, so that they have a more complete idea of what a day in the life of a scientist is like.

Rule 7: Help the student see both the forest and the trees

An important aspect of learning to think like a scientist is to understand the big picture (the forest) and how each experiment (the trees) meshes with those goals. Explain to the student the context of the project to which they are contributing, the big questions that you are trying to answer, and how their work fits into the lab’s overall goals. It can be easy for students to undervalue the work they do, particularly because day-to-day lab work tends to be iterative with incremental gains. Impress upon them the value of their work, and make sure they thoroughly understand each step. Consider also inviting the student to research group meetings so that they can better understand the broader picture of the work you are doing and the collaborative nature of research.

Rule 8: Guide the student toward becoming independent in their work and taking ownership of their project

Performing scientific research in the laboratory requires a level of independence that is not as necessary in the classroom, and this may surprise the student working with you. To help them grow as a scientist, make sure to explain this difference at the beginning of your time together, and reinforce it often. Explain how, unlike projects designed for laboratory courses in school, there is no answer you “should” get in scientific research. There may be an answer that you are expecting—your hypothesis—but even the interpretation of those results can be open ended. Demonstrate to the student how you think outside the box when planning the next step or interpreting results, and encourage them to share their ideas. By brainstorming next steps together, you will teach the student by example how to take ownership of their project.

As their research progresses, hopefully the student is becoming proficient in experimental and/or analytical skills. Make sure that you are available when they are doing experiments and analyses, and be sure to guide them fully through a technique the first few times by showing them first and then doing it together until they feel comfortable. At this point, you will still need to supervise them to make sure they are working safely in the lab or setting up their analyses correctly. Build in reflective checkpoints so that the student can track their progress. They will likely have many questions at first and may not understand the purpose of each step—science is not always intuitive. As the student becomes more independent, ask them in an informal and nonintimidating way why they do a certain step in an experiment or analysis. When they do make a mistake, address it right away, and assure them that it is part of the learning process. Teach them how to document any errors and resulting mitigation through note-taking. You can impress upon the student the importance of taking detailed notes, but they will need guidance on how to keep a lab notebook [ 15 ]. You can help by checking their notebook regularly and providing feedback (see Rule 3 ). Explain how the documentation process is critical for reproducibility, and relate it back to the “lab reports” that they have done—or will do—in school.

Rule 9: Show the student you are human

High school students may be intimidated by you or your lab-mates even though that is not the intent. To ensure that the student feels welcomed in the lab, make sure to introduce them to other lab members during lunch or during a regularly scheduled group meeting. To become more relatable to the student, have conversations with them about what you were like at their age, your hobbies and experiences at school, and how you got to where you are today. Sharing the challenges that you have overcome will help the student understand that they are not expected to be perfect. They are likely anxious about the possibility of making a mistake, ruining your experiment, or not making a good impression. Showing the student how you handle and learn from mistakes will take some of the pressure off them.

Also, allow the student to see that you have a life outside of your work. If you have a family or other caregiving responsibilities that you feel comfortable talking about, share them with the student. It can be transformative for students to see that scientists can manage personal and work responsibilities. Doing so will also humanize you and strengthen your ability to be a role model for a diverse range of students.

Rule 10: Establish a long-term mentoring relationship

Finally, we suggest that you approach this mentoring experience as an open-ended one. High school students, regardless of the paths they pursue, will be embarking on profound transitions after graduation. Whether they know it or not, they could use a mentor throughout the process—for application review, general advice, and/or networking opportunities. If you have rapport, there is no reason that your mentoring relationship must end when the student stops working in the lab. However, it is possible that the student may be too shy or feel bad about asking for more of your time outside of the lab. Offer to keep in touch, and mean it. Make sure the student has a way to contact you. Follow up with their guardian, teacher, or placement coordinator 1 month or so after they have left the lab to see how they are doing. You never know the impact you can make. Good luck!

Integrating a high school student into the lab has both challenges and benefits. It certainly takes time to explain concepts, teach techniques, and supervise their experiments and analyses. However, this investment has the potential to provide an invaluable opportunity for the student to engage in meaningful work and to open doors for their future educational and career opportunities.

If you are currently or soon will be a mentor to a high school student, reach out to Future PI Slack (twitter handle: @FuturePI_Slack). We have a #mentoring channel where we discuss best practices, provide advice on challenges, and share successes. We also encourage all scientists, regardless of career stage, to develop mentoring networks that they can rely on for advice, encouragement, and feedback.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Future PI Slack and the Genetics Society of America’s Early Career Scientist Leadership Program for providing platforms for them to meet and discuss mentoring. EAL would like to acknowledge Amber Jaasma, Gary Snyder, and Elsa Hoppenworth for valuable feedback. KMO would like to thank ASP at UMD and Ellen Wu at Feinberg for their helpful feedback. GMC thanks the Center for Excellence in Youth Education at ISMMS for coordinating high school student placements.

Funding Statement

The authors received no specific funding for this work, but they would like to acknowledge the funding that supported them while writing this article. EAL was funded by NSF PRFP 1611913. KMO was funded in part by MURI grant #FA9550-16-1-0052 to Dr. Wolfgang Losert at UMD and in part by the Intramural Research Program at NIH, NINDS, via grant Z01-NS003013 to Dr. Edward Giniger. SD was supported by the 2018 ChEM-H Postdoc Seed Grant and startup funds from the Kaltschmidt lab. The publication of this work was supported in part by the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund and in part by the aforementioned MURI grant. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Back to School: Top Resources for Developing Student Research Skills

Around the world, students and educators are gearing up for a new school year — one that will be productive and successful. School libraries play a crucial role in this process by providing access to essential resources that foster research skills, information literacy and academic achievement. EBSCO offers library databases and e-learning tools that can help students (and teachers) hit the ground running.

As students return to the classroom, library databases become invaluable tools in honing their research skills. Databases provide access to a wealth of reliable resources that students will need for assignments, projects and papers throughout the school year. By using these tools, students will learn how to identify reliable sources, conduct advanced searches, understand the scope of academic research, and develop essential information literacy skills that will support their academic success.

Explora , the EBSCO research experience for schools, is designed to be user-friendly for all students, especially younger or novice researchers. While keyword searching is a common method, Explora’s unique topic browsing feature allows students to delve into various subjects and themes within the database. Each topic category in Explora guides users to a page filled with popular, colloquial, or curriculum-based subtopics, encouraging them to explore and discover new information more organically. Additionally, Explora includes a built-in citation tool to help students correctly reference their sources.

Librarians and teachers who incorporate Explora into classroom instruction can leverage our Research and Writing Tips for Students , which includes a six-step research guide and handouts on critical topics such as crafting thesis statements and avoiding plagiarism. In addition, our lesson plans cover a wide range of subjects to support information literacy instruction and the seamless integration of library databases into the curriculum.

EBSCOlearning also offers a variety of resources to support the development of research and information literacy skills in high school students. Libraries subscribing to PrepSTEP for High Schools can access several tutorials and microlessons on relevant topics, including:

• What is Information Literacy?
• Research Basics: Information Literacy
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Can someone explain how doing research in high school works?

Can someone give me an in depth explanation as to how the whole process works? Like what I do, what my mentor does, whether or not I need a mentor, how long it will take, and how I will get published.

I'm confused because I don't see how a high schooler can make any breakthroughs in whatever field they are researching, so I don't know what they would write about. Do they just assist their mentor?

I'm also wondering how exactly to start. I asked some people I know who do or have done research, and all of them had programs in school or summer camps that led them through the whole process, but my school does not have such a program, and summer is over.

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2025 Research Designations FAQs

• Research Designations

Frequently Asked Questions

Why change the methodology for calculating R1?

Since 2005, the methodology for classifying R1 institutions has been based on a complicated, 10-metric formula that uses normative and relative scores and places a cap on the number of institutions that can be classified as R1. The result is an opaque process and a moving target that makes it impossible to determine exactly what an institution must do to become classified as R1. This has created unintended competition between institutions that are left to guess what it takes to receive the R1 designation.

The R1 grouping is intended to capture institutions where there is a very high amount of research occurring, measured by the number of research/scholarship doctorates awarded and the amount of spending on research and development. That research activity can be undertaken in any way that an institution chooses to further its mission. The updated methodology makes that clearer.

What are the changes to classifying research? How will you calculate the new R1?

Moving forward, the methodology for determining R1 will return to using a clear threshold. For the 2025 Carnegie Classifications, the threshold will be set at $50 million in total R&D spending and 70 doctoral research degrees. To determine which institutions meet this threshold, the classifications will use the higher of either a three-year rolling average or most recent year data. The research spending will be taken from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey, and the doctoral research degree number will be taken from the National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS data. Any institution that meets this new R1 threshold will be included.

We will also change the title of this category to R1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production.

How will you define R2?

Unlike R1, the existing methodology for determining R2 is already based on a threshold, which will continue to remain the same in the next update. The threshold for R2 will continue to be defined as institutions with at least 20 doctoral research degrees that also have at least $5 million in total research expenditures (as reported through the NSF HERD Survey). There will not be a cap on the number of institutions that can be in this category.

We will also change the title of this category to R2: High Research Spending and Doctorate Production.

How will you define the new “Research Colleges and Universities” research designation?

The new Research Colleges and Universities designation will be based on expenditures only and will include any institution that spends more than $2.5 million on research expenditures (as reported through the NSF HERD survey). Institutions that are in the R1 or R2 designations are not included. There will not be a cap on the number of institutions that can be in this category.

Which institutions are eligible for the R1, R2, and RCU categories?

Any institution that meets the criteria for a particular category is able to be designated as an R1 institution, R2 institution, or Research College and University. Previously, the research classifications had only been open to a narrow set of doctoral-granting institutions. Moving forward, any institution – including special focus institutions, baccalaureate-only institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, and others – could be designated as a research institution, depending on that institution’s data.

How will the research designations fit into the structure of the Basic Classification?

The research designations will be separated from the Basic Classification, becoming additional listings for those institutions that meet the definitions. Research activity continues to be an important way to reflect institutional missions for a number of colleges and universities and will continue to be recognized, but it will no longer be the exclusive driver for how American higher education institutions are classified.

Will you change the research designation thresholds in the future?

We expect to adjust the thresholds over time. We will share updated thresholds in advance of each classification release.

How often are the Carnegie Classifications updated?

The Carnegie Classifications will continue to be published on a three-year cycle. The 2021 Carnegie Classifications were released in February 2022, and we expect to release the 2025 Carnegie Classifications in early 2025.

Where can I read more about the changes announced so far?

On November 1, 2023, ACE and the Carnegie Foundation announced the changes outlined above as we work toward the release of the 2025 Carnegie Classifications. In addition, you can read more about the changes and share input on potential characteristics for the new Basic Classification here.

Does the November 1 announcement change an institution’s current Carnegie Classifications?

The changes announced on November 1, including to the R1 threshold, do not impact the current 2021 Carnegie Classifications that were released in February 2022. These changes will be made as a part of the 2025 Carnegie Classifications. The classifications will continue to be revised on a three-year schedule moving forward.

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What research says about preventing school shootings

Cory Turner

Jeffrey Pierre

Students and residents mourn those who lost their lives near the scene of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

Wednesday's violence at a Georgia high school and the arrest of a 14-year-old suspect follow a familiar pattern of previous school shootings. After every one, there's been a tendency to ask, "How do we prevent the next one?"

For years, school safety experts, and even the U.S. Secret Service, have rallied around some very clear answers. Here's what they say.

It's not a good idea to arm teachers

There's broad consensus that arming teachers is not  a good policy. That's according to Matthew Mayer, a professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. He's been studying school violence since before Columbine, and he's part of a group of researchers who have published several position papers about why school shootings happen.

Law enforcement had prior warning about suspect in fatal Georgia high school shooting

Mayer says arming teachers is a bad idea "because it invites numerous disasters and problems, and the chances of it actually helping are so minuscule."

In 2018, a Gallup poll  also found that most teachers do not want to carry guns in school, and overwhelmingly favor gun control measures over security steps meant to "harden" schools. When asked which specific measures would be "most effective" at preventing school shootings, 57% of teachers favored universal background checks, and the same number, 57%, also favored banning the sale of semiautomatic weapons such as the one used in the Parkland attack.

Raise age limits for gun ownership

School safety researchers support tightening age limits for gun ownership, from 18 to 21. They say 18 years old is too young to be able to buy a gun; the teenage brain is just too impulsive. And they point out that the school shooters in Parkland, Santa Fe, Newtown, Columbine and Uvalde were all under 21.

School safety researchers also support universal background checks and banning assault-style weapons . But it's not just about how shooters legally acquire firearms. A 2019 report  from the Secret Service found that in half the school shootings they studied, the gun used was either readily accessible at home or not meaningfully secured.

Of course, schools don't have control over age limits and gun storage. But there's a lot they can still do.

Schools can support the social and emotional needs of students

A lot of the conversation around making schools safer has centered on hardening schools by adding police officers and metal detectors. But experts say schools should actually focus on softening  to support the social and emotional needs of students .

"Our first preventative strategy should be to make sure kids are respected, that they feel connected and belong in schools," says Odis Johnson Jr., of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Safe and Healthy Schools.

That means building kids' skills around conflict resolution, stress management and empathy for their fellow classmates — skills that can help reduce all sorts of unwanted behaviors, including fighting and bullying.

In its report, the Secret Service found most of the school attackers they studied had been bullied.

The School Shootings That Weren't

Jackie Nowicki has led multiple school safety investigations at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She and her team have identified some of things schools can do to make their classrooms and hallways feel safer, including "anti-bullying training for staff and teachers, adult supervision, things like hall monitors, and mechanisms to anonymously report hostile behaviors."

The Secret Service recommends schools implement what they call a threat assessment model, where trained staff — including an administrator, a school counselor or psychologist, as well as a law enforcement representative — work together to identify and support students in crisis before they hurt others.

Earlier this year, the National Association of Secondary School Principals released new guidance for preventing school violence.

It noted that ensuring that educators, parents and students have access to mental health services is a "critical component" in preventing violence and increasing school safety. And the organization called for congressional action to provide support for those services.

This story has been updated from an earlier version published on May 26, 2022.

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Table of Contents

2025 college free speech rankings.

Executive Summary

For the fifth year in a row, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonprofit organization committed to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought, and College Pulse surveyed college undergraduates about their perceptions and experiences regarding free speech on their campuses.

This year’s survey includes 58,807 student respondents from 257 colleges and universities. Students who were enrolled in four-year degree programs were surveyed via the College Pulse mobile app and web portal from January 25 through June 17, 2024. 

The College Free Speech Rankings are available online and are presented in an interactive dashboard ( rankings.thefire.org ) that allows for easy comparison between institutions. 

Key findings:

• The University of Virginia is this year’s top ranked school for free speech. Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University, and Georgia Tech round out the top five.
• Harvard University is this year’s bottom ranked school for free speech for the second year in a row. Joining it in the bottom three are Columbia University and New York University. All three of these schools have an “Abysmal” speech climate. The University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College round out the bottom five and each has a “Very Poor” speech climate.
• All of the bottom five schools experienced a number of controversies involving the suppression of free expression. They also received significantly lower scores than the top five schools on “Administrative Support,” “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” and “Tolerance Difference,” which measures the strength of students’ favoritism when it comes to allowing liberal or conservative speakers on campus.
• Since 2020, UVA, Michigan Tech, FSU, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, Mississippi State University, Auburn University, George Mason University, Kansas State University, the University of Mississippi, the University of Chicago, and Claremont McKenna College have all consistently performed well in FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings.
• A majority of students (55%) said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is difficult to “have an open and honest conversation about on campus,” a record high for a topic on this question in the five years we have asked it. At least 75% of students on 17 of the campuses surveyed responded this way to this question.
• The percentages of students who said shouting down a speaker, blocking other students from entering an event, and using violence to stop a campus speech is at least “rarely” acceptable all increased since last year. 
• A majority of students said that six of eight hypothetical controversial campus speakers should “probably” or “definitely” not be allowed on campus.
• Student concerns about self-censorship have declined. This year, 17% of students said they feel like they cannot express their opinion on a subject at least a couple of times a week because of how students, a professor, or the administration would respond. Last year, this percentage was 20%, and in 2022 it was 22%.

About College Pulse

College Pulse is a survey research and analytics company dedicated to understanding the attitudes, preferences, and behaviors of today’s college students. College Pulse delivers custom data-driven marketing and research solutions, utilizing its unique American College Student Panel™ that includes over 850,000 college students and recent alumni from more than 1,500 two- and four-year colleges and universities in all 50 states.

For more information, visit collegepulse.com or @CollegeInsights on X.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE also recognizes that colleges and universities play a vital role in preserving free thought within a free society. To this end, we place a special emphasis on defending these rights of students and faculty members on our nation’s campuses.

For more information, visit thefire.org or @thefireorg on X.

Acknowledgments and Suggested Citation

Our gratitude goes to Sean Stevens for questionnaire design, developing the scoring methodology, data analysis, and authoring this report; and to Nathan Honeycutt for support with questionnaire design, developing the scoring methodology, data analysis, data validation, and editing. We would additionally like to thank Sam Abrams for help with questionnaire design and developing the scoring methodology; Keelyn M. Gallagher, Logan Dougherty, Angela C. Erickson, Komi Frey, Sigrid Fry-Revere, Emily Nayyer, and Ryne Weiss for support with data validation; and Khalia Abner and Jackson Fleagle for designing this report.

Greg Lukianoff

President and CEO, FIRE 

Suggested citation: 

Stevens, S.T. (2024). 2025 College Free Speech Rankings: What Is the State of Free Speech on America’s College Campuses? The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/2025-college-free-speech-rankings

In 2020, in collaboration with College Pulse and RealClearEducation, FIRE launched a first-of-its-kind tool to help high school students and their parents identify which colleges promote and protect the free exchange of ideas: the College Free Speech Rankings. The response to the rankings report and corresponding online tool was overwhelmingly positive. 

We heard from prospective students how helpful it is to see what a large number of current students reported about the campus climate for open discussion and inquiry, allowing for comparisons between colleges. We also heard from colleges and universities that the rankings helped them better understand their campus climate in order to improve it. Similarly, professors and staff became better equipped to understand which topics students on their campuses find difficult to discuss. 

Each year, we have increased the number of campuses surveyed — from 55 in 2020 to 257 this year. In these five years, we have obtained survey responses from more than 200,000 undergraduates, including 58,807 this year. As in previous years, the College Free Speech Rankings dashboard ( rankings.thefire.org ) is available on the College Pulse website and the FIRE website. The dashboard offers a unique tool to compare schools’ free speech rankings and to explore other factors that students find important in a college or university, such as cost and proximity to home.

2025 College Free Speech Rankings expose threats to First Amendment rights on campus

Press release.

University of Virginia takes the top spot, while Harvard, Columbia, and NYU share an “Abysmal” free speech status.

The rankings offer students, parents, professors, administrators, and any other interested constituency unrivaled insight into undergraduate attitudes about and experiences with free expression on their college campuses. It also allows viewers to compare different colleges’ culture for free expression. Prospective students and their parents, as well as students considering transferring to another college, can use the rankings to assess and compare the speech climates at the schools they are considering attending. Current college students, professors, and administrators can use the rankings to better understand their own campus climate and see how it compares to that of others across the country. 

The data examined in this report provide a wealth of information about college student attitudes about free speech and the state of free speech on campuses across America. Do students feel comfortable speaking out about topics about which they are passionate, even when they have a minority viewpoint, in the classroom or in common campus areas? Are they open to hearing from challenging and sometimes controversial speakers? Are they open to allowing speakers to visit campus without facing a heckler’s veto — or worse?

The body of this report sheds light on the answers to these questions, among others, and contains three sections: 

• First, it presents the core findings of the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings. 
• It then presents a deeper analysis of some of the campuses impacted by the encampments that students set up during the spring 2024 semester to protest Israel’s military response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack. 
• The final section of this report presents analyses of college students’ free speech attitudes and experiences. 

The analyses of the encampment protests are buttressed by an accompanying report detailing the results of a separate survey conducted on 30 campuses after the encampment protests began. This report was released in conjunction with this year’s rankings.

A lot has happened since FIRE released the 2024 College Free Speech Rankings last September. Most significantly, Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza sent shockwaves through American college and university campuses. 

Campus deplatforming attempts occurred at record levels, and protesters attempted to disrupt events with increasing frequency — and succeeded with increasing regularity. [1] Students, student groups, and faculty who expressed pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian sentiment were targeted for sanction by their peers, administrators, and elected officials. [2] University presidents testified in front of the House of Representatives on matters related to speech and protest on campus, and some subsequently resigned. [3]

This past spring, students on campuses across the country set up encampments to protest Israel’s military operations in Gaza, demanding that colleges and universities divest from companies who work with Israel or its military. [4] Members of the general public have not looked fondly on these protests: Three-quarters of them said that students who participate in the encampments should be disciplined in some way. [5]

Given all of this, it is not surprising that American confidence in higher education is at a record low. [6]  

In response to the encampment protests, FIRE and College Pulse reopened this year’s rankings survey on any campus with an encampment. This allowed us to collect survey data from students while the encampments were taking place. [7] In comparing this data to data from the same campus before an encampment started, we were able to measure changes in the campus speech climate in real time. This means that this year’s rankings provide a treasure trove of data on the evolving state of free expression at American colleges and universities.

As you will see, a college’s scores often reflect its response to the events of the past year. 

The Best and Worst Colleges for Free Speech

This year the University of Virginia is the top ranked school for free speech with an overall score of 73.41. Michigan Technological University, last year’s top school, ranks second overall with a score of 73.15. Florida State University, last year’s fifth-place school, ranks third with a score of 72.46. Each of the top three schools have a “Good” speech climate and actively defended free expression during campus speech controversies — UVA and Michigan Tech did so on multiple occasions. None of the three schools have a perfect record, but their actions to uphold free speech contributed to their position in the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings. 

FIRE has surveyed and ranked all of the top three schools multiple times over the five years that we have conducted the rankings. They consistently perform well. We surveyed UVA all five years: It achieved a ranking of 6 (twice), 22, and 24 before earning the top spot this year. We surveyed FSU four times: It achieved a ranking of 5 (twice) and 15 prior to earning the third slot this year. We only surveyed Michigan Tech twice: It came in second place this year after being last year’s top school. 

Eastern Kentucky University, with a score of 69.60, and Georgia Institute of Technology, with a score of 69.39, round out the top five. Both schools have “Above Average” speech climates. Like Michigan Tech, EKU made its rankings debut last year and also did well with a ranking of 15. 

All of the top five schools are state universities. Their average score is 71.60.

At the other end of the rankings, Harvard University came in last for the second year in a row and again obtained the lowest score possible: 0.00. This year, however, Harvard has company. Columbia University ranks 250, also with an overall score of 0.00. [8] New York University, with a score of 3.33, ranks 249. All three of these schools have “Abysmal” speech climates. The University of Pennsylvania, with a score of 12.50, and Barnard College, with a score of 15.62, round out the bottom five. Both of these schools have a “Very Poor” speech climate. 

In the aftermath of Claudine Gay's resignation, here's how Harvard can reform itself

With the loss of its president, America’s worst college for free speech is at another crossroads.

All of the bottom five schools are private institutions. Their average score is 6.29.

Why do the schools in the bottom five do so poorly? For starters, they each experienced a number of controversies in which expression was censored, suppressed, or shouted down. For instance, since 2020 we documented 20 speech controversies at Harvard that resulted in a deplatforming, a scholar sanction, a student sanction, or an attempted disruption of an event. In the same time frame, we documented 14 such incidents at Columbia, 12 at NYU, 10 at Penn, and 7 at Barnard. These incidents collectively resulted in 13 deplatformings, nine attempted disruptions, 23 scholar sanctions, and 18 student sanctions. During the same time period, we documented only five instances of the bottom five schools vigorously defending free speech. [9]

In contrast, since 2020 the top five schools have issued a total of two scholar sanctions and two student sanctions. During the same time period, we documented no deplatformings or attempted disruptions and seven instances of a top-five school vigorously defending free speech.

The outcomes of these speech controversies may also help explain why the bottom five schools received some of the worst “Administrative Support” scores. On “Administrative Support,” NYU ranks 245, Columbia ranks 247, Harvard ranks 250, and Barnard ranks 251 — dead last. Barnard’s score on “Administrative Support” is almost two full standard deviations below that of Harvard, the second-worst performing school on this component. With a ranking of 219 on the same component, Penn does somewhat better than its bottom-five counterparts, but it still does not do well compared to most other schools on the list. The bottom five schools have an average “Administrative Support” ranking of 242, suggesting that students who attend these schools do not think their administration strongly supports freedom of speech.

The top five schools received considerably higher “Administrative Support” scores than the bottom five schools. [10] Michigan Tech does particularly well, ranking 15. The remaining top five schools’ rankings on this component range from 62 (EKU) to 124 (Georgia Tech). The top five schools have an average “Administrative Support” ranking of 75, and all five scored at least two standard deviations above the scores of four of the bottom five schools — Penn is the lone exception.

The top five schools also received considerably higher “Comfort Expressing Ideas” and “Tolerance Difference” scores than the bottom five schools. [11]  

When it comes to comfort, the top five schools have an average ranking of 111 — led by EKU at 37 and FSU at 44. The bottom five schools, however, have an average ranking of 227. On “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” the top ranked bottom-five school is NYU at 173. Columbia ranks 234, Harvard ranks 235, Penn ranks 245, and Barnard ranks second to last at 250. This indicates that students at the top five schools are significantly more comfortable than students at the bottom five schools expressing their views on controversial political topics on campus in different contexts — such as during a class discussion or during a conversation in the dining hall or lounge.

In terms of political tolerance, students at the bottom five schools are considerably more willing than students at the top five schools to allow controversial liberal speakers on campus. They are considerably less willing to allow controversial conservative speakers on campus. 

The bottom five schools have an average “Tolerance Difference” ranking of 183. Among the bottom five schools, Harvard received the highest “Tolerance Difference” ranking: 131. This ranking is better than that of one of the top five schools, UVA, which received a ranking of 150. However, the remaining bottom five schools all received rankings worse than 150. Penn ranks 172, NYU ranks 188, Columbia ranks 192, and Barnard ranks 232. 

In contrast, the top five schools have an average “Tolerance Difference” ranking of 70, and UVA is the only top-five school that does not rank in the top 100. Michigan Tech ranks 9, EKU ranks 33, FSU ranks 68, and Georgia Tech ranks 89. These findings suggest that students at the top five schools are more politically tolerant than their counterparts at the bottom five schools. This conclusion is further supported by the prevalence of speech suppression on the bottom five campuses — as evidenced by the number of deplatformings, attempted disruptions, sanctioned scholars, and sanctioned students.

In sum, some clear differences exist between the top five and the bottom five schools. The top five schools are reluctant to sanction expression during a speech controversy. As compared to students at the bottom five schools, students at the top five schools believe their administration is more supportive of freedom of speech, feel more comfortable expressing their views on controversial political topics on campus, and appear to exhibit less bias against campus speakers based on the speaker’s political views.

As noted, FIRE has surveyed UVA, Michigan Tech, FSU, and EKU multiple times, and they have each consistently performed well in the rankings. North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, Mississippi State University, Auburn University, George Mason University, Kansas State University, Claremont McKenna College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Mississippi have also performed well year after year. 

At the other end of the spectrum, Columbia, Harvard, and Penn have consistently performed poorly over the years. This list also includes Fordham University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Texas at Austin. Harvard, Georgetown, and RPI have each received FIRE’s Lifetime Censorship Award. [12]  

The rankings, overall score, and speech climate of the top 25 colleges are presented below. Scores are standardized and can range from 0-100. 

The top 25 include 24 schools that received FIRE’s “green light” rating — and one, Northeastern Illinois University, that received FIRE’s “yellow light” rating — for their speech-related policies. The full rankings for all 257 schools and scoring methodology are available in the Appendix, as well as on the College Free Speech Rankings dashboard, the College Pulse website, and the FIRE website. [13]

Risers and Fallers

Each year some students graduate, others transfer, and a new cohort of students enrolls in college. This cohort replacement makes it possible for the speech climate on a campus to change quickly. This year a handful of schools noticeably rose in the rankings. Others precipitously fell. Below, we briefly review a handful of these schools and note the reasons for their rise or fall.

Claremont McKenna College:  After falling from the top 10 to 73 last year, Claremont McKenna — which, like Florida State, we have surveyed four times — returns to its familiar spot in the top 10 with a ranking of 6. 

Claremont McKenna’s performance this year is notable. It ranks:

• 1 on “Comfort Expressing Ideas.” 
• 3 on “Mean Tolerance,” 
• 7 on “Tolerance for Controversial Conservative Speakers.” 
• 8 on “Tolerance for Controversial Liberal Speakers.” 
• 9 on “Administrative Support.”
• 25 on “Self-Censorship.”
• 44 on “Openness.”

These scores suggest that students at Claremont McKenna are comfortable expressing their views on a number of controversial political topics and doing so in a number of different contexts on campus, that they tolerate controversial speakers on campus, and that they believe their administration is committed to the First Amendment. 

Claremont McKenna ranks 100 on “Disruptive Conduct” and 148 on “Tolerance Difference.” Its “Tolerance Difference” ranking suggests that even though most students at Claremont McKenna are tolerant of controversial speakers whether they are liberal or conservative, they are more likely to support allowing a controversial liberal speaker on campus.

University of Chicago:  UChicago took either the first or second spot in each of the first three years of the rankings. Last year, it dropped to a ranking of 13, largely due to the administration’s decision to deny official recognition to a Turning Point USA club because the members "hadn't proved that there was interest in the group" and the club would be "too similar to College Republicans." 

This year, UChicago’s ranking dropped again, this time to 43. This decline is primarily due to two incidents that occurred after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. In one instance, medical students attempted to disrupt a speaking event featuring the newly elected president of the American Medical Association. [14] In the other, students successfully disrupted an organized protest of the Hamas attack that was supposed to feature multiple speakers. [15]  

To UChicago’s credit, on both of these occasions students, not the administration, suppressed speech. The attempted disruption failed because university security escorted the protesters out of the event so that the speaker could complete his remarks successfully. And, in the aftermath of the disrupted event, the university president reiterated the school’s famous Chicago principles — a positive action that mitigated the penalty applied because of the disruption and which is reflected in the school’s rankings score. He stated: 

[N]o member of our community may shout down or seek to prevent the protected expression of those with whom they disagree. You may not tear down a poster. You may not seek to intimidate or threaten another person, or prevent them from hearing an invited speaker. These are egregious offenses against our community. [16]

University of South Carolina and Virginia Commonwealth University: Both of these schools ranked poorly last year. The University of South Carolina was third from the bottom at 246. Virginia Commonwealth University did better, but still not very well, with a ranking of 184. This year both schools made the top 50: VCU ranks 32, and the University of South Carolina ranks 34. 

One reason for their overall improvement is that both schools improved their score on “Comfort Expressing Ideas.” VCU moved from a ranking of 150 to a ranking of 108, and it ranks 18 on “Self-Censorship,” suggesting an improved campus speech climate. The University of South Carolina improved its “Comfort Expressing Ideas” ranking from 160 last year to 100 this year. It also improved considerably on “Administrative Support,” ranking 142 last year and 72 this year.

Another reason for these schools' improvement: Both schools worked directly with FIRE on revisions to their policies to earn a "green light" rating. The University of South Carolina adopted the “Chicago Statement” in June 2023 and revised four policies. VCU revised six. [17]

Syracuse University: In the first year of the rankings, Syracuse did poorly, ranking 51 of 55 schools. Over the next three years, it did better, ranking 38 of 154, 132 of  203, and 107 of 248. [18] This year however, Syracuse ranks 246, falling squarely in the bottom 10. 

Like Harvard University, Georgetown University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University has received FIRE’s Lifetime Censorship Award. [19] So how did it receive a middling ranking most years? 

Last year, we penalized schools for enacting particularly severe sanctions on students for their speech: expulsion, rescinding acceptance, suspension, denying or revoking a student group’s recognition, or censoring a student newspaper. This year, we expanded the list of severe sanctions that could result in a penalty. We now also penalize schools for terminating a student employee, such as a resident assistant, from their campus job, censoring a student or student group, placing a student or student group under investigation for their expression, and mandating that a student undergo cultural competency or sensitivity training. We also penalize schools at which the student government sanctions a student or a student group for their expression.

We recorded seven student sanctions at Syracuse that impacted the school’s overall score: It suspended a student, censored multiple student groups, initiated four investigations of students, and required a student to participate in “Decision-Making” and “Conflict Coaching” workshops. Each of these incidents occurred in either 2022 or 2023. The suspension is the only incident that would have impacted Syracuse’s overall score last year. [20]  

Syracuse University’s decline in the College Free Speech Rankings is not solely due to an expanded universe of student sanctions. We also recorded three deplatformings, all of which occurred in 2023. All these recent incidents — the student sanctions and the 2022 and 2023 deplatformings — may have influenced student survey responses. Last year, Syracuse ranked 15 on “Openness,” 17 on “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” and 123 on “Administrative Support.” This year, it ranks 138, 109, and 157, respectively, on these components.

Barnard College: Barnard’s speech climate was radically altered after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. A month after the attack, the college suspended student groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace and canceled an event the groups were co-sponsoring featuring Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed el-Kurd. [21]  

Earlier this year, protesters attempted to disrupt the incoming president’s inaugural speech and shouted over her as she began her remarks. On another occasion, administrators rejected a panel discussion, forcing student organizers at the last minute to move it off of Barnard’s campus to a location at Columbia University and livestream the event over Zoom. [22]  

The school also placed students under investigation for participating in an “unauthorized” protest and called students into an "administrative conduct meeting" for hanging a pro-Palestinian banner outside their dormitory windows during a campus protest, violating a policy prohibiting placing items outside windows. [23]

All of these incidents occurred after October 7.

Barnard also performed poorly on many of the survey-based components of the rankings, finishing in the bottom 15 on “Self-Censorship” (240), second-to-last on “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” and dead last on “Administrative Support.” As already mentioned, Barnard’s “Administrative Support” score is more than two standard deviations below the next-worst school, Harvard University. This suggests that students have noticed how their administration has responded to expression it dislikes.

Warning Colleges

Hillsdale College, with an overall score of 46.73 of 100, outperformed all of the other “Warning” schools in the rankings by at least 10 points. The overall scores of the other five Warning schools range from 17.49 (Saint Louis University) to 34.91 (Liberty University). The table below presents their overall scores.

Table 2: Warning Colleges

Campus Free Expression Since October 7, 2023

The expression climate on American college and university campuses radically changed in fall 2023 with the flaring military hostilities between Hamas and Israel. For instance, in 2023 we recorded 156 deplatforming attempts on American college and university campuses: a record number. Of these attempts, 54 involve a controversy over expression regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This year, as of this writing, we’ve recorded 110 deplatforming attempts, and 75 of them involve a controversy over expression regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [24]  

In April, campus tensions escalated once again when students protesting Israel’s military actions in Gaza set up encampments on campuses across the country. 

2024 Student Encampment Protests

How did the student encampment protests impact the state of free expression on America’s college campuses?

This section will briefly dive deeper into how student survey responses changed during the encampment protests at Columbia University — and at its affiliated undergraduate women’s college, Barnard College —  the epicenter of this protest movement. It will also explore the impact of the encampments on student responses at the University of Southern California, a university in a different region of the country where post-October 7 campus encampment protests also took place. [25]

Columbia University: In addition to setting up encampments at Columbia, student protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, a campus academic building. University administrators called the police to campus multiple times. After being called to campus by the administration, the New York City police arrested students on more than one occasion. Administrators then modified commencement ceremony plans. [26]  

All of this appears to have impacted how students perceive Columbia’s administration. 

Prior to the campus encampments which began on April 17, about 5 in 10 Columbia students said that it is “not at all” or “not very” clear that their administration clearly protects speech on campus. During the encampments, 6 in 10 Columbia students said it is “not at all” or “not very” clear. Much of this shift is the result of more Columbia students saying it is “not at all” clear that their administration protects speech on campus — 26% after the start of the encampments compared to 14% before them. Before the encampments, 37% of Columbia students said it is “not at all” or “not very” likely that the administration would defend a speaker’s rights during a controversy. During the encampments, 46% said the same. 

The administration’s response to the encampments appears to have also impacted student self-censorship on campus. Prior to the encampments, when asked how often they feel like they cannot express their opinion because of how a student, professor, or the administration would respond, 27% of Columbia students said they feel this way “at least a couple of times a week.” After the start of the encampments, 36% of Columbia students said the same. Much of this increase is the result of a rise in the percentage of students who said they self-censor “very often,” meaning “nearly every day,” from 4% before the encampments to 15% after the start of the encampments.

Whether a school truly holds free expression as a core value is revealed when that school is tested by controversy. If the past year is any indication, a lot of America’s colleges and universities are failing the test.

Students also reported self-censoring more frequently after the start of the encampments than before them in conversations with other students, conversations with professors, and in classroom discussions.

Barnard College:  We already noted that Barnard ranks dead last on “Administrative Support” and suggested that this ranking is the result of the administration’s response to campus events in the wake of October 7. An analysis of Barnard student responses from before and after the encampment protests started suggests that this is indeed the case. 

Barnard students did not believe it is clear that their administration protects free speech even before the encampment protests started: 36% said it is “not at all” clear that the administration protects free speech on campus and 32% said it is “not very” clear. During the encampments, these percentages only rose. Forty-seven percent of Barnard students said it is “not at all” clear and 33% said it is “not very” clear that the administration protects free speech on campus. Prior to the encampments, 14% of Barnard students said it is “very” or “extremely” clear that the administration  does protect speech on campus. After the encampment protests started only 3% of Barnard students said the same. 

When we asked Barnard students how likely their administration would be to defend a speaker’s rights during a controversy, a similar pattern emerged. Before the encampments, 13% said the administration is “not at all” likely to defend a speaker’s rights, and 41% said it is “not very” likely to do so. During the encampments, these percentages increased to 26% and 47%, respectively.

Just like at Columbia, self-censorship among Barnard students noticeably increased after the start of the encampment protests. Prior to the encampments, when asked how often they feel like they cannot express their opinion because of how a student, professor, or the administration would respond, 32% of Barnard students said they feel this way “fairly often,” meaning “at least a couple of times a week.” After the encampments began this percentage increased to 59%. After the encampments began, 31% of Barnard students said they self-censor “very often,” meaning “nearly every day.” Only 10% said the same before the encampment protests.

University of Southern California:  In fall 2023, just before October 7, an Armenian student group at USC and others protested a campus speech by Hasan Murat Mercan, objecting to Murat Mercan's pro-Turkish stance in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Had the protesters successfully canceled or disrupted the event, they would also have prevented speeches by the Azerbaijani consul general and American diplomat James F. Jeffrey. However, the university removed the disruptive protesters from the venue. Protesters physically assaulted Murat Mercan after he left the venue.

USC canceling valedictorian’s commencement speech looks like calculated censorship

The university’s move, citing vague ‘safety concerns’ appears designed to placate critics of the student’s Israel criticism.

Then, in the spring, USC canceled valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s commencement speech, claiming allowing the address to proceed would pose “substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement.” Yet, there is no evidence that the university received any threats or took any steps to secure the event before it canceled the speech. In fact, the university appears to have been motivated by Tabassum's social media posts which criticized Israel. [27] Making matters worse, after students and faculty objected to the cancellation, the university canceled  all of its commencement speakers. These speakers included Jon Chu, Billie Jean King, Maria Rosario Jackson, and Marcia McNutt. [28]  

Prior to the start of nationwide campus encampment protests, 88% of USC students said it is at “somewhat,” “very,” or “extremely” clear that their administration protects free speech on campus. Just 12% said that it is “not very” or “not at all” clear that it does so. After the start of the encampments, however, student perceptions changed. Only roughly half of students said it is at least “somewhat” clear that their administration protects free speech. The other half said it is “not at all” or “not very” clear. As with Columbia and Barnard, a similar issue emerged when we asked USC students how likely their administration would be to defend a speaker’s rights during a controversy. Before the encampments, only 3% said the administration is “not at all” likely to defend a speaker’s rights, whereas after the start of the encampments, 23% said the same. 

Higher percentages of USC students reported discomfort expressing controversial views publicly on campus during the encampments. Prior to the encampments, 53% said they feel “very” or “somewhat” uncomfortable expressing controversial political views on a social media account tied to their name. After the start of the encampments, 67% said the same. When we asked USC students about their comfort publicly disagreeing with a professor, expressing their views during an in-class discussion, and expressing their views in a common campus space both before and after the start of the encampments, we found similar, though smaller, increases in discomfort after the start of the encampments. However, we found no discernible difference in student comfort disagreeing with a professor in a written assignment, a more private action, before versus after the start of the encampments.

National Data

Since 2020, we have surveyed more than 200,000 undergraduates for the College Free Speech Rankings. This year’s survey is the largest ever conducted on undergraduate attitudes about and experience with free expression on college campuses, with a sample size of 58,807. The remainder of this report summarizes the survey’s findings at the national level. All data presented in this section are weighted to provide a nationally representative sample of four-year college undergraduate students.

Student Political Views

Of the students surveyed, 47% identified as politically liberal, 21% identified as conservative, and 16% identified as moderate. The remaining students identified as Democratic Socialists (3%), Libertarians (2%), something else (4%), or said they “haven’t thought much about this” (8%). Seven students (0.01%) did not provide an answer.

Unsurprisingly, 228 of the 257 schools surveyed had a predominantly liberal student body, while only 29 schools had a predominantly conservative one. This latter group includes four of the six “Warning” schools: Baylor University, Brigham Young University, Hillsdale College, and Liberty University. 

At two schools — Kenyon College and Pitzer College —  only one student identified as conservative. At Macalester College, not a single student identified as conservative. The average liberal-to-conservative student ratio on the 228 predominantly liberal campuses is 7:1, with an extremely unbalanced maximum of 85:1 at Kenyon. In contrast, the average conservative-to-liberal student ratio on the 29 predominantly conservative campuses is 2:1, with a maximum of 5:1 at Hillsdale. With the exception of the University of Mississippi, which has a conservative-to-liberal student ratio of 4:1, the predominantly conservative campuses have conservative-to-liberal student ratios of 2:1 or less.

How Do Students Perceive the Administration’s Support for Free Speech?

More than 2 in 5 students (42%) reported that it is only “somewhat” clear that their administration protects free speech on campus, while roughly a quarter (24%) reported that it is “not at all” or “not very” clear that it does so. 

Additionally, 47% reported that their administration would only be “somewhat” likely to defend a speaker’s right to express their views if a speech controversy occurred on campus. More than a quarter, 28%, reported that their administration would be “not at all” or “not very” likely to do so. 

More than half of students identified the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a topic that is “difficult to have an open and honest conversation about” on campus, up from 26% last year.

Although Middle Eastern students make up a small portion of the sample (0.5%), their lack of confidence in their administration’s willingness to protect free speech on campus stands out in comparison to the views of other racial and ethnic groups. A third of Middle Eastern students reported that it is “not at all” or “not very” clear that the administration protects free speech on campus, and 37% reported that the administration would be “not at all” or “not very” likely to defend a speaker’s rights during a speech controversy. 

How Comfortable Are Students Expressing Political Views on Campus?

Overall, students reported low levels of comfort expressing their views on controversial political topics across five different contexts on campus. 

The percentage of students who reported feeling “very” or “somewhat” comfortable ranges from a low of 34%, when expressing an unpopular political opinion to other students on a social media account tied to one’s name, to a high of 50%, when expressing views on a controversial political topic to other students during a discussion in a common campus space or when disagreeing with a professor in a written assignment.

Male students were more likely than female students to say they are “very” or “somewhat” comfortable expressing their views in a number of campus contexts:

• 52% of male students and 48% of female students said they are “very” or “somewhat” comfortable expressing their views on a controversial political topic to other students during a discussion in a common campus space such as a quad, dining hall, or lounge.
• 50% of male students and 44% of female students said they are “very” or “somewhat” comfortable expressing their views on a controversial political topic during an in-class discussion.
• 44% of male students and 34% of female students said they are “very” or “somewhat” comfortable publicly disagreeing with a professor about a controversial political topic.

Very liberal students were also more likely than all other students on campus — including somewhat liberal and slightly liberal students — to say they are “very” or “somewhat” comfortable expressing their views.

How Often Do Students Self-Censor on Campus?

On a positive note, college students’ concern about self-censorship has declined. This year, 17% of students said they “very” or “fairly” often feel like they cannot express their opinion on a subject because of how students, a professor, or the administration would respond. Last year, this percentage was 20%, and in 2022 it was 22% [29] .

Like last year, we provided students with a definition of self-censorship. [30] We then asked three questions about how often they self-censor on campus. [31] A quarter of students said they self-censor “very” or “fairly” often during conversations with other students. And about a quarter of students said they self-censor “very” or “fairly” often during classroom discussions, in conversations with professors, and in conversations with other students. 

Middle Eastern students reported self-censoring more often than Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and multiracial students. 

Very conservative students reported self-censoring most often, with roughly a third (34%) saying they do so “very” or “fairly” often. About a quarter of somewhat conservative students (24%) reported self-censoring “very” or “fairly” often, as did about a fifth of slightly conservative students (22%). 

In contrast, only 15% of very liberal students reported self-censoring “very” or “fairly” often. Twelve percent of somewhat liberal students, 13% of slightly liberal students, and 17% of moderate students said the same.

Which Topics Do Students Find Difficult to Discuss?

More than half of students (55%) identified the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a topic that is “difficult to have an open and honest conversation about” on campus, up from 26% last year. This is only the second time in five years that more than half of all students surveyed identified a particular topic as difficult to “have an open and honest conversation about” on campus — in 2021, 51% of students said that racial inequality is difficult to discuss.

Of the 2,069 Jewish students who responded to this survey question, roughly three-quarters (74%) said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a difficult topic to discuss on campus. About three-fifths of agnostic students (63%), Muslim students (59%), and atheist students (58%) said the same. Slightly more than half of Protestant students (54%) and Catholic students (53%) agreed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a difficult topic to discuss on campus, while slightly lower percentages of Buddhist students (49%) and Hindu students (45%) said the same.

College Protests and the First Amendment

Issue pages.

What are your rights when it comes to protesting on a college campus? FIRE explains your civil liberties on campus during times of protest.

At some schools the percentage of students who said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a difficult topic to discuss on campus is considerably higher than 54%. 

At the following schools, at least 80% of students said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is difficult to discuss: 

• Barnard College (88%)
• Pomona College (85%)
• Brandeis University (84%)
• American University (84%)
• Vassar College (82%)

At the following schools, at least three-quarters of students said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is difficult to discuss:

• Mount Holyoke College (79%)
• Skidmore College (79%)
• Tulane University (79%)
• Columbia University (78%)
• Scripps College (78%)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (77%)
• Colorado College (76%) 
• Washington University in St. Louis (76%)
• Bowdoin College (75%)
• George Washington University (75%)
• Middlebury College (75%)
• University of Denver (75%)

When asked which topics are “difficult to have an open and honest conversation about” on campus, 45% of students identified abortion, 41% identified transgender rights, 36% identified racial inequality, and 36% identified gun control. From last year to this year, the percentage of students who identified each of these topics as difficult to discuss declined.

Table 3. Trends in difficult topics to discuss on campus, 2020-present

Conservative students, and particularly very conservative students, were more likely than liberal or moderate students to say that abortion, transgender rights, and racial inequality are difficult topics to discuss on campus. This pattern reverses for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Liberal students, particularly very liberal students, were more likely than conservative or moderate students to say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is difficult to discuss.

How Acceptable Do Students Consider Different Forms of Disruptive Conduct?

Although most students oppose the use of disruptive tactics to stop a campus speech, disappointing proportions find such tactics acceptable to some degree (answering “always,” “sometimes,” or “rarely”). 

This year, just over half of students (52%) reported that blocking other students from attending a campus speech is at least “rarely” acceptable, up from 45% in 2023 and 37% in 2022. Even more concerning, about a third of students (32%) reported that using violence to stop a campus speech is at least “rarely” acceptable, up from 27% last year and 20% in 2022.

While shouting down a speaker is nonviolent, it is still disruptive and threatens free expression. Successful shoutdowns are examples of the “heckler’s veto” — when an individual or group “vetoes” a speech by severely and substantially disrupting it so that it cannot continue. This year, more than two-thirds of students (68%) said that shouting down a speaker is at least “rarely” acceptable, an increase from 63% last year and 62% in 2022.

Students’ political identification correlates with their level of acceptance of disruptive conduct. 

Very liberal students were particularly accepting of disruptive behaviors:

• 84% of very liberal students said that shouting down a speaker is at least “rarely” acceptable.
• 66% of very liberal students said that blocking other students from attending a campus speech is at least “rarely” acceptable.
• 38% of very liberal students said that using violence to stop a campus speech is at least “rarely” acceptable.

How Tolerant Are Students of Controversial Speakers?

Each year, thousands of lectures and planned talks occur on college campuses across the country without incident. Some of these events spark controversy over the speakers’ views or previous remarks, leading students to attempt to get the speaker uninvited from speaking on campus. These deplatforming attempts can include demanding the silencing of speakers or those who invited them, calling for college officials to disinvite invited guest speakers, disrupting events, and even using violence to prevent expression from occurring. 

Political tolerance has long been assessed by asking people whether they would grant civil liberties — primarily freedom of speech — to nonconformists and controversial or offensive speakers. [32] Therefore, this survey asks students whether, regardless of their own views on the topic, their school should allow a speaker on campus who has expressed one of the following eight ideas: [33]

• “Abortion should be completely illegal.”
• “Black Lives Matter is a hate group.”
• “Transgender people have a mental disorder.”
• “The Catholic church is a pedophilic institution.”
• “The police are just as racist as the Ku Klux Klan.” 
• “Children should be able to transition without parental consent.”
• “Collateral damage in Gaza is justified for the sake of Israeli security.”
• “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Overall, a majority of students said that six of the eight speakers should “definitely” or “probably” not be allowed on campus. Roughly two-thirds of students opposed the speaker who said “Transgender people have a mental disorder” (68%), and the same percentage opposed the speaker who said “Black Lives Matter is a hate group.” At least half opposed the speakers who said the following: 

• “The Catholic church is a pedophilic institution” (51%). 
• “The police are just as racist as the Ku Klux Klan” (53%).
• “Collateral damage in Gaza is justified for the sake of Israeli security” (59%). 

In contrast, 71% of students said that a speaker who said “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” should “definitely” or “probably” be allowed on campus, and 56% said the same about a speaker who said “Children should be able to transition without parental consent.”

Similar to the student responses on the different forms of disruptive conduct, student opposition to controversial speakers often correlated with political identity. 

A majority of very liberal students said that all three controversial liberal speakers should “definitely” or “probably” be allowed on campus, with support ranging from 60% (“The Catholic church is a pedophilic institution”) to 74% (“Children should be able to transition without parental consent”). This is not the case for somewhat liberal students or slightly liberal students, a majority of whom opposed allowing on campus the speaker who said “The Catholic church is a pedophilic institution” and the speaker who said “The police are just as racist as the Ku Klux Klan.

Conclusions

We have good reason to be concerned about the state of free expression on American college and university campuses. Attempts to deplatform campus speakers for their expression are at record levels, [34] and a majority of college undergraduates oppose inviting controversial speakers to campus. [35] During the encampment protests students occupied buildings and attempted to disrupt a number of commencement ceremonies. [36] Before and after the start of these protests, administrators suppressed student and faculty speech and, in some cases, even called in police to arrest students. [37]  

Many colleges’ Free Speech Rankings scores reflect their responses to these events. 

For instance, some of the bottom ranked schools bungled their response to student protests. Stifling expression is not the answer, and arbitrarily applying speech code policies to punish students for some kinds of speech but not others undermines an administration’s credibility. This is reflected by the fact that many of the bottom ranked schools have poor “Administrative Support” scores. A deeper analysis of survey data collected during the encampment protests at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the University of Southern California found that student confidence that the administration protects free speech plummeted from before the start of the encampments to after the encampments were established.

Indiana University and the University of Texas at Austin both ranked in the bottom 10. At Indiana University, this followed reports of snipers stationed on the roofs of campus buildings after the administration called the police to shut down an encampment protest. At the University of Texas at Austin, it followed the university preemptively calling the police to campus, presumably to prevent students from establishing an encampment. [38] Both of these schools also have poor “Administrative Support” scores, ranking 240 and 228, respectively. 

Contrast this with the top schools in the rankings. Encampment protests also occurred at many of these schools. However, they largely resisted the urge to punish students and faculty for their expression. 

Beyond their responses to the encampments, many of the top schools have established a clear pattern of good behavior. 

Not a single deplatforming has occurred at any of them since 2020, and sanctions of faculty and students are rare. The exception is Claremont McKenna, where three scholar sanctions occurred in quick succession in 2021 and 2022: These three sanctions are likely the only thing keeping Claremont McKenna out of the rankings’ top spot. The University of Virginia and Michigan Technological University rank 1 and 2, respectively, because on multiple occasions they clearly stood up for free speech on campus.

This year’s rankings not only capture the expression climate on U.S. college and university campuses, but also reflect current events. The results also reveal the utility of including additional campus behavioral metrics: data from FIRE’s Campus Deplatforming database, Scholars Under Fire database, and forthcoming Students Under Fire database. 

Ultimately, these data send a clear message to college and university administrators: Leadership matters. Contrast the behavior of administrators at UVA and Michigan Tech with that of administrators at Barnard, Columbia, and Harvard. 

Colleges and universities can do a lot to set the tone of the expression climate on campus. For starters, they can maintain clear policies that defend expressive rights, not ambiguous ones that administrators can apply arbitrarily whenever they see fit. With that said, maintaining clear speech-protective policies is not enough. Whether a school truly holds free expression as a core value is revealed when that school is tested by controversy. 

If the past year is any indication, a lot of America’s colleges and universities are failing the test.

Methodology

The College Free Speech Rankings survey was developed by FIRE and administered by College Pulse. No donors to the project took part in designing or conducting the survey. The survey was fielded from January 25 through June 17, 2024. These data come from a sample of 58,807 undergraduates who were then enrolled full-time in four-year degree programs at one of a list of 258 colleges and universities in the United States. The margin of error for the U.S. undergraduate population is +/- 0.4 of a percentage point, and the margin of error for college student sub-demographics ranges from 2-5 percentage points.

The initial sample was drawn from College Pulse’s American College Student Panel™, which includes more than 850,000 verified undergraduate students and recent alumni from schools within a range of more than 1,500 two- and four-year colleges and universities in all 50 states. Panel members were recruited by a number of methods to help ensure student diversity in the panel population. These methods include web advertising, permission-based email campaigns, and partnerships with university-affiliated organizations. To ensure the panel reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of the American college population, College Pulse recruited panelists from a wide variety of institutions. The panel includes students attending large public universities, small private colleges, online universities, historically Black colleges such as Howard University, women’s colleges such as Smith College, and religiously-affiliated colleges such as Brigham Young University. 

College Pulse uses a two-stage validation process to ensure that all its surveys include only students currently enrolled in two-year or four-year colleges or universities. Students are required to provide an “.edu” email address to join the panel and, for this survey, had to acknowledge that they are currently enrolled full-time in a four-year degree program. All invitations to complete surveys were sent using the student’s “.edu” email address or through a notification in the College Pulse app, available on iOS and Android platforms. 

College Pulse applies a post-stratification adjustment based on demographic distributions from multiple data sources, including the Current Population Survey (CPS), the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The “weight” rebalances the sample based on a number of important benchmark attributes, such as race, gender, class year, voter registration status, and financial aid status. The sample weighting is accomplished using an iterative proportional fitting (IFP) process that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables to produce a representative sample of four year undergraduate students in the United States. 

This year College Pulse introduced a similar post-stratification adjustment based on demographic distributions from multiple data sources, including the Current Population Survey (CPS), the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The “school universe weight” rebalances the sample based on a number of important benchmark attributes, such as race, gender, class year, voter registration status, and financial aid status. The sample weighting is accomplished using an iterative proportional fitting (IFP) process that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables to produce a representative sample of four year undergraduate students from the 257 colleges and universities surveyed. 

College Pulse also applies a post-stratification adjustment based on demographic distributions from the Current Population Survey (CPS), the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). This “school weight” rebalances the sample from each individual school surveyed based on a number of important benchmark attributes, such as race, gender, class year, voter registration status, and financial aid status. The sample weighting is accomplished using an iterative proportional fitting (IFP) process that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables to produce a representative sample of students at each individual school. 

All weights are trimmed to prevent individual interviews from having too much influence on the final results and to ensure over-sampled population groups do not completely lose their voice.

The use of these weights in statistical analysis ensures that the demographic characteristics of the sample closely approximate the demographic characteristics of the target populations. Even with these adjustments, surveys may be subject to error or bias due to question wording, context, and order effects. 

For further information, please see:  https://collegepulse.com/methodology .

Free Speech Rankings

The College Free Speech Rankings are based on a composite score of 14 components, seven of which assess student perceptions of different aspects of the speech climate on their campus. The other seven assess behavior by administrators, faculty, and students regarding free expression on campus. Higher scores indicate a better campus climate for free speech and expression.

Student Perceptions

The student perception components include: 

• Comfort Expressing Ideas: Students were asked how comfortable they feel expressing their views on controversial topics in five different campus contexts (e.g., “in class,” or “in the dining hall”). Options ranged from “very uncomfortable” to “very comfortable.” Responses were coded so that higher scores indicate greater comfort expressing ideas. The maximum number of points is 20.
• Self-Censorship: Students were provided with a definition of self-censorship and then asked how often they self-censored in three different contexts on campus (e.g., “in a classroom discussion”). Responses were coded so that higher scores indicate self-censoring less often. The maximum number of points is 15. [39]  
• Tolerance for Liberal Speakers: Students were asked whether three speakers espousing views potentially offensive to conservatives (e.g., “The police are just as racist as the Ku Klux Klan.”) should be allowed on campus, regardless of whether they personally agree with the speaker’s message. Options ranged from “definitely should not allow this speaker” to “definitely should allow this speaker” and were coded so that higher scores indicate more tolerance of the speaker (i.e., more support for allowing the speaker on campus). The maximum number of points is 12.
• Tolerance for Conservative Speakers: Students were also asked whether three speakers espousing views potentially offensive to liberals (e.g., “Black Lives Matter is a hate group”) should be allowed on campus, regardless of whether they personally agree with the speaker’s message. Scoring was performed in the same manner as it was for the “Tolerance for Liberal Speakers” subcomponent, and the maximum number of points is 12.
• Disruptive Conduct: Students were asked how acceptable it is to engage in different methods of protest against a campus speaker, including “shouting down a speaker or trying to prevent them from speaking on campus,” “blocking other students from attending a campus speech,” and “using violence to stop a campus speech.” Options ranged from “always acceptable” to “never acceptable” and were coded so that higher scores indicate less acceptance of disruptive conduct. The maximum number of points is 12. 
• Administrative Support: Students were asked how clear it is that their administration protects free speech on campus and how likely the administration would be to defend a speaker’s right to express their views if a controversy over speech occurred on campus. For the administrative clarity question, options ranged from “not at all clear” to “extremely clear,” and for the administrative controversy question, options ranged from “not at all likely” to “extremely likely.” Options were coded so that higher scores indicate greater clarity and a greater likelihood of defending a speaker’s rights. The maximum number of points is 10. 
• Openness: Finally, students were asked which of 20 issues (e.g., “abortion,” “freedom of speech,” “gun control,” and “racial inequality”), if any, are difficult to have open conversations about on campus. Responses were coded so that higher scores indicate fewer issues being selected. The maximum number of points is 20.

Two additional constructs, “Mean Tolerance” and “Tolerance Difference,” were computed from the “Tolerance for Liberal/Conservative Speaker” components. “Tolerance Difference” was calculated by subtracting “Tolerance for Conservative Speakers” from “Tolerance for Liberal Speakers” and then taking the absolute value (so that a bias in favor of either side would be treated the same).

Campus Behavioral Metrics

Schools received bonus points — described in more detail below — for unequivocally supporting free expression in response to speech controversies by taking the following actions indicative of a positive campus climate for free speech: 

• Supporting free expression during a deplatforming campaign, as recorded in FIRE’s Campus Deplatforming database. [40]  
• Supporting a scholar whose speech rights were threatened during a free speech controversy, as recorded in FIRE's Scholars Under Fire database. [41]  
• Supporting students and student groups, as recorded in the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings behavioral metrics documentation that is available online. [42]

Schools were penalized — described in more detail below — for taking the following actions indicative of poor campus climate for free speech: 

• Successfully deplatforming a speaker, as recorded in FIRE’s Campus Deplatforming database.
• Sanctioning a scholar (e.g., placing under investigation, suspending, or terminating a scholar), as recorded in FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire database. 
• Sanctioning a student or student groups, as recorded in the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings behavioral metrics documentation that is available online.

To be included in this year’s rankings, an incident that resulted in a bonus or penalty had to have been recorded by June 15, 2024, and had to have been fully assessed by FIRE’s research staff, who determined whether the incident warranted inclusion. 

In response to the encampment protests, FIRE and College Pulse reopened the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings survey on any campus with an encampment. This allowed us to collect survey data from students while the encampments were taking place. [43] That means that this year’s College Free Speech Rankings provide a treasure trove of data on the evolving state of free expression at American colleges and universities.

FIRE’s Spotlight ratings — our ratings of the written policies governing student speech at nearly 500 institutions of higher education in the United States — also factored into each school's overall score. Three substantive ratings are possible: “red light,” “yellow light,” and “green light.” A “red light” rating indicates that the institution has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech. A “yellow light” rating indicates that an institution maintains at least one policy that places a clear restriction on a more limited amount of protected expression, or one that, by virtue of vague wording, could too easily be used to restrict protected expression. A “green light” rating indicates that an institution maintains no policies that seriously threaten speech, although this rating does not indicate whether a college actively supports free expression. [44]  

Finally, a fourth rating, “Warning,” is assigned to a private college or university when its policies clearly and consistently state that it prioritizes other values over a commitment to free speech. Warning schools, therefore, were not ranked, and their overall scores are presented separately in this report. [45]

For this year’s rankings, the cutoff date for assessing a school’s speech code policies was June 15, 2024. Any changes to a school’s Spotlight rating that occurred since then will be reflected in the 2026 College Free Speech Rankings.

Overall Score

To create an overall score for each college, we first summed the following student subcomponents: “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” “Self-Censorship,” “Mean Tolerance,” “Disruptive Conduct,” “Administrative Support,” and “Openness.” Then, we subtracted the “Tolerance Difference.” By including the “Mean Tolerance” (as opposed to including “Tolerance for Liberal Speakers” and “Tolerance for Conservative Speakers” separately) and subtracting the “Tolerance Difference,” the score accounted for the possibility that ideologically homogeneous student bodies may result in a campus that  appears to have a strong culture of free expression but is actually hostile to the views of an ideological minority — whose views students may almost never encounter on campus.

Then, to further account for the speech climate on an individual campus, we incorporated behavioral components. A school earned two bonus points each time it unequivocally defended free expression during a campus speech controversy — a rating of “High Honors” for its public response to a speech controversy. For instance, when the student government at Arizona State University opposed a registered student group’s invitation to Mohammed el-Kurd to speak on campus, and other members of the campus community petitioned the university to disinvite el-Kurd, a university spokesperson responded: 

The university is committed to a safe environment where the free exchange of ideas can take place . . . As a public university, ASU adheres to the First Amendment and strives to ensure the fullest degree of intellectual freedom and free expression. All individuals and groups on campus have the right to express their opinions, whatever those opinions may be, as long as they do not violate the student code of conduct, student organization policies, and do not infringe on another student’s individual rights.

el-Kurd spoke successfully on campus, and we awarded ASU two bonus points.

A school earned one bonus point for responding to a speech controversy by making a public statement that strongly defends the First Amendment but is not as full-throated a defense as a “High Honors” statement. These statements received the rating of “Honors.” For instance, at New York University, NYU Law Students for Palestine and Jewish Law Students for a Free Palestine called for the cancellation of an event featuring Robert Howse and Michal Cotler-Wunsh, because Cotler-Wunsh supports the occupation of Palestine. The event was co-sponsored by a student group, NYU’s Jewish Law Students Association, as well as the president's office and the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life. NYU did not cancel the event, and protesters interrupted Cotler-Wunsh several times during his remarks before voluntarily leaving, allowing the event to resume and conclude successfully. The dean of the law school said the following in response:  

The principles of free speech and inquiry are complemented by debate, challenge and protest . . . While dissent may be vigorous, it must not interfere with the speaker’s ability to communicate — which is exactly why, should those interrupters not have left on their own accord, they would be subject to discipline.

We awarded one point for this response, which occurred in 2024, then we set this bonus to decrease by one-quarter of a point for each year that passes. 

We also applied penalties when a school sanctioned a scholar, student, or student group, or deplatformed a speaker. 

A school lost up to five points each time it sanctioned (e.g., investigated, suspended, or terminated) a scholar. When the sanction did not result in termination the school received a penalty of one point, which we set to decrease by one-quarter of a point each year: This meant penalizing a school a full point for sanctioning a scholar in 2024, three-quarters of a point for sanctioning a scholar in 2023, half a point for sanctioning a scholar in 2022, and one-quarter of a point for sanctioning a scholar in 2021. However, if the administration terminated the scholar, we subtracted three points, and if that scholar was tenured, we subtracted five points. We applied full penalties for termination for four years, then set them to decline by one-quarter of a point each year. So, a penalty for termination that occurred in 2020 has just now started to decay.

A school lost up to three points for sanctioning students or student groups. When the sanction did not result in expulsion, the revocation of acceptance, the denial or revoking of recognition, suspension, or termination of a student’s campus employment (e.g, as a resident assistant) the school received a penalty of one point. Like with scholar sanctions that did not result in termination, we set these penalties to decrease by one-quarter of a point each year. If a school suspended a student or terminated their campus employment, we penalized it two points. We also set these penalties to decrease by one-quarter of a point each year. However, if a school denied or revoked a student group’s recognition, expelled a student, or revoked their acceptance, it was penalized three points. We applied these penalties in full for four years, then set them to decline by one-quarter of a point each year.

Regarding deplatforming attempts, a school was penalized one point if an invited speaker withdrew because of the controversy caused by their upcoming appearance on campus or if an event was postponed in response to a controversy. We set this penalty to decrease by a quarter of a point each year. Schools where an attempted disruption occurred received a penalty of two points. We applied this penalty for four years, then set it to decrease by one-quarter of a point each year. Schools with deplatforming attempts that resulted in an event cancellation, a preemptive rejection of a speaker, the removal of artwork on display, the revocation of a speaker’s invitation, or a substantial event disruption were penalized three points. We applied these penalties in full for four years, then set them to decline by one-quarter of a point each year.

After we applied bonuses and penalties, we standardized each school’s score by group — Warning schools and other schools — making the average score in each group 50.00 and the standard deviation 10.00. Following standardization, we added one standard deviation to the final score of colleges who received a green light rating for their speech codes. We also subtracted half a standard deviation from the final score of colleges that received a yellow light rating, one standard deviation from the final score of schools that received a red light rating, and two standard deviations from schools that received a Warning rating.

Overall Score = (50 + (Z Raw Overall Score )(10)) + FIRE Rating

Campus Speech Controversies

Deplatforming attempts.

FIRE’s Campus Deplatforming database documents efforts to censor invited speakers, artwork, film screenings, or performances (e.g., comedy shows, plays) on public and private American college and university campuses  from 1998-present. Schools included in the rankings received bonuses for unequivocally defending free expression during a deplatforming campaign from 2020-mid-2024. They received penalties for successfully deplatforming a speaker or for being the site of a substantial event disruption (when one or more people unsuccessfully attempt to disrupt an event, entirely prevent a speaker from speaking, or prevent an audience from hearing the speaker) within the same time frame. [46]

At the schools surveyed, a total of 102 successful deplatforming incidents (60%) occurred. They include: [47]  

• 45 substantial event disruptions, when one or more people substantially disrupt or entirely prevent a speaker from speaking or prevent an audience from hearing the speaker. 
• 36 revocations, when a speaker’s invitation is rescinded. 
• Six rejections, when a school or the student government preemptively rejects a speaker. 
• Seven withdrawals, when a speaker cancels an event in response to a disinvitation campaign. 
• Three postponements, when an event is postponed to a later date due to controversy. 
• Six cancellations of performances or film screenings.
• Two removals of displayed artwork. 

All of these deplatforming incidents negatively impacted a school's overall score.

FIRE also recorded 44 attempted disruptions at the 257 schools surveyed. These incidents also negatively impacted a school's overall score.

The 102 successful deplatforming attempts occurred on 71 of the 257 campuses. Harvard University and New York University, two of the lowest ranked schools, experienced four successful deplatformings each. Dartmouth College, Syracuse University, the University of Houston, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Southern California each experienced three successful deplatformings since 2020.

The following 21 schools were each the site of more than one successful deplatforming incident and altogether account for 53 of the 102 successful deplatforming attempts (52%). A number of these schools — Barnard College, Harvard, NYU, Syracuse, the University of Pennsylvania, and USC — also rank in the bottom 10 of this year’s College Free Speech Rankings with either a “Very Poor” or “Abysmal” speech climate: 

• Harvard University
• New York University
• Dartmouth College
• Syracuse University
• University of Houston
• University of New Mexico
• University of Southern California
• Barnard College
• Brown University
• Indiana University
• Pennsylvania State University
• San Jose State University
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Davis
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of Florida
• University of Michigan
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Utah
• University of Vermont

Harvard University also experienced four attempted disruptions since 2020. Only seven other schools experienced more than one attempted disruption in this time frame. The University of Iowa experienced three attempted disruptions, and Columbia University, Michigan State University, Stanford University, Tufts University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Texas at Austin each experienced two attempted disruptions.

We recorded 29 instances of schools supporting free expression in response to a deplatforming campaign. In all of these instances a school received a bonus that either positively impacted its overall score or mitigated the damage done to its score by a successful deplatforming attempt. 

Only Georgetown University and the University of Virginia unequivocally defended free expression during more than one deplatforming campaign, and they received multiple bonuses in the rankings for doing so.

Scholars Under Fire

FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire database covers expression-related incidents from 2000-present. It documents how and why scholars faced calls for sanction, how scholars and administrators responded, and what (if any) sanctions scholars experienced. Schools included in the rankings received bonuses or penalties based on their responses to these kinds of controversies from 2020-mid-2024. [48]

At the schools surveyed, a total of 148 scholar sanctions occurred. They include: 

• 37 scholars who were terminated. 
• 11 scholars who resigned. 
• 26 scholars who were suspended. 
• 10 scholars who were demoted. 
• 36 scholars who were censored. 
• Three scholars who were required to undergo training. 
• 25 scholars who were investigated. [49]  

Each of these incidents negatively impacted a school's overall score. On 11 occasions, a college or university unequivocally defended a scholar’s free expression in response to a sanction attempt. These incidents positively impacted a school’s overall score.

The 148 scholar sanctions occurred on 83 of the 257 campuses surveyed. Since 2020, eight scholar sanctions occurred at Columbia University, six occurred at Harvard University, and five occurred at George Washington University. The following 14 schools were each the site of three or more scholar sanctions and altogether accounted for 61 of the 148 scholar sanctions that factored into the College Free Speech Rankings (43%):

• Columbia University
• George Washington University
• University of Central Florida
• University of Texas at Austin
• Yale University
• Claremont McKenna College
• Emory University
• Texas A&M University
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

As with successful deplatformings, a number of these schools — Columbia, Harvard, NYU, IU, and Penn — also landed in the bottom 10 of the rankings with a “Poor,” “Very Poor” or “Abysmal” speech climate.

We recorded 12 instances of schools supporting free expression in response to a scholar sanction attempt. In all of these instances, a school received a bonus that positively impacted its overall score. 

The University of California, Berkeley, is the only school that supported a scholar’s free expression on more than one occasion. The following schools supported a scholar’s free expression on one occasion: Boise State University, George Washington University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Syracuse University, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, and Yale University. 

Students Under Fire

FIRE’s Students Under Fire database covers expression-related incidents from 2020-present. It documents how and why students or student groups faced calls for sanction, how administrators responded, and what (if any) sanctions students experienced. Schools included in the rankings received bonuses or penalties based on their responses to these kinds of controversies from 2020-mid-2024. [50]

At the colleges surveyed, a total of 204 student sanctions occurred. They include: 

• Four students who were expelled. 
• Six students whose acceptance to the school or scholarship was revoked. 
• 10 student groups whose recognition was denied or rescinded. 
• 21 students or student groups who were suspended. 
• 73 students or student groups who were censored. 
• 62 students or student groups who were placed under investigation. 
• Seven students who were required to undergo training or issue an apology or other statement. 
• Three students who were terminated from their campus employment. 
• 18 students or student groups whose sanctions were issued by the student government. 

Each of these incidents negatively impacted a school's overall score. 

The 204 student sanctions occurred on 107 of the 257 campuses surveyed. Since 2020, Syracuse University has sanctioned seven students or student groups. In the same time frame, Harvard University sanctioned six students or student groups, and Stanford University sanctioned five. The following seven schools were the site of four or more student sanctioning incidents since 2020:

• Stanford University
• American University
• Northwestern University

As with successful deplatformings and scholar sanctions, a number of these schools — Harvard, NYU, and Syracuse — also landed in the bottom 10 of this year’s College Free Speech Rankings with either a “Very Poor” or “Abysmal” speech climate.

Another 16 schools were the site of three student sanctioning incidents since 2020. This group of schools includes three more bottom-10 schools: Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Indiana University. 

We recorded 14 instances of schools supporting free expression in response to a student sanctioning attempt. In all of these instances, we awarded the school a bonus that positively impacted its overall score or mitigated the impact of a penalty it incurred. Arizona State University, which ranks 14, received three bonuses for its defense of student expression. Other notable schools that actively defended student free expression include the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, which ranks 22, and the top two schools in the rankings, the University of Virginia and Michigan Technological University.

Survey Questions and Topline Results

How clear is it to you that your college administration protects free speech on campus?

      7% Not at all clear     17% Not very clear     42% Somewhat clear     27% Very clear       7% Extremely clear

If a controversy over offensive speech were to occur on your campus, how likely is it that the administration would defend the speaker’s right to express their views?

      7% Not at all likely     21% Not very likely     47% Somewhat likely     20% Very likely       5% Extremely likely

How comfortable would you feel doing the following on your campus? [Presented in randomized order]

Publicly disagreeing with a professor about a controversial political topic.

    33% Very uncomfortable     36% Somewhat uncomfortable     23% Somewhat comfortable       9% Very comfortable

Expressing disagreement with one of your professors about a controversial political topic in a written assignment.

    25% Very uncomfortable     35% Somewhat uncomfortable     29% Somewhat comfortable     11% Very comfortable

Expressing your views on a controversial political topic during an in-class discussion.

    20% Very uncomfortable     33% Somewhat uncomfortable     34% Somewhat comfortable     13% Very comfortable

Expressing your views on a controversial political topic to other students during a discussion in a common campus space such as a quad, dining hall, or lounge.

    17% Very uncomfortable     32% Somewhat uncomfortable     35% Somewhat comfortable     14% Very comfortable

Expressing an unpopular political opinion to your fellow students on a social media account tied to your name.

    33% Very uncomfortable     34% Somewhat uncomfortable     24% Somewhat comfortable       9% Very comfortable

On your campus, how often have you felt that you could not express your opinion on a subject because of how students, a professor, or the administration would respond?

    17% Never     38% Rarely     28% Occasionally, once or twice a month     12% Fairly often, a couple of times a week       5% Very often, nearly every day

This next series of questions asks you about self-censorship in different settings. For the purpose of these questions, self-censorship is defined as follows:

Refraining from sharing certain views because you fear social (e.g., exclusion from social events), professional (e.g., losing job or promotion), legal (e.g., prosecution or fine), or violent (e.g., assault) consequences, whether in person or remotely (e.g., by phone or online), and whether the consequences come from state or non-state sources.

How often do you self-censor during conversations with other students on campus?

    12% Never     33% Rarely     31% Occasionally, once or twice a month     17% Fairly often, a couple of times a week       6% Very often, nearly every day

How often do you self-censor during conversations with your professors?

    12% Never     33% Rarely     30% Occasionally, once or twice a month     17% Fairly often, a couple of times a week       8% Very often, nearly every day

How often do you self-censor during classroom discussions?

    11% Never     32% Rarely     32% Occasionally, once or twice a month     18% Fairly often, a couple of times a week       8% Very often, nearly every day

How acceptable would you say it is for students to engage in the following action to protest a campus speaker? [Presented in randomized order]

Shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus.

      7% Always acceptable     30% Sometimes acceptable     32% Rarely acceptable     32% Never acceptable

Blocking other students from attending a campus speech.

      4% Always acceptable     18% Sometimes acceptable     29% Rarely acceptable     48% Never acceptable

Using violence to stop a campus speech.

      3% Always acceptable     11% Sometimes acceptable     18% Rarely acceptable     68% Never acceptable

Student groups often invite speakers to campus to express their views on a range of topics. Regardless of your own views on the topic, should your school ALLOW or NOT ALLOW a speaker on campus who promotes the following idea? [Presented in randomized order]

Transgender people have a mental disorder.

    37% Definitely should not allow this speaker     31% Probably should not allow this this speaker     20% Probably should allow this speaker     12% Definitely should allow this speaker

Abortion should be completely illegal.

    25% Definitely should not allow this speaker     28% Probably should not allow this this speaker     30% Probably should allow this speaker     15% Definitely should allow this speaker

Black Lives Matter is a hate group.

    36% Definitely should not allow this speaker     33% Probably should not allow this this speaker     21% Probably should allow this speaker     11% Definitely should allow this speaker

The Catholic church is a pedophilic institution.

    17% Definitely should not allow this speaker     34% Probably should not allow this this speaker     33% Probably should allow this speaker     15% Definitely should allow this speaker

The police are just as racist as the Klu[sic] Klux Klan. 

    20% Definitely should not allow this speaker     33% Probably should not allow this this speaker     32% Probably should allow this speaker     15% Definitely should allow this speaker

Children should be able to transition without parental consent.

    15% Definitely should not allow this speaker     28% Probably should not allow this this speaker     38% Probably should allow this speaker     18% Definitely should allow this speaker

Collateral damage in Gaza is justified for the sake of Israeli security.

    26% Definitely should not allow this speaker     34% Probably should not allow this this speaker     28% Probably should allow this speaker     12% Definitely should allow this speaker

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

     8% Definitely should not allow this speaker     20% Probably should not allow this this speaker     43% Probably should allow this speaker     28% Definitely should allow this speaker

Some students say it can be difficult to have conversations about certain issues on campus. Which of the following issues, if any, would you say are difficult to have an open and honest conversation about on your campus? [Percentage selecting each option]

    45% Abortion      24% Affirmative action     13% China     14% Climate change     16% Crime     22% Economic inequality     22% Freedom of speech     31% Gay rights     29% Gender inequality     36% Gun control     29%  Hate speech     27% Immigration     54% The Israeli/Palestinian conflict     31%  The Presidential Election     31% Police misconduct     36% Racial inequality     34% Religion     29% Sexual assault     14% The Supreme Court     41% Transgender rights     12% None of the above

Note: The survey asked additional questions that were not included in the calculation of the College Free Speech Rankings. The data for these questions will be released in a separate set of analyses.

[1] Lukianoff, G. & Stevens, S. (March 12, 2024). The skeptics were wrong, Part 1: Campus free speech was in trouble in 2018, and the data shows it has gotten much worse. Available online:  https://greglukianoff.substack.com/p/the-skeptics-were-wrong-part-1 ; 

Lukianoff, G. & Stevens, S (March 21, 2024). The skeptics were wrong, part 2: When it comes to free speech, the college kids are not alright. Available online:  https://greglukianoff.substack.com/p/the-skeptics-were-wrong-part-2 ; 

Stevens, S. (April 12, 2024). Deplatforming attempts are surging in 2024: Buckle up, folks. It’s not even disinvitation season yet. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/deplatforming-attempts-are-surging-2024 . 

[2] Appleby, J. (July 11, 2024). University of Florida suspends student for three years over peaceful protest: In response to campus protests related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, UF made up unlawful rules to punish students for protected expression.Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/university-florida-suspends-student-three-years-over-peaceful-protest ; Coward, T. (July 2, 2024). House Oversight Committee continues chilling investigation into student groups and nonprofits. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/house-oversight-committee-continues-chilling-investigation-student-groups-and-nonprofits ; Shibley, R. (June 2, 2024). Fed investigation of Lafayette College over Israel-Hamas protests highlights new threat to free speech. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/fed-investigation-lafayette-college-over-israel-hamas-protests-highlights-new-threat-free . 

[3] Appleby J. & Piro, G. (December 18, 2023). More colleges threaten to restrict speech in wake of Penn president’s resignation: Institutions abandon their free speech protections at students’ peril. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/more-colleges-threaten-restrict-speech-wake-penn-presidents-resignation ; Eduardo, A. (January 2, 2024). In the aftermath of Claudine Gay's resignation, here's how Harvard can reform itself: With the loss of its president, America’s worst college for free speech is at another crossroads. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/aftermath-claudine-gays-resignation-heres-how-harvard-can-reform-itself . 

[4] Alonso, J. (April 24, 2024). Why Are Students Camping on University Lawns? A new wave of campus protests has hit institutions from California to Massachusetts, many emboldened by arrests at Columbia University. Available online:  https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/free-speech/2024/04/24/students-set-encampments-coast-coast . 

[5] FIRE (June 20, 2024). POLL: Americans oppose campus protesters defacing property, occupying buildings. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/poll-americans-oppose-campus-protesters-defacing-property-occupying-buildings . 

[6] 6.  Honeycutt, N. (June 11, 2024). Confidence in colleges and universities hits new lows, per FIRE polls: Young people, women, and Democrats reported the largest drops. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/confidence-colleges-and-universities-hits-new-lows-fire-polls . 

[7] Schools were not penalized for how they handled the encampment protests. As this report demonstrates, the  impact of the encampment protests on the campus speech climate is captured by responses to survey questions  that ask students about their confidence in that their college administration protects speech rights on campus, their comfort expressing controversial political views, and how frequently they self-censor. Deplatformings that occurred during the encampment protests were also still included in the calculation of the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings.

[8] Harvard’s actual score was -21.50, Columbia’s was -0.53. Both scores were rounded up to 0.00.

[9] FIRE’s documentation of speech controversies that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available online: https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx .

[10] The mean “Administrative Support” score for the top five schools (M = 6.30, S.D. = 0.19) is significantly higher than the mean “Administrative Support” score for the bottom schools (M = 5.05, S.D. = 0.49),  t (8) = 5.26,  p < .0001.

[11] The average of the top five schools’  “Comfort Expressing Ideas” score (M = 11.76, S.D. = 0.50) is significantly higher than the average “Comfort Expressing Ideas” score for the bottom five schools (M = 10.61, S.D. = 0.61),  t (8) = 5.26,  p = .01. The average of the top five schools’ “Tolerance Difference” score (M = 0.61, S.D. = 0.42) is significantly lower than the average “Tolerance Difference” score for the top bottom schools (M = 1.53, S.D. = 0.45),  t (8) = -4.03,  p < .01.

[12] FIRE (February 13, 2024). 10 Worst Censors: 2024. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/10-worst-censors-2024 . 

[13] Colleges whose speech policies received a “Warning” rating from FIRE were given a rank of Warning (see Methodology, available in the Appendix). We do, however, present their overall scores in this report. These scores were standardized separately from non-Warning schools so that the overall scores of Warning schools were computed only in comparison to one another. As a result, 251 schools are ranked this year.

[14] Prasad, V. (February 22, 2024). What is happening to medical students? Shouting down speakers reaches the University of Chicago. Available online:  https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/what-is-happening-to-medical-students . 

[15] Coyne, J. (November 18, 2023). Violating University of Chicago speech regulations, pro-Palestinian students shout down Jewish students and shut down their speeches; University does nothing to stop the disruption. Available online:  https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2023/11/18/violating-university-of-chicago-speech-regulations-pro-palestinian-students-shout-down-jewish-students-and-shut-down-their-speeches-university-does-nothing-to-stop-the-disruption/ . 

[16] President Alivisatos’s statement is available online:  https://president.uchicago.edu/from-the-president/messages/231101-enormous-gifts-and-great-responsibilities . 

[17] FIRE (March 21, 2024). Virginia Commonwealth University earns top rating for free speech. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/virginia-commonwealth-university-earns-top-rating-free-speech ; FIRE (June 11, 2024). University of South Carolina earns top rating for free speech. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/university-south-carolina-earns-top-rating-free-speech . 

[18] 18.  Stevens, S., & Schwictenberg, A. (2020). 2020 College Free Speech Rankings: What’s the Climate for Free Speech on America’s College Campuses? Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/2020-college-free-speech-rankings ; Stevens, S., & Schwictenberg, A. (2021). 2021 College Free Speech Rankings: What’s the Climate for Free Speech on America’s College Campuses? Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/2021-college-free-speech-rankings ;  Stevens, S.T. (2022). 2022-2023 College Free Speech Rankings: What Is the State of Free Speech on America’s College Campuses? The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/2022-2023-college-free-speech-rankings ; 

Stevens, S.T. (2023). 2024 College Free Speech Rankings: What Is the State of Free Speech on America’s College Campuses? The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Available online: 

https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/2024-college-free-speech-rankings . 

[19] FIRE (February 13, 2024). 10 Worst Censors: 2024.  The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.  Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/10-worst-censors-2024 . 

[20] A full list of all the student sanction attempts that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here: https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx . The full Students Under Fire database is currently internal to FIRE but will be released in full in early 2025.

[21] Huddleston, S. & Mendell, C. (November 10, 2023). Columbia suspends SJP and JVP following ‘unauthorized’ Thursday walkout. Available online:  https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/10/columbia-suspends-sjp-and-jvp-following-unauthorized-thursday-walkout/ . 

[22] Costescu, J. (March 25, 2024). At Columbia, an Israeli-Designated Terror Group Teaches 'Palestinian Resistance 101'—And Lauds Plane Hijackings. Available online:  https://freebeacon.com/campus/at-columbia-an-israeli-designated-terror-group-teaches-palestinian-resistance-101-and-lauds-plane-hijackings/ . 

[23] A full list of all the student sanction attempts that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here: https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx . The full Students Under Fire database is currently internal to FIRE but will be released in full in early 2025.

[24] See FIRE’s Campus Deplatforming database, available online:  https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/campus-deplatforming-database . 

[25] Hernandez, A.O. & Kaleem, J. (April 19, 2024). USC cancels appearance by director Jon Chu, others amid valedictorian controversy. Available online:  https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-19/usc-axes-high-profile-guest-speaker-from-commencement-lineup-amid-backlash-over-cancelled-valedictorian-speech . 

[26] Zanger, J., Dhaliwal, N., & Saeidi, M. (May 6, 2024). Columbia University cancels main 2024 commencement ceremony, will host multiple ceremonies instead. Available online:  https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/columbia-university-commencement-2024/ .  

[27] Morey, A. (April 17, 2024). USC canceling valedictorian’s commencement speech looks like calculated censorship. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/usc-canceling-valedictorians-commencement-speech-looks-calculated-censorship . 

[28] Chow, V. (April 19, 2024). USC cancels all commencement speakers amid valedictorian speech controversy. Available online:  https://ktla.com/news/local-news/usc-cancels-all-commencement-speakers-amid-valedictorian-speech-controversy/ ; The University of Southern California’s official statement is available online:  https://commencement.usc.edu/2024/04/19/commencement-update-april-19-2024/ . 

[29] Student responses to this question were not incorporated into a school’s overall score for the College Free Speech Rankings.

[30] Self-censorship was defined as the act of refraining from sharing certain views because you fear social (e.g., exclusion from social events), professional (e.g., losing a job or promotion), legal (e.g., prosecution or fine), or violent (e.g., assault) consequences, whether in-person or remotely (e.g., by phone or online), whether the feared consequences come from state or non-state sources.

[31] Student responses to these three questions were incorporated into a school’s overall score for the College Free Speech Rankings.

[32] ​​Gibson, J. (2006). Enigmas of intolerance: Fifty years after Stouffer’s  Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties .  Perspectives on Politics, 4, 21–34; Stouffer, S. A. (1955).  Communism, conformity, and civil liberties: A cross-section of the nation speaks its mind. Transaction Publishers; Sullivan, J. L.; Piereson, J.; & Marcus, G. E. (1979). An alternative conceptualization of political tolerance: Illusory increases 1950s–1970s.  American Political Science Review, 73, 781–794; Sullivan, J. L.; Piereson, J.; & Marcus, G. E. (1982).  Political Tolerance and American Democracy . University of Chicago Press.

[33] Student responses to two of the eight speakers — those who expressed that “Collateral damage in Gaza is justified for the sake of Israeli security” or that “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — were not incorporated into a school’s overall score for the College Free Speech Rankings. 

[34] Lukianoff, G. & Stevens, S. (March 12, 2024). The skeptics were wrong, Part 1: Campus free speech was in trouble in 2018, and the data shows it has gotten much worse. Available online:  https://greglukianoff.substack.com/p/the-skeptics-were-wrong-part-1 ; Lukianoff, G. & Stevens, S (March 21, 2024). The skeptics were wrong, part 2: When it comes to free speech, the college kids are not alright. Available online:  https://greglukianoff.substack.com/p/the-skeptics-were-wrong-part-2 ; 

[35] Lukianoff, G. & Stevens, S. (May 1, 2024. The skeptics were wrong, Part 3: Surveys on student attitudes toward free speech show alarming trends. Available online:  https://greglukianoff.substack.com/p/the-skeptics-were-wrong-part-3 . 

[36] Custer, S. & Lederman, D. (May 6, 2024). A Weekend of Arrests and Commencement Disruptions: Officers break up encampments at USC and Virginia; Vermont and Dickinson cancel speakers. Available online:  https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/free-speech/2024/05/06/weekend-arrests-and-commencement-disruptions-over-israel-gaza ; New York Times. (May 12, 2024). At Commencements, Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways. Available online:  https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/05/12/us/college-campus-protests .  

[37] Casey, M. & Shipkowski, B. (May 10, 2024). Police arrest dozens as they break up pro-Palestinian protests at several US universities. Available online:  https://apnews.com/article/mit-arizona-pennsylvania-campus-protests-encampment-police-7d9cd0a1f4ac7eaca41b38de798a2217 ; 

Fan, C., Kramer, M., & Duddridge, N. (May 2, 2024). Columbia, City College protests lead to nearly 300 arrests. NYC mayor blames "movement to radicalize young people." Available online:  https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/columbia-university-protests-nypd-arrests/ ; 

Lukianoff, G. (May 7, 2024). Campus Chaos: Navigating free speech, unrest, and the need for reform in higher education. Available online:  https://greglukianoff.substack.com/p/campus-chaos-navigating-free-speech ; 

The New York Times. (June 17, 2024). Where Protesters on U.S. Campuses Have Been Arrested or Detained. Available online:  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/pro-palestinian-college-protests-encampments.html . 

[38] Eduardo, A. (April 25, 2024). Texas tramples First Amendment rights with police crackdown of pro-Palestinian protests. More than 50 arrested after state police storm protestors at University of Texas at Austin.. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/news/texas-tramples-first-amendment-rights-police-crackdown-pro-palestinian-protests ; 

Fisher, L. (May 3, 2024). UT’s War on Students: A peaceful protest spiraled when law enforcement showed up. Now the university has doubled down. Available online:  https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2024-05-03/uts-war-on-students/ . 

Lane, L. (April 30 2024). Fact check on statements from IU, ISP: Snipers, external participants, free speech. Available online:  https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/education/campus/2024/04/30/answering-questions-about-the-gaza-war-protests-in-ius-dunn-meadow/73503596007/ ; 

Sandweiss, E. (April 29, 2024). State police leader confirms rooftop sniper at IU protest, responds to excessive force accusations. Available online:  https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/state-police-leader-confirms-rooftop-sniper-at-iu-protest-responds-to-excessive-force-accusations ;

Washington, J. (March 19, 2024). ‘Winning war on woke higher education,’ Anti-DEI efforts continue, some minority students struggle. Available online:  https://www.kxan.com/news/winning-war-on-woke-higher-education-anti-dei-efforts-continue-some-minority-students-struggle/ .  

[39] The self-censorship component was introduced this year and is a composite score of responses to the three questions that are presented after self-censorship is defined. In previous years other questions were used to measure self-censorship and they were factored into the “Comfort Expressing Ideas” component.

[40] A full list of all the deplatforming incidents that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here: 

The full Campus Deplatforming database is available on FIRE’s website at  https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/campus-deplatforming-database . 

[41] A full list of all the scholar sanction attempts that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here: https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx . The full Scholars Under Fire database is available on FIRE’s website at https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/scholars-under-fire . 

[42] All data reported in this section reflect the Students Under Fire database as of June 15, 2024. A full list of all the student sanction attempts that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here:  https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx . The full Students Under Fire database is currently internal to FIRE but will be released in full in early 2025.

[43] Schools were not penalized for how they handled the encampment protests. As this report demonstrates, the  impact of the encampment protests on the campus speech climate is captured by responses to survey questions that ask students about their confidence in that their college administration protects speech rights on campus, their comfort expressing controversial political views, and how frequently they self-censor. Deplatformings that occurred during the encampment protests were also still included in the calculation of the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings.

[44] See: Using  FIRE’s Spotlight Database. Available online:  https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/using-fires-spotlight-database .  

[45] The Spotlight Database is available on FIRE’s website:  https://www.thefire.org/resources/spotlight/ . 

[46] All data reported in this section reflect the Campus Deplatforming database as of June 15, 2024. A full list of all the deplatforming incidents that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here: https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx . The full Campus Deplatforming database is available on FIRE’s website at  https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/campus-deplatforming-database . 

[47] Deplatforming campaigns that targeted multiple forms of expression (e.g., targeting multiple speakers at an event or targeting multiple pieces of artwork for removal) and that impacted the College Free Speech Rankings were counted as a singular incident.

[48] All data reported in this section reflect the Scholars Under Fire database as of June 15, 2024. A full list of all the scholar sanction attempts that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here: https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx . The full Scholars Under Fire database is available on FIRE’s website at  https://www.thefire.org/research/scholars-under-fire-database/ .

[49] FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire database records all outcomes that occur as a result of a sanction attempt (e.g., investigation, suspension, or termination). FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings only penalizes schools for the most severe negative outcome (e.g., for a termination but not for placing a professor under investigation and/or suspension).

[50]  All data reported in this section reflect the Students Under Fire database as of June 15, 2024. A full list of all the student sanction attempts that impacted the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings is available here: https://www.thefire.org/sites/default/files/2024/08/2025-CFSR-Behavioral-Metrics-FINAL.xlsx . The full Students Under Fire database is currently internal to FIRE but will be released in full in early 2025. 

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