Where high achieving students become serious scholars
Intimate classes taught by researchers who are redefining their fields. A relationship that continues long after university admission.
What distinguishes The Athenaeum
Built by professors
The Athenaeum was founded and is run by active researchers at leading universities. We know what rigorous scholarship looks like — because we practise it.
Beyond STEM
Psychology. Economics. History. Anthropology. The most popular undergraduate majors in the world are the disciplines we put at the centre of our program.
Preparation that lasts
Students produce real academic outputs that support their university application and prepare them for a rigorous, research centered university education.
Faculty — Summer 2027
Dylan Gee
Yale University — Associate Professor
Developmental neuroscience, emotion regulation, early adversity
Natalie Brito
NYU Steinhardt — Associate Professor
Infant development, bilingualism, neurocognitive development
Dave Clewett
UCLA — Associate Professor, 2026 Sloan Fellow
Memory, emotion, arousal and the brain
Bharat Venkat
UCLA — Associate Professor
Medical anthropology, thermal inequality, history of medicine
How it works
Step 01
Apply
Applications open January 2027. Submit an expression of interest now to be notified when your program opens.
Step 02
Join a cohort
Six students maximum per faculty member. Fourteen one-hour sessions over ten weeks. Fully online.
Step 03
Produce real work
A research poster and talk, a structured abstract, and a faculty evaluation letter — real academic outputs that support your application and lay the foundation for your undergraduate research career.
Step 04
Become a Fellow
Being an Athenaeum Fellow doesn't end at admission. Access our post-admission resources, annual symposium, and Fellows community as you move into university and your research career.
The Athenaeum Continuum
The program ends. The fellowship doesn't.
Athenaeum Fellows remain part of the community long after their summer cohort closes — connected to resources, to each other, and to the faculty who know their work.
Fellows gain access to:
- —Webinars and resources on navigating university life and research, including joining labs, reading academic literature, and building a research career
- —An annual virtual symposium open to all Fellows
- —Access to the private Athenaeum Fellows community — for peer connection, resources, and research conversation
The program in numbers
6
Never more than six students per cohort — no exceptions
14
Contact hours with your professor
3
Academic outputs that actually prepare you for university level research and work for admissions
100%
Of faculty are tenured or tenure-track at leading research universities
SUMMER 2027 — APPLICATIONS OPEN JANUARY
Ready to become an Athenaeum Fellow?
Submit an expression of interest and we will notify you when applications open for your program of interest