TryEngineering Summer Institute is IEEE's pre-college engineering program, held as a nine-day residential (overnight) camp on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia. High schoolers ages 13-17 live in supervised campus dorms and do hands-on engineering projects, meet working engineers, and take field trips to sites like the Franklin Institute. Enrollment is by session, with two summer sessions open to individual students nationwide.
The practical details
We list only what the camp itself publishes, and programs change — dates, prices, ages and availability can all move after we check. Confirm the details on the camp’s own website and contact TryEngineering Summer Institute directly before you register or pay. Last checked August 2026.
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★★susan frielIf your child student wants an enriching experience consider a program through a major university, not a program that rents space at a college university. The summer program hyped a trip to Boeing, but one of the buses was diverted after all the hype and toured an airport instead, for example. Luckily, my child ended up going to Boeing, but the students were all disappointed that a group of them had to tour an airport instead with no warning. End of the world, no. Yet, incredibly disappointing for a group of students interested in Engineering and hearing about such a highlighted experience. Please know the credentials and academic expertise of the person leading the camp and teaching your child. Nice people? Sure. But we were expecting something like what we have experienced through Johns Hopkins, CTY. This was far from it. More like an activity camp. We expected more.
★★Noah HannonI just finished session 2 at UPenn 2023. The lack of freedom and restrictions hinder the experience greatly. You can’t go anywhere without an RA.
★Sehaj GrewalTerrible experience. Just finished session 2 at UPenn. No freedom. Couldn’t leave the building except for meals and one field trip in which we walked around an airport doing nothing. Learnt very little and terrible RAs.
★★★★★Nish KolonneMy son attended this program and he enjoyed it. Program provided great exposure to fields of engineering and team work.
★★★★★Claudia WaxmanMy daughter attended the TryEngineering summer program at University of Pennsylvania in 2022. They are extremely organized. They had a zoom with the parents before the program to explain what to expect. The Engineering projects she participated in were incredible. On the last day, they invited the parents to see what they did. My daughter had a lot of fun during the weeks she was there. I highly recommend this program.