The Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics (YSPA) is a research and enrichment program hosted at the Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium (LFOP) at Yale for 36 rising high school seniors (high school students who are juniors when they apply) who have shown an aptitude for science and math, an interest in astrophysics, and who are considering going into careers in scientific research. The program consists of a two-week online, directed self-study program followed by a four-week residential program. Students at YSPA live together on campus in one of the residential colleges, take classes at the Leitner Planetarium, learn to program and analyze data in the computer lab at the Leitner Observatory, and use the telescopes at the Leitner Observatory (as well as remote observatories) to collect data for their research project. At the end of the program, students write up their results in the form of a scientific paper and then present those results at our YSPA mini-conference. It’s difficult to describe what to expect from YSPA compared to the other ways a sciency high school student might choose to spend her or his summer. If you do a research internship in a scientist’s lab, you might learn some advanced research techniques, but you might not learn any of the fundamental concepts behind the research, and you might not make friends with anyone your age with your interests. At a college summer course, you might learn some interesting science and math and experience a college campus but not get any hands-on experience or learn research methods. At a summer camp, you might have a lot of fun and make a lot of new friends, but you probably would not get to learn new and interesting science (depending on the camp). YSPA is not a camp, it’s not a summer course, and it’s not a research internship, but it has elements that are like all of those things. You can expect to be challenged academically and personally and to be pushed to explore the boundaries of your comfort zone. You can expect to feel satisfaction and a boost in self-confidence after completing a complex research project. You can expect to meet peers who are fun, super-smart, and as passionate about science as you are. You may find that completing the program is one of the hardest and most rewarding things you’ve ever done.