Academics | Senior Program

If you consider yourself someone who loves to learn in active, creative ways, the courses and mini-courses at the Senior Program will inspire you. We emphasize innovative courses that help you explore academic subjects from many different angles. All of our courses and mini-courses are ungraded, giving you the freedom to explore a full array of academic experiences. Our instructors have a passion for what they teach and will encourage you to take risks and engage coursework in ways you may have never thought possible.



In the morning, you have the opportunity to choose between two options: enrichment courses or the HS2C writing concentration.


The Senior Program offers more than 90 different options for your morning courses. You won’t be taking notes during a lecture about neuroanatomy — you’ll be dissecting a sheep’s brain. Instead of taking stage direction, you will be directing your own production in Yale's black box theatre. Have you ever recorded a broadcast narrative? Learned how to say "Hello" in Chinese? Grappled with Schrodinger's cat paradox?  Exploration courses are the perfect place to get hands-on experience in subjects not typically offered in a high school curriculum. Click here for course listings.


You already know how to write. Our High School to College Writing Program (HS2C) teaches you the techniques and skills to take your writing to the next level. In HS2C, you will begin to think like a college writer—learning how to organize your writing and how to structure your argument. In college, knowledge of the topic will be assumed; your writing will be evaluated on the originality and cogency of your thinking, as well as by the strength of support you can provide for your points.

Designed by Dr. Sarah McGinty, a former Harvard professor, HS2C will lead you through a range of exercises, conversations, drafts, and writing assignments designed to teach you to evaluate and edit your own writing, preparing you for both the application process and the transition into college. For complete information on the HS2C Writing Concentration, click here.



In the afternoon, you have the opportunity to choose between two options: mini-courses or Princeton Review courses.


Mini-courses offer a brief introduction to a variety of off-beat academic, athletic, and cultural fields. Past mini-courses have included Sesame Street Psychology, Jiu Jitsu, Painting Without Brushes, French For Travel, Rugby, Germs!, Lord of the Rings as Modern Epic, and Fashion Photography. Click here for more information about mini-courses.


Students interested in using the afternoon academic block to focus on improving study skills or test-taking strategies for the SAT or PSAT can take a 3-week Princeton Review course. Nationally renowned Princeton Review courses document an average score improvement of as much as 140 points. Courses offered include the new format SAT Critical Reading/Writing and Math, PSAT, and Study Smart. Click here for more information about Princeton Review courses.



On the second Wednesday of each session, students have the opportunity to take three different workshops and seminars offered by both Explo faculty members and outside speakers, presenters, and teachers. Some of these workshops are one-day samplers of Explo's most popular classes, and some are one-time clinics, lectures, discussions, and interactive presentations on subjects ranging from self-defense, to acting, to media and politics, to human rights and the law. Specific workshop choices will be published during the first week of the Program, and students choose from approximately 70 offerings.