YLS 2025 Student Application
About the Young Leaders Summit Program
The 2025 YLS student application is now closed.
The Young Leaders Summit (YLS), presented by the Youth Leadership Consortium (YLC), is a free, college empowerment summer program for a diverse cohort of high-achieving, low-income, high school juniors, selected through a competitive application process. It is designed to give these young leaders the practical tools they need to successfully apply to top universities, have full access to scholarship and financial aid opportunities, and set a course for academic and career success. Attendees will enhance their leadership abilities and expand their professional networks by participating in college and career workshops and interacting with college students and professionals who serve as their mentors.
It is entirely FREE for students to apply and participate in YLS:
- YLS pays for the students’ roundtrip airfare transportation, from their hometown to New Jersey.
- YLS Staff picks up all YLS students from Newark Liberty International airport and provides free roundtrip transportation to the Princeton University campus via the YLS Shuttle.
- YLS and Princeton provide students with free on-campus housing, for 5 days at the YLS dorm.
- YLS and Princeton provide all meals on-campus and program materials.
Details for YLS 2025
YLS 2025 has two components, and students are required to fully attend both:
- Virtual component via zoom (two days)
- Followed by an in-person component at the host university; Princeton University (five days)
IMPORTANT: To be eligible to participate in the five-day in-person component of the program, students must have fully participated in the two-day virtual component. Failure to successfully complete the virtual component via Zoom will lead to dismissal and inability to participate in the in-person component. We do not have any other virtual component dates, and we are unable to make any exceptions.
VIRTUAL COMPONENT DATES (all required, via zoom)
- Code of Conduct Acceptance & Orientation: Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM Pacific Time
- Virtual YLS: Saturday, June 7, 2025 & Sunday, June 8, 2025, 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM Pacific Time each day (with short breaks throughout the day)
IN-PERSON COMPONENT DATES & LOCATIONS (required)
- Princeton University: Wednesday, July 30, 2025 – Sunday, August 3, 2025
Student Eligibility:
- Students of all racial & ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to apply
- Current high school junior (Class of 2026), attending high school in the United States or a US Territory
- Must have an unweighted cumulative GPA above a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or above an 80 on a 100-point scale
- Comes from a low-income background, as defined by predicted Pell eligibility, after completing the “Federal Student Aid Estimator” (example of results here)
- Must be a US Citizen, Permanent Legal Resident, or DACA
- Plan to enroll full-time in a four-year degree program, at a US accredited, not-for-profit, private or public college or university after high school graduation.
How to Apply:
- Create a myYLC profile and under "Role" select "Student"
- Select "High School Junior" under the "Class Level" section and create your account.
- Verify your account by clicking "Very your email!" in the email that YLC sends you.
- Once you log into your MyYLC profile, you will see the "YLS 2025 Student Application" on your Dashboard.
We encourage you to watch the YLS video below! Questions? Please Contact Us.
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