Applications Open! Enroll for Summer 2027 at 2026 Tuition Pricing Until Sept 30
Try starting, growing, and buying a business in this two-week, full-day Dartmouth academy for high school students.
Course Description
Picture yourself running a business. The choices you make about money, risk, and growth can look very different depending on how you got there. Try three entrepreneurial paths and discover which fits you.
In this course you will try all three paths through practical business challenges. Turn an early idea into a pitch, investigate how an existing venture could grow, and examine a small business as a potential purchase. Each path brings different demands on money, skills, and your appetite for risk.
Conversations with a founder, a business operator, and an entrepreneur looking for a company to buy bring those choices closer to everyday reality. Compare their work with your own pitch, growth plan, and written assessment of a potential acquisition. A self-assessment helps you consider which kind of entrepreneurial work fits the way you like to think and act.
This two-week full-day academy for high school students is part of Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars in Hanover, New Hampshire. Developed and academically led by Dartmouth, it focuses on one academy throughout the program. Residential and commuter options are available.
What You Will Do
• Turn an early business idea into a pitch
• Investigate ways to grow an existing venture
• Assess a small business as a potential purchase
• Compare the risks and resources each path requires
• Talk with practitioners who start, operate, and acquire businesses
• Use a self-assessment to consider your entrepreneurial fit
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Distinguish the risks, resources, and skills of three entrepreneurial paths
• Evaluate a potential business purchase using evidence about how it works
• Explain which entrepreneurial path fits your interests and working style
You’ll leave with your pitch, growth plan, written business assessment, and a certificate of completion.
Why Entrepreneurship Skills Matter
Entrepreneurship involves more than having an idea. Founders create something new, operators help a venture grow, and buyers decide whether an existing business is worth taking on. Each role asks different questions.
Trying those decisions gives you a more useful basis for exploring business study and entrepreneurial interests. You can begin to distinguish the work that appeals to you from the job title alone.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
You might have an idea you want to start, enjoy finding ways to improve a business, or wonder what it takes to buy one. This academy lets you try each route before deciding which appeals to you. You’ll meet people doing the work and compare their experiences with your own business challenges.
Recommended by 9 out of 10 Students
Based on students surveyed in the Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars program (2026)
Your Summer at Dartmouth
Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars gives high school students a concentrated introduction to college-level learning in Hanover, New Hampshire. The program is developed and academically led by Dartmouth. Students explore current ideas through discussion, projects, and sustained work that helps them test an academic interest in depth.
Residential students live in Dartmouth residence halls, eat at 53 Commons, and can join workshops and counselor-supported evening and weekend activities. Time in Hanover and the Upper Valley adds a distinctive New England setting, while the broader experience helps students build independence and clarify what they may want to study next.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive