Pre-CollEDGE Online Programs
Asynchronous, online programs | June 2025
Complete the interest form below to begin the registration process.
This June, Accelerate Pre-College Programs is coming to you—online.
Northeastern’s Accelerate Pre-College Programs is thrilled to launch a portfolio of online, asynchronous academic programs for high school learners. Join motivated peers from around the world in the pursuit of pre-college education with the flexibility and convenience of an online format. Accelerate Pre-College Programs will offer these non-credit programs in partnership with Northeastern’s Office of Experiential Digital Global Education (EDGE), an industry leader in experiential learning in online formats.
Program Information
Pre-CollEDGE academic programs provide high school students with foundational knowledge of the subject areas, as well as an overview of current applications, trends, and overall impact on business, industry, and society.
Each program is self-paced and features automatic assessment, allowing you to learn when and where it works best for your schedule. The program’s academic content should take about four weeks to complete and provides around 4-6 hours of class content and study per week. In addition, participants will be invited to optional synchronous components of the program, such as a live faculty lecture and a curated tour of a cutting-edge facility on one of Northeastern’s campuses.
Program Inclusions:
- 4 weeks of online, asynchronous academic content
- Live virtual lecture by a faculty member or industry leader (optional)
- Invitation to join a curated facility tour, such as a lab or makerspace, at one of Northeastern’s global network campuses (optional)
- Digital Badge upon successful completion of the program
Program Offerings
Pre-CollEDGE will offer two unique programs in June 2025. Each program is fully online with asynchronous content. Click the drop-downs to read the program descriptions and learning outcomes.
Introduction to Healthcare Pathways and Professions
Students who earn this badge will complete a four-module course exploring the healthcare industry, career pathways, and essential healthcare concepts. Designed for students of all experience levels, the course covers healthcare systems, patient care roles, public health and medical innovations, and the business of healthcare. Badge earners learn through readings, videos, quizzes, and interactive activities to develop a foundational understanding of healthcare professions and industry trends. This course helps students prepare for future studies or careers in medicine, public health, allied health professions, healthcare administration, and related fields.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain how healthcare systems function and identify key career pathways in clinical, administrative, and public health fields
- Demonstrate knowledge of patient care roles, including their responsibilities, required skills, and ethical considerations
- Analyze how public health initiatives, medical technology, and innovations impact healthcare delivery and patient outcomes
- Recognize the role of healthcare administration, policies, and financial structures in managing healthcare organizations
Introduction to Engineering with Coding
Students who earn this badge will complete a four-module course introducing the basics of coding, software development, and data visualization. Designed for students with all levels of experience, this course covers simple Python programming, how software is created and improved over time, and how to make data easy to understand with charts and graphs. Badge earners will learn through readings, videos, and quizzes and completing practice programming activities to build a strong foundation in coding and data skills. This course helps students prepare for future studies or careers in technology, engineering, or related fields.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain how simple coding and software development processes can help create apps or programs that solve everyday problems
- Demonstrate how to organize and clean data to make it easier to understand and find patterns or trends
- Identify basic data types and data structures to create simple program
Faculty
Dr. Jay Spitulnik – Introduction to Healthcare Pathways and Professions
Dr. Jay Spitulnik is the Director of the interdisciplinary Master of Science in Health Informatics program at Northeastern University. He brings a wealth of experience from corporate learning and the healthcare industry to Northeastern. Jay earned his BA and EdM from Boston University and his PhD in Organizational Psychology from Walden University.
Dr. Yizhen Zhao – Introduction to Engineering with Coding
Dr. Yizhen Zhao earned a PhD in economics from Johns Hopkins University, where she specialized in time-series econometrics and finance. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University, where she teaches Machine Learning in Finance class. She brings her Wall Street experience to class, which has given her a solid foundation in quantitative finance, machine learning modeling, programming, statistics, and asset pricing. Her Wall Street experience also included both sell-side and buy-side finance, focusing on equity investments, high-frequency trading, and machine learning. Dr. Zhao sees teaching as her way of giving back to the world, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. She is now expanding her research and teaching into blockchain technologies.
Registration Information
How to register
We are looking for talented, highly motivated high school students who are eager to kickstart or expand their learning in today’s relevant and compelling subject matter. Complete our interest form to begin the registration process.
Eligibility
To be eligible to register, students must be a current freshman, sophomore, or junior in high school.
Program Cost
The program tuition is $495. Need-based financial aid is available, and interested students can apply for aid within the interest form.
Registration Timeline
- Complete the interest form by June 16, 2025.
- After submitting the interest form, check your email for steps on how to complete registration, payment, and paperwork.
- Courses will be live for registered students from June 1 to August 1, 2025.
Program Tuition
The program tuition for each Pre-CollEDGE online program is $495.
About Northeastern
Northeastern is a top ranking experiential research university that prides itself on academic rigor, a diverse and talented population of students and faculty, and a powerful learning model that combines the classroom experience with hands-on work experience.
Contact Us
Questions? Contact us at 617.373.2200 or precollegeprograms@northeastern.edu