Telluride Association Summer Seminar is an annual residential learning program for high school sophomores and juniors. Students choose either TASS-CBS or TASS-AOS and attend a college-level, discussion-based seminar in humanities and social sciences.
The five-week program combines weekday classes, reading and writing, public speaking, and democratic community living. In 2026 it ran at Cornell University in Ithaca and the University of Maryland in College Park.
Benefits & funding
- Telluride Association covers tuition, books, room and board, field trips, and facilities fees for every participant.
- Students with financial need may request help with some or all travel costs.
- Additional aid may replace earnings that a student would otherwise receive from summer work.
- Financial-aid decisions are separate from admission decisions.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be current high school sophomores or juniors; both U.S. and international students may apply.
- Participants must be at least 15 when the program begins and no older than 17 when it ends.
- For the 2026 cycle, students attending high school or homeschool in the United States had to be born from July 26, 2008 through June 21, 2011.
- For the 2026 cycle, students studying outside the United States without a U.S. passport had to be sophomores and born from July 26, 2009 through June 21, 2011.
- Applicants may apply to only one focus area in a given year: TASS-CBS or TASS-AOS.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.
Education required
High School
Age requirement
15–17 yrs
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Application process
- 1Review the two focus areas and select either TASS-CBS or TASS-AOS.
- 2Create an account in the official application portal when the next cycle opens.
- 3Complete the online application and prepare the required essays independently; essays are pasted into plain text fields.
- 4Submit by the published deadline and, if selected, participate in the interview stage.
Program timeline
October 15, 2025
2026 applications opened
December 3, 2025
2026 application deadline
Interview notifications
January 30, 2026
Interviews
February 2026
Final notifications
March 2026
June 21, 2026
2026 program started
July 25, 2026
2026 program ended
Fall 2026
2027 applications expected to open; the official portal does not state an exact date