BCT 2026 - Book MIT & Harvard Tours Now!

BCT - Boston area College Tour - a free STEM talent pipeline initiative for current 9th & 10th grade high school students, is now open for registrations for MIT and Harvard tours on Friday, July 10, 2026. Go to 2026 BCT - Boston area College Tour — Robotics & turkey to register or see tour details.

STEM is hot!  In 2025, the average starting salary for an MIT senior entering industry was $145,820, up from $126,438 in 2024.

Talented students receive in-person exposure to determine fit with the universities and decide whether to apply for admission. Note that MIT and Harvard are tuition free for admitted students whose family incomes are under $200,000.

Most BCT participants do a day trip but consider a full BCT/Boston JerkFest 3-day experience (Thu-Sat nights). Hotels in Cambridge and Boston are more expensive this summer so book early and consider the outlying areas convenient to the Boston subway system. Click here for information and tickets for the 13th annual Boston JerkFest food and music festival.

Special features of the 2025 MIT tour were:

• a 60-minute activity session only for high school students while parents toured the MIT Museum, and

• a 45-minute lunch and talk session where high school students and parents could pose additional questions to four rising 2nd year MIT students and a PhD alumnus (pictured in the above gallery and wearing name tags). LinkedIn profiles of the MIT students and alumnus were shared a few days earlier with tour participants to facilitate more effective networking.

The 2025 MIT & Harvard tours had presentations by admissions officers Trinidad Carney at MIT and Ian McLean at Harvard. One-hour campus tours were conducted by current college students.

Here’s a video recap of the 3-day 2025 BCT/Boston JerkFest experience. Video captures only a fraction of the experience. For example, I tasted the best ever jerk chicken meal. It was plated by Chef Audley “Ras Skills” Mills, the winner of the Jerk Chef Cook-Off Contest!