12 Best Internships for High School Students
If you are in high school and looking for an internship, you’ve probably noticed that internships open for high school students are limited. The search can be challenging — but we’ve got you covered!
Whether for the summer or year-round, this list has 12 of the best internship programs open for high school students. We’ve covered internships across STEM subjects, social sciences, business, humanities, public policy, law, and more.
If you're unsure whether you should spend your time interning in high school, here are some reasons why you should consider it:
You’ll apply what you learn in school in a real-world setting: As an intern, you get to see concepts come alive in the field and apply skills such as communication, leadership, and problem-solving aptitude.
You’ll stand out among your peers: There are several prestigious national and international-level internships available, and getting selected for such prestigious programs can enhance your resume and overall profile. For instance, if you were to intern with NASA or attend SIMR’s research internship program, it would automatically signal your caliber, boosting your profile for college admissions and opening opportunities beyond college.
You’ll boost your college applications: This early exposure to the professional world strengthens college applications. It shows admissions officers that you are motivated and driven, keen to gain practical experience in the field of your choice. Also, securing a place in the most prestigious internships is not easy. So, it increases your competitiveness in college applications.
You’ll build a valuable, life-long network: Internships allow you to network with both young and seasoned professionals in your field, learn from them, and build connections that can last a long time and are essential as you build your career.
You’ll make informed decisions about your career options: An internship can give you a solid, first-hand idea of what type of work you may like or not like and make informed choices. It’s like trying out a career in a low-stakes situation.
We’ve chosen some of the best internships offered across the country.
12 Internships That Should Be On Your Radar
Location: Virtual.
Application Deadline: Applications for the winter cohort typically close mid-December. There are multiple cohorts throughout the year, including winter, spring, summer, and fall, with respective deadlines.
Dates: There are multiple 8-week cohorts throughout the year, including winter, spring, summer, and fall.
Eligibility: Open to high school students who have prior experience with AI/ML or have completed a Veritas AI program.
Cost: $2,490. Some financial aid is offered.
The AI Internship Program by Veritas AI is founded and run by Harvard alumni. Through the 8-week internship, students have the opportunity to work with Venture Capitalist-backed startups on real-world AI/ML projects. Students work directly with mentors from Harvard, Wharton, Google, Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and more.
This program is a great opportunity for students with prior experience with AI/ML who are looking to gain real-world exposure to a career in the field. Students get a chance to network with industry professionals, work closely with company leadership, and receive a letter of completion from the company at the end of the internship. You can learn more about the program here and apply here.
Location: Virtual! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Application Deadline: There are multiple deadlines throughout the year.
Dates: These are 8-week programs with multiple cohorts throughout the year, including winter, spring, summer, and fall.
Eligibility: All high school students can work 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks. These internships are also open to undergraduates and gap-year students!
Cost: Starting at $2,490. Financial assistance is available.
Ladder Internships is a selective program equipping students with virtual internship experiences at startups and nonprofits around the world! You will get to work with startup founders from Harvard, Wharton, Google, Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and more. These high-growth startups range across various industries, and you can select which field you would most love to dive into. This program offers a curriculum that caters specifically to high school students, ensuring a balance between academic enrichment and practical skill development. These internships provide a structured pathway for high school students to engage in real-world research and innovation.
As an intern, you will work on a real-world project that is of genuine need to the startup you’re working with and present your work at the end of your internship. You will work with your manager from the startup, with a Ladder Coach who will serve as a second mentor, guiding you as you navigate the startup environment. Interns will receive 1-1 training in communication, time management, and other skills and will attend group training sessions with other interns.
The fields you’d have the chance to intern in include technology, machine learning and AI, finance, environmental science and sustainability, business and marketing, healthcare and medicine, media and journalism, and more. You can explore all the options here on their application form.
3. Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR)
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, California.
Application Deadline: February.
Dates: June 9 - July 31 (tentative).
Eligibility:
- Current juniors or seniors who are at least 16 years of age are eligible.
- Must live and attend school in the U.S. and be either a citizen or permanent resident.
Stipend: Students earn a stipend of $500 - $2,500. Housing and transportation are not provided.
Please note: There is a $40 application fee, which can be waived. Stipends of $2500 and above are given on a needs-based system from special grants.
SIMR is one of the most prestigious internship programs, offering both internship and research components. It’s an 8-week internship program where you will get to collaborate one-on-one with a mentor, a Stanford graduate student, or a postdoctoral fellow and engage in hands-on research. You will have to select one of eight study fields: immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology, bioengineering, stem cell and regenerative medicine, cardiovascular biology, bioinformatics, genetics, and genomics. Once selected, you will be assigned a particular field of study (branch) based on your preference and spend two months as a mentee. You will be mentored by eminent scholars, researchers, and Ph.D. fellows in the field of medicine. This is a fairly competitive program with a cohort size of about 50 students – at an acceptance rate of less than 3% (approximately).
During the first couple weeks of the program, you will attend lectures in the morning and spend the rest of the day working in your lab. A majority of the program will be spent in full-time lab work. During the last 2 weeks of the program, you will work on the research poster of your project, which you will present to your peers, teachers, family, and the Stanford community at the end of the program. Each branch has a slightly different internship structure to help you get the best exposure to that branch, so be sure to read through the internship structures carefully.
4. NIH’s High School Scientific Training and Enrichment Program (HiSTEP)
Location: NIH campus, Bethesda, Maryland.
Application Deadline: January.
Dates: July 7 - August 7 (tentative, every Tuesday to Thursday).
Eligibility: Students who are current high school juniors, and are 17 years old by June, may apply. Make sure you check the eligibility criteria in detail before you apply.
Stipend: $2,530.
HiSTEP, conducted by the National Institute of Health, is designed to promote diversity in STEM and is tailored for students who are keen on pursuing scientific research—the program partners with top research institutions to help you explore scientific investigations across diverse disciplines. HiSTEP is not a hands-on, full-time research program. It will combine an introduction to scientific, professional, and personal skills with leadership training, wellness programming, and an exploration of STEM-M (science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine-related) careers. In addition, it will help prepare you for future scholarships and internships. You will also participate in weekly workshops and seminars aimed at developing your scientific, professional, and personal skills.
5. Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) at the Department of Navy (DoN)
Location: There are several lab locations across the country.
Application Deadline: Applications open in August and close on November 1st every year.
Dates: Eight weeks in the summer. Exact dates vary depending on the lab you choose.
Eligibility:
- High school students who have completed at least grade 9 and are at least 16 years old when the internship begins can apply.
- Graduating seniors are eligible as well.
- Students are recommended to check whether their preferred lab choice has any other particular requirements.
Stipend: $4,000 (new participant) | $4,500 (returning participant)
Cost: There are no registration costs; however, housing, meals, transportation, and medical expenses are not covered. You can expect to have to travel to and from your lab, depending on your placement.
This prestigious apprenticeship is a relatively research-focused program. SEAP is an immersive 8-week summer program that places high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors in Department of Navy (DoN) laboratories across the country. It’s an opportunity to work alongside leading researchers and engineers at Navy laboratories and facilities across the country on actual Naval research. As part of the program, you will receive mentoring from expert scientists and engineers at the Navy labs. While working on projects hands-on, you will gain valuable knowledge and skills in various STEM disciplines, such as computer science and aeronautics.
Your lab choice is based on your subject of interest. Engineering is a popular area of research, so you will have the flexibility to choose labs all over the country. With approximately 300 placements across over 38 laboratories nationwide, SEAP is highly competitive, and because of its association with the US government, it’s regarded as highly prestigious, too.
6. California Academy of Science Careers in Science (CiS) Intern Program
Location: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California.
Application Deadline: April (tentatively, based on previous year’s dates)
Dates: After school and on weekends, year-round participation for 2-3 years till graduation.
Eligibility: Students who
- are currently enrolled full-time as a 9th or 10th-grade student in an SFUSD school - check if your school qualifies here;
- have maintained a GPA of 2.5 and a grade of C or higher in science and math;
- can obtain a valid work permit (US citizens and others authorized to work in the US);
- can commit to all attendance requirements for 2 or 3 years through high school graduation;
- can commute to the Academy and nearby locations after school, and on Saturdays during the school year, and on weekdays in the summer (some remote work may be required);
- demonstrate interest and enthusiasm for learning, teaching, and doing science can apply.
Stipend: Students will receive a stipend, but information on the exact amount is not available.
CiS is a multi-year, year-round, paid internship and youth development program for students who come from communities underrepresented in STEM, including girls and students of color. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in the sciences, you can consider this immersive internship program. As an intern, you will work alongside scientists, researchers, and educators at the California Academy of Sciences. You will learn the ropes of scientific research and science communication. This internship includes interactive training sessions twice a week, outdoor field activities, and guidance on your college applications. In groups, you will work on a science research or environmental action project.
7. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Scholars Program
Location: Multiple locations across the country.
Application Deadline: January.
Dates: Varies from project to project, but you can expect it to be during the summer months for 9 weeks.
Eligibility:
- High school students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale are highly encouraged to apply, but a GPA of less than 3.0 will not disqualify applicants.
- Students applying must be at least 16 years old (by the application deadline). It’s recommended you read through all the eligibility requirements before applying.
Stipend: Can range from $468.80 to $788.40/ week, depending on your lab.
Upper-level high schoolers may have a chance to study at the Air Force Research Laboratory over the summer.
Once selected, you will have the opportunity to receive guidance from full-time AFRL scientists and engineers while touring AFRL laboratories and working on cutting-edge research and technology. You can expect to work on areas such as aerospace / mechanical design for morphing aircraft technology, complex electromagnetic structures, and metalens design and modeling (to name a few).
These opportunities are also open to undergraduate and graduate-level students so be sure to filter for specific opportunities open to high school students. A few research areas open to high schoolers are Clean-up of PFAS contamination, Data Structures for Advanced Satellite Navigation Signals, and Experimental Navigation Satellite Signals Simulation and Testing, to name a few.
8. NASA and UT Austin’s SEES High School Summer Intern Program
Location: Hybrid (on-site experience at the University of Austin, Texas campus, Austin, Texas).
Application Deadline: February.
Dates: May 1 - July 22 (May 1 is when the Earth and Space Learning Module will be Available)
Eligibility: High school sophomores and juniors who hold U.S. citizenship can apply.
Cost/Stipend: None.
The SEES is a highly prestigious, highly competitive competition for high school students hosted by UT Austin in collaboration with NASA. It is a national-level internship program where students can work alongside NASA subject matter experts.
The program is focused on Earth and space research. It relies on interns to assist with analyzing and visualizing data, which are key to moving a project faster and foundational knowledge for aerospace engineering. All project teams will present their research during the Virtual SEES Science Symposium.
The program includes a virtual learning component and an on-campus experience at the University of Texas, Austin. You are also expected to present your research at the program's concluding symposium.
Note: The SEES team looks for a few things in an intern: academic records, a written application that includes answers to essay questions, an introduction video, a letter of recommendation form, a transcript, and a demonstration of interest in STEM.
9. Summer Internships for High School Students (Laboratory Learning Program) at Princeton
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
Application deadline: March.
Dates: 5-6 weeks in the summer, depending on the research project and the researchers' schedules. Each research project has its own schedule. Interns work full-time, Monday to Friday, with no weekend activities.
Eligibility:
- Students must be enrolled in a U.S. high school and are at least 16 years old by June 15, 2025;
- High school graduates who will not turn 18 by June can apply;
- Students must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. International students enrolled in a U.S. high school can also apply. Princeton does not sponsor visas for the program.
- Do note that you will have to provide proof of housing and transportation during the application process.
Cost/Stipend: None.
The Laboratory Learning Program is a highly selective, prestigious summer internship for high school students, giving them the unique opportunity to work alongside faculty and researchers in Princeton laboratories, assisting them with ongoing research, usually in engineering and the natural sciences. Around 25 Princeton laboratories accept 40 interns annually.
Princeton faculty lead research teams, which include postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students, as well as other staff researchers. At the end of the program, interns must produce a two-page research summary report. Research opportunities change every year, depending on the laboratory and the researcher’s focus. Some of the research projects interns participated in last year included:
Machine learning methods for power magnetics modeling
Heat pumps to save the world
Investigating heteroresistance to antibiotics
Machine learning for green power generation
Decoding human genetic variation in human health and disease
Biofuel oxidation at supercritical pressure
You can see the entire list of 2023 research opportunities here.
10. Bank of America Student Leaders Program
Location: The program is held all across the country – you will be assigned a local non-profit organization to work with in your region/area. The Leadership Summit will be held in Washington, DC.
Application Deadline: January.
Dates: The dates vary by location, but the internship usually begins shortly after the school year ends. The summit is in July.
Eligibility:
- Current high school juniors and seniors are eligible to apply.
- Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship for the entire duration of the program.
- Must be able to commit for the entire duration of 35 hours/ week for 8 weeks.
- Must be able to attend the Student Leaders Summit.
- Must be in good standing in school and have permanent residence in any eligible location.
- Must not have been previously selected for the program (Although, if you were previously rejected, you can apply again.)
- Not be an immediate family member of a Bank of America employee or be an employee yourself.
Stipend: It is a paid internship, but no information is available on the exact amount. The trip to Washington, D.C, is covered by the bank!
If you are looking to intern and develop yourself as a leader, then the Bank of America Student Leaders Program is a great opportunity for you.
With this program, the bank aims to foster community-mindedness, encouraging and training students who are passionate about improving their community. The program offers an opportunity for you to work at a local non-profit organization as you develop your leadership and community skills. While you learn about the various aspects of running such an organization, engage in community service projects, and develop a deeper understanding of social issues, you will simultaneously work on skills that will aid in your future academics and career.
As part of the program, you will engage in real-world projects and assignments related to financial analysis and community leadership. This hands-on experience allows you to apply your classroom knowledge to practical situations. The internship includes a week-long Student Leadership Summit held in Washington, DC. The travel, food, and stay will be covered by the bank.
Bank of America selects about 300 driven high school students from over 100 diverse communities. You will have the opportunity to connect with professionals in the banking and financial industry. We’d recommend this internship because Bank of America has a pretty strong reputation with corporate and not-for-profit entities.
11. The Met Internship Program for High School Students
Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, New York.
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors based in and around New York City (must attend a high school or homeschool in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut.)
Application Deadline: School-year Internship: October | Summer Internship: March (tentatively, based on previous year’s dates)
Dates: School-year Internship: January 11 - June 13 | Summer Internship: June 25 - August 9 (tentatively, based on previous year’s dates)
Stipend: $1,100
The Met invites applications for a cohort of high school students passionate about art, design, architecture, and creative expression to participate in fully funded internships each year. The Met offers two kinds of internships: one that runs alongside your school year and the other that runs exclusively in the summer.
The internship program that runs all year round invites a cohort of students to connect with art, museums, and creative professionals as they develop professional skills, network, and gain work experience. As a MET intern, you regularly interact with museum professionals, as well as experts in marketing, scientific research, social media, law, and educational programming. You also participate in Career Labs - sessions where you interact and learn from professionals about their work and experiences and receive advice. This is a valuable opportunity for students who are passionate not just about art but related fields as well!
12. Student Historian Internship at the New York Historical Society
Location: New York Historical Society, New York, NY
Application deadline: Applications for summer internships open in the first week of February. Applications for academic-year internships open in early June.
Dates: October - June for the academic-year internship and early July through mid-August for summer internships.
Eligibility: High school students entering grades 10, 11, or 12 can apply. Applicants must live in and attend school in the New York City metro area (includes the five boroughs of New York City, as well as areas of New York State, Connecticut, and New Jersey).
Stipend: Interns who attend a Title 1 School or are eligible for free or reduced lunch will be offered a stipend to participate. Unpaid internships will be provided for all other accepted students, with the option to receive community service hours or school credit. Participation in this program can be used to fulfill the extracurricular requirement for the NYSED Seal of Civic Readiness.
High school students participating in the Student Historian internship program leverage New York Historical's resources to embark on research endeavors and showcase their scholarly work through innovative digital projects. During the internship, students engage in informative sessions with experienced professionals, where they gain insights into the realms of museums, libraries, digital humanities, and history. They also foster collaborative skills by working closely with their peers to enhance their historical analysis, communication, and digital media abilities. Additionally, they actively participate in hands-on activities aimed at deepening their grasp of American history and the digital humanities. The overarching theme for this internship program this year is 'Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass' America.'
Looking for an immersive internship experience?
Check out Ladder Internships!
Ladder Internships is a selective, virtual internship program that connects students with startups and nonprofits from industries around the world! As part of the internship, you will work on real-world projects that are important to the startup and present your work at the end of the internship. You will also be mentored by their manager from the startup as well as a Ladder Coach. Apply now!