12 University Research Internships for High School Students

If you’re a high schooler interested in exploring a subject beyond the school curriculum, conducting research in that field is an excellent way to further your interests. Research can help you build a set of essential skills that will be useful in the future, while also helping you dive into a subject you’re curious about and getting you started on your career.

As a high school student thinking about research, you should consider a university research internship. Research internships offered by universities across the country are opportunities that give you access to the university’s laboratories and libraries, allow you to interact with and learn from accomplished faculty, and come with a host of other valuable resources and facilities to support and enhance your research work. 

University research internships are also highly prestigious, which is why securing a spot will enhance your skills and knowledge, and boost your college applications. Admissions officers seek students who demonstrate practical initiative and motivation.

To get you started, here’s a curated list of 12 best university research internships for high school students.

1. Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR)

Subject areas: Medicine - immunology, genetics and genomics, bioengineering, cancer biology, neurobiology, bioinformatics, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and cardiovascular biology.
Location: Stanford School of Medicine (Stanford University), Stanford, CA
Eligibility: Juniors and seniors of high school who are at least 16 years old and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Dates: June 10, 2024 - August 1, 2024 (8 weeks)
Stipend: All students receive a minimum of $500 for the program. However, students from underrepresented groups will receive a minimum of $1,500. Housing and meals are not provided.

This program is highly prestigious and selective, with this year’s cohort expected to have around 50 students (an acceptance rate of less than 3%). You will collaborate one-on-one with a mentor, a Stanford graduate student or a postdoctoral fellow, and engage in hands-on research. You will be mentored by imminent scholars, researchers, and Ph.D. fellows in the field of medicine. Interns can choose from eight institutes or research areas—immunology, genetics and genomics, bioengineering, cancer biology, neurobiology, bioinformatics, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and cardiovascular biology.

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 your research poster of your project, which you 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.

2. Johns Hopkins Internship in Brain Sciences (JHIBS)

Subject areas: Neuroscience, neurobiology
Location: Johns Hopkins University Department of Neurology, Baltimore, MD / Virtual
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors (in-person applicants must attend a Baltimore high school)
Application Deadline: March 1 every year
Dates: June-August (8 weeks in person) | July-August (5 weeks virtual internship)
Stipend: Hourly wages and transportation funds are paid to in-person interns while virtual interns are paid a fixed stipend of $500.

A program structured to make the field of neurological sciences more inclusive and representative, this internship is a fully-funded summer research program for high school students from underrepresented communities. During the program, you will conduct research under the guidance and mentorship of expert researchers in the field and will take part in hands-on projects, discussions, scientific seminars, weekly personal and professional development sessions, and interactions with leading neuroscientists at JHU. You can choose to attend either of the two following program offerings:

• In-Person Experience: 8 selected interns will participate in a research project under the mentorship of professionals while also attending clinical rotations, scientific seminars, weekly educational and professional development sessions, and a final oral or poster presentation.

• Virtual Experience: The virtual experience includes activities like educational presentations, learning basic laboratory experiments and techniques, mentorship training, and professional development training.

At the end of the program, you will present your research via an oral or poster presentation. Take a look at some of the past projects!

3. Princeton University’s Laboratory Learning Program

Subject areas: Engineering, technology, computer science, STEM
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Eligibility: U.S. high school students (citizens, legal permanent residents, and international students attending U.S. high schools) who are at least 16 by June 15, 2024
Application Deadline: Applications usually close in March.
Dates: June-August (5-6 weeks)
Stipend: This is an unpaid internship.

Princeton University’s Laboratory Learning Program allows students to work alongside faculty and researchers in Princeton laboratories and assist them with ongoing research, usually in engineering and the natural sciences. Around 40 interns are selected from nearly 700 applications, making this a fairly competitive program. Selected interns will get a chance to work under the supervision of Princeton faculty and researchers on projects in:

• Engineering: Project offerings include the development of a bio-inspired soft robot, large language model applications in environmental sustainability, molecular modeling and machine learning of smart polymeric materials, exploring lung development in birds and lizards, safe robotics for coral reef conservation, and more.

• Natural Sciences: Projects include sustainable catalysis, antibiotic discovery, biophysics, fossil size database, and more.

Princeton faculty lead research teams, which include postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students, and other staff researchers. At the end of the program, as an intern you will be expected to present a two-page research summary report. Research opportunities vary year on year, depending on the laboratories and researchers’ focus areas.

4. Geosciences Bridge Program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)

Subject areas: Geosciences, oceanography, biogeochemistry, environmental engineering, marine geology
Location: University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD
Eligibility: High school seniors entering their first year of an undergraduate degree program in geosciences with U.S. citizenship or permanent residence and a minimum 2.7 GPA
Application Deadline: Applications for summer 2024 are not yet open.
Dates: June-August (6 weeks)
Stipend: $500 per week, with free housing, meals, and transportation provided.

The Geosciences Bridge Program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center (LMRCSC), offers lectures, hands-on activities and projects, field trips, and 2 for-credit college courses (college algebra or calculus and a Freshman Seminar course). Selected interns can gain experience in various geosciences, such as atmospheric science, marine biology and chemistry, oceanography, remote sensing/GIS, biogeochemistry, civil and environmental engineering, marine geology, and others.

Interns will further receive guidance from faculty mentors and a chance to receive scholarships and additional research opportunities.

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Research Science Institute

Subject areas: STEM fields
Location: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Eligibility: High school juniors with valid test scores
Application Deadline: Applications for 2024 are closed. Applications for 2025 will open in the fall.
Dates: July-August
Stipend: This is an unpaid internship.

MIT’s Research Science Institute (RSI) selects 100 qualified interns every year from across the world and provides them with both on-campus coursework in scientific theory and off-campus work in science and technology research. Selected interns will participate in a week of intensive classes with experienced professors and will then move on to a 5-week research internship under the mentorship of scientists and researchers. As part of this internship, students will read current literature, formulate a plan, execute research, and prepare papers and oral presentations.

Interns will further attend field trips to nearby cultural attractions and science and technology facilities in Boston.

6. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Internship

Subject areas: Plasma physics, fusion energy
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Eligibility: Students who are at least 16 years old, are graduating high school seniors at the start of the internship, and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
Application Deadline: Applications usually close in March.
Dates: 8-10 weeks (40 hours/week) in the summer, with exact dates and duration depending on the student’s school schedule
Stipend: Paid (exact amount not specified)

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Internship offers a limited number of internship opportunities for high school students wherein selected interns will get a chance to undertake research projects with a research or engineering staff member. Projects will primarily focus on plasma physics and fusion energy, so students should have some prior experience in or related to an experimental or computational project in plasma physics.

Apart from laboratory work, students will also carry out work using coding/computer languages (like Python/Java) and/or computer-aided design (like SolidWorks or AutoCAD).

Note that this is a commuter program, although some remote projects may also be available.

7. The Anson L. Clark Scholar Program at TexasTech University

Subject areas: Engineering, STEM, computer science
Location: TexasTech University campus, Lubbock, TX
Eligibility: Students who will be at least 17 years old by the program start date, will graduate in 2024/2025, and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
Application Deadline: Applications close in February every year.
Dates: June 16, 2024 - August 1, 2024 (7 weeks)
Stipend: $750 + free housing and meals

The Anson L. Clark Scholar program at TexasTech University selects 12 students for its cohort every year. These 12 students will get the unique opportunity to work with accomplished and renowned professors and researchers while also attending social activities, field trips, and networking events. At the end of the internship, students must submit a research project report.

Research areas are likely to change annually, but the options available for 2024 include biology and microbiology, nutritional sciences, neurobiology, computer science, mechanical engineering, history, chemistry, and electrical and computer engineering.

You can look at previous scholars and their projects here.

8. STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) Internship by NASA and UT Austin

Subject areas: Earth science, space research, astronomy
Location: Hybrid (Remote + University of Austin, Austin, TX)
Eligibility: High school juniors with U.S. citizenship
Application Deadline: Applications generally close in February.
Dates: July 1, 2024 - July 6, 2024 (online work with mentors) | July 7, 2024 - July 20, 2024 (on-site for 11th graders) | July 27, 2024 - August 4, 2024 (on-site for 10th graders)
Stipend: This is an unpaid internship, although housing, meals, and local transportation will be covered. Some travel scholarships to Texas are also available.

NASA and UT Austin’s SEES Internship is a nationally competitive program offering high school students the chance to conduct research under scientists and engineers. Students will contribute to ongoing NASA-supported projects at UT Austin in areas like astronomy, remote sensing, and space geodetic techniques. Interns will also be able to access NASA remote sensing data, mission designs, and projects on Earth’s gravity field and ice sheet analysis.

The program requires initial online module completion and project work, followed by the in-person internship program. A Virtual Science Symposium will also be held at the end of the internship.

9. University of Colorado’s Summer Child Health Research Internship

Subject areas: Medicine, child health
Location: Anschutz Medical Campus (Children’s Hospital Colorado), Aurora, CO
Eligibility: High school seniors at least 18 years old by the start of the internship
Application Deadline: Applications are closed for 2024 and will reopen for the 2025 internship in December 2024.
Dates: June 3, 2024 - August 2, 2024 (9 weeks)
Stipend: $3,500 for housing and travel assistance

A collaboration between the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Child Health Research Enterprise at Children’s Hospital Colorado, the Summer Child Health Research Internship is an opportunity to conduct medical research in the lab under the supervision of expert faculty.

Selected interns will mainly focus on child health research while also participating in a weekly lecture series. Interns will then present their research projects and findings at the end of the internship. The program also recommends producing abstracts for submission to conferences and meetings, with selection resulting in funding to travel to the meeting.

10. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Summer Internship

Subject areas: Medicine, cancer research, biomedicine
Location: University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Eligibility: Texas high school seniors age 18+ by the program start date
Application Deadline: Applications typically open in November and close in January.
Dates: June 3, 2024 - August 9, 2024 (10 weeks)
Stipend: $6,800

A highly competitive program, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Summer Internship accepts only up to 10 students. If selected, you will receive the opportunity to conduct research in one of the biomedical or allied health (administration, nursing, diagnostics, and more) disciplines, with special focus on learning the basics of scientific investigation under an MD Anderson faculty member.

In addition to laboratory work taking place 5 days a week, seminars, workshops, and activities are also included in the program. The internship will conclude with a celebratory luncheon with presentations from all participants.

11. Rockefeller University’s Summer Science Research Program (SSRP)

Subject area: Biomedicine
Location: Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors aged 16+
Application Deadline: Applications usually close in January.
Dates: June 24, 2024 - August 8, 2024 (7 weeks; 35 hours a week)
Stipend: Need-based stipends are offered. All students will also receive a MetroCard/OMNI card to cover public transit costs.

Rockefeller University’s Summer Science Research Program (SSRP) is a mentored biomedical research program in which interns will work on a research team on projects of their choice. Each team (8 students each) will have its own space in the university’s laboratory and will work according to its designated structure with one team lead and guidance from scientists. In the final two weeks, interns will analyze data and design a poster for their final presentations.

Elective courses, social activities, and guest lectures are also included in the program’s offerings. Note that the SSRP cohort includes only 32 scholars.

12. The University of Southern California (USC) Dornsife’s Young Researchers Program

Subject areas: STEM
Location: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Eligibility: High school juniors living in the local USC neighborhood
Application Deadline: Applications usually close in March.
Dates: June 17, 2024 - July 26, 2024
Stipend: This is an unpaid internship.

USC Dornsife’s Young Researchers Program allows students to conduct scientific research on university-level projects. Each student will be paired with a graduate mentor to work on a STEM research project that aligns with the mentor’s specialty. At the end of the internship, students will participate in a poster symposium to present their findings to the audience.

In addition to the research, students will receive access to field trips and weekly lunch seminars on professional development and college applications.

Looking for an immersive internship experience?
Check out Ladder Internships!

Ladder Internships is a selective, virtual internship program where students work with startups and nonprofits from around the world! The startups range across a variety of industries, with specific research internships also available. As part of their internship, each student will work on a real-world project that is of genuine need to the startup they are working with, and present their work at the end of their internship. In addition to working closely with their manager from the startup, each intern will also work with a Ladder Coach throughout their internship. Apply now!

Stephen is one of the founders of Ladder Internships and a Harvard College graduate.