10 Business Internships for High School Students
If you are in high school and looking to do a business internship, we have a solid list of internships that you should consider. It is a common mistake to assume that business internships strictly relate to the financial sector or specific industries. Business internships can be quite versatile and add to your profile as a high school student. They build similar skill sets yet cover a broad range of careers and industries.
Further, participating in an internship as a prospective business student can offer valuable exposure and opportunities for skill-building. A solid internship experience can also boost your resume for college! However, internships can be hard to come by for a high school student. We’ve compiled 10 business internships for high school students in this blog, along with important details like their application deadlines, eligibility requirements, duration, and location (if any). However, before we dive into the opportunities, here’s why you should aim to intern while still in high school.
Why do an internship in high school?
Internships bridge the gap between your classroom curriculum and real-world experience. By participating in internships, you will gain practical knowledge and skills in different interest areas, which can help you explore potential career paths.
Internships also help you develop essential professional skills like communication, teamwork, and time management. Additionally, college admissions officers look for students who pursue opportunities to learn outside of their school curriculum. Internships also offer a chance for you to network with professionals in your field, potentially opening doors for future job opportunities and mentorship.
Here are the 10 best business internships for high school students!
Cost: Starting at $2,490 (financial aid available)
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Application Deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September) and Winter (November).
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week, for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students!
Ladder Internships is a selective start-up internship program for ambitious high school students! In the program, you work with a high-growth start-up on an internship. Start-ups that offer internships range across a variety of industries, from tech/deep tech and AI/ML to health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. You can explore all the options here on their application form. Ladder’s start-ups are high-growth companies on average raising over a million dollars. In the program, interns work closely with their managers and a Ladder Coach on real-world projects and present their work to the company. Here is the application form. The virtual internship is usually 8 weeks long.
Cost: No cost, stipend provided
Location: Meta Headquarters, CA
Application Deadline: March 1
Program Length: 6 weeks (June through July)
Eligibility: High school sophomores who are full-year residents of East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, or Redwood City are encouraged to apply
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, runs the Meta Summer Academy. As a participant, you will learn about business practices at Meta and be a part of its day-to-day environment. Interns will be mentored by Meta employees, and the position offers valuable exposure to the tech industry. Meta provides transportation to all externs, which makes it accessible to applicants from across California. Only 150 students are selected. This is among the top business internships for high school students focused on technology and innovation.
Cost: No cost
Location: Richmond, WA
Application Deadline: Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so it is recommended to apply as soon as they open in early February
Program Length: August through May
Eligibility: High school students
Working with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as a business intern is a great way to gain exposure, build skills, and network during your school year. PNNL allows high school students to apply to internships that last through the academic year. PNNL coordinates with your high school to offer this internship as a Work-Based Learning Program. This means that your work offers elective credits at your high school. In the internship, you will be paired with mentors in PNNL’s business/administrative department. You will also participate in various leadership development activities and workshops.
Cost: No cost
Location: Remote
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines
Program Length: Usually 3 months, June through August, but if the intern is open to it, it can run year-round.
Eligibility: High school students can apply
Building-U is a non-profit centered around helping high-school students. It accepts interns to assist in the administrative/business aspect of the organization. If selected, you join one of their teams—these include R&D roles, positions of student ambassadors, Business Development roles, and other profiles. You can see more details here. As an intern with the business development team, you will cultivate partnerships, organize data around their ongoing and projected initiatives, and help determine, develop, and diversify funding streams.
Cost: No cost, hourly minimum wage provided
Location: Varies; they usually offer an internship at the KP office closest to your city
Application Deadline: Usually around late November to early December
Program Length: 7 weeks, full-time, in person. Usually from June to August.
Eligibility: High school students between the ages of 16 - 19
Although Kaiser Permanente primarily works in healthcare, the KP Launch program has several responsibilities that are business and administration related. The KP Launch program explores non-medical careers in healthcare. These include accounting, administration, R&D, and more. Apart from practical experience, the internship has weekly workshops on professional development and offers mentorship.
Cost: No cost
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Application Deadline: TBA
Program Length: 4-6 weeks
Eligibility: High school seniors
Jimerson Birr is a business and commercial litigation firm that runs a High School Summer Internship Program. Student interns work closely with department heads and get to work in a variety of departments. Depending on your interests, you can gain experience in accounting, communications and marketing, legal services, and information technology. The internship experience encourages learning and gaining experience in business administration in the workspace of a legal firm.
Cost: No cost
Location: New York City, NY
Application Deadline: Rolling applications
Program Length: 4 weeks
Eligibility: Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors based in NYC are eligible to apply.
DOROT is a nonprofit that supports the elderly in avoiding social isolation. They offer 4 week long internships to high school students in New York City. These internships give you exposure to non-profit management and expect you to conduct activities with older adults. This internship develops leadership skills and organizational experience. Through the internship, you stand to gain over 112 hours of community service. DOROT offers these internships in 4 sessions throughout the year, two held in Manhattan, one in Long Island, and one in Brighton Beach.
Cost: None, interns are paid $18.69 hourly
Location: Seattle, WA
Application Deadline: Rolling; applications for the summer internship open in May, and applications for the winter internship open in November.
Program Length: 8 weeks
Eligibility: Applicants must be at least 16 years old and enrolled in high school.
The Port of Seattle offers internships for high school students in a range of roles. You will be expected to work across different career focuses, but there’s an emphasis on learning overall processes concerning DEI, project management, process improvement, networking, communication, and more skills relevant to business and administration.
Cost: No cost, annual scholarships to college offered ($10,000 per year)
Location: Varies; interns are placed in a location dependent on KPMG’s decisions on hosting the internship in a particular location.
Application Deadline: Early February
Program Length: The summer before college
Eligibility: High school seniors are eligible to apply.
While not a traditional internship, the KPMG Future Leaders Scholarship is a unique work/learning experience. It is a prestigious initiative aimed at increasing the number of women in business and STEM fields, accepting only 22 high school seniors out of hundreds of applications. It offers you mentorship from senior business leaders who have attended the KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit. You will receive leadership training and career development, an annual scholarship for college, and continual support through your college education.
10. Bank of America Student Leaders Program
Cost: Fully funded, hourly stipend provided
Location: Washington, D.C.
Application Deadline: Applications open in October
Program Length: 8 weeks (from the end of your school year, including the week of July 17 – 24)
Eligibility: A current junior or senior high school student legally authorized to work in the USA can apply.
Every year, the Bank of America Student Leaders Program offers community-minded high schoolers internships with nonprofits like Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Habitat for Humanity. In this highly selective leadership program, you will participate in the National Student Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C., and understand how stakeholders like nonprofits, governments, and businesses collaborate and interact to meet local needs. The program's combination of practical work experience and leadership development makes it a valuable business internship.
Additionally, a few more internships/mentorship/work-learn programs did not make it to the list but are great opportunities nonetheless. You can also consider applying for the following programs: Interns 4-Good and the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute.
One other option—the Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you’re interested in pursuing independent research, consider applying to one of the Lumiere Research Scholar Programs, selective online high school programs for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4,000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here.
Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students. Last year, we had 150 students on full need-based financial aid!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Image Source: KPMG Future Leaders Program logo