If you want to pursue a STEM major in college, it's worth thinking of ways to build your skill sets and showcase your interest, initiative, and leadership. Admissions officers look for multiple, well-presented components in a student’s application for a field as popular as STEM - including research you’ve conducted, passion projects, internships, and strong essays.

If you’re looking for STEM internships as a high school student, here’s a list of 11 of the best ones that you can apply to! Most of these internships are fully funded by the company/organization and provide a stipend! We’ve covered a variety of STEM areas, such as life sciences, medicine, aerospace engineering, and sustainability. We've also curated a larger list of internships, but this one is specifically for the most competitive internships in STEM.

To shortlist the best programs for this list, we compared the acceptance rates and cohort sizes of each of these internships. Acceptance rates are a pretty good indicator of selectivity (and, hence, prestige).

There are two ways in which we’ve calculated these acceptance rates -

1. Information from the organization’s official website, newsletters, and company reports, as well as mentions by alumni and new interns on their personal blogs.

2. Estimated acceptance rate based on the number of interns in each cohort.

For example, if the cohort size is 10-12 students, and the average number of applications is about 600-800 from across the country, we can estimate the acceptance rate to be about 2- 4%. However, if you want to build specific skill sets or earn a particular stipend, don’t limit yourself only to the acceptance rates, and factor other aspects in.

Here are the 11 best STEM internships for high school students! Note that the following information is based on the most recent program, with dates subject to change but generally similar from year to year.

1. Ladder Internships

Acceptance Rate - 25%, with each company accepting about 2-3 students for each cohort. The upcoming summer cohort has about 100 students.

Ladder Internship is a selective program for high school students to work with start-ups.

Ladder Startups work in fields including 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. As part of their internship, each student will work on a real-world project 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 - the Ladder Coach serves as a second mentor and a sounding board, guiding students through the internship and helping them navigate the startup environment. The virtual internship is usually 8 weeks long.

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!

2. High School Scientific Training and Enrichment Program (HiSTEP)

Acceptance rate - <10%, with about 20 students being selected for each cohort.

HiSTEP aims to expand the pipeline of students interested in biomedical and healthcare careers by expanding opportunities for high school students. The program is open to current high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. HiSTEP students explore the breadth of the scientific enterprise, the importance of biomedical research, and STEM-M careers. Sessions and activities at HiSTEP include science experiments, current topics in the health sciences, case studies, group projects, and college and career advising. You will receive resources to understand the college application process, find scholarships and mentors, and transition successfully to college.

Cost: Fully funded, stipend provided

Location: National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, MD

Application deadline: February 1

Program dates: June 12 to August 4

Eligibility: High school seniors are eligible to apply

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

Acceptance rate - 3%, with about 50 students making it to the final cohort.

SIMR is one of the most prestigious summer programs for STEM. SIMR provides extensive research opportunities across various medical disciplines, from immunology and neurobiology to cancer biology. You will be assigned a particular field of study based on your preference and spend two months as a mentee. You will be mentored by scholars, researchers, and Ph.D. fellows in the field of medicine. This program will challenge you and introduce you to the nuances of research work, including ethics, methodology, collection and analysis of scientific data, etc. The program provides a $500 stipend.

Note: Stanford also offers some great STEM programs for high school students, including residential, immersion, and workshop-based programs. You can check out the complete list here.

Cost: Fully funded, stipend provided

Location: MIT Campus

Application deadline: December 16

Program dates: June 13 - August 4

Eligibility: Open to juniors and seniors residing in the US with a permanent American residency

4. Harvard-MIT’s Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP)

Acceptance rate - <5%, with only 10-15 students forming the final cohort.

SRMP offers the best of Harvard and MIT mentorship and research opportunities. This program is for high schoolers who want to conduct research in astrophysics and climate science under the guidance of Harvard and MIT scholars. The program offers all the resources you may need to carry out sound research, such as a laptop. You will be split into 5-6 research groups and expected to attend weekly discussion sessions, meetings, and guest lectures. At the end of your program, you will present a cumulation of your research efforts at the annual Harvard symposium.

Cost: Free; stipend paid by City of Cambridge

Location: Harvard or MIT

Application deadline: May

Program dates: September - May

Eligibility: Local high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors (both international and US citizens).

5. Fred Hutch Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP)

Acceptance Rate - 4-8%, with a cohort of about 20 students each year.

The Fred Hutch Summer High School Internship is an 8-week-long, full-time internship for rising high school seniors. The program is designed for students from underrepresented communities who are interested in biomedical science. Along with receiving training in laboratory safety techniques and skills in the Fred Hutch Training Labs, you will participate in research education seminars, attend professional development workshops, and receive mentorship from Fred Hutch research groups. Fred Hutch also offers other opportunities for high school students, more details of which you can find here. Note: You are required to arrange for your own transportation and accommodation for the duration of the program.

Cost: None, stipend provided

Location: Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Seattle

Application Deadline: March 31

Program Dates: June 26 - August 18

Eligibility: Rising 12th graders can apply

6. NASA and UT Austin’s SEES High School Summer Intern Program

Acceptance Rate - 3-4%, with 6-7 students making it to each cohort.

A highly prestigious competition for high school students, SEES is hosted by UT Austin in collaboration with NASA. This is a national-level internship program where you can work alongside NASA experts. The program focuses on Earth and space research and relies on interns to assist with analyzing and visualizing data. All project teams will present their research during the Virtual SEES Science Symposium. The program has a virtual learning component and then an onsite experience at the University of Texas, Austin. SEES looks at your 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.

Cost: Fully-funded

Eligibility: High school juniors who hold U.S. citizenship can apply

Location: Hybrid (on-site experience at the University of Austin, Texas campus)

Application Deadline: February 20

Program Dates: May 1 - July 26

7. MIT Lincoln Laboratory Radar Introduction for Student Engineers

Acceptance Rate - 8-10%, with the last cohort having 23 students.

If you are interested in an internship in radar systems, then MIT’s LLRISE program is ideal for you. Throughout July, you will learn how to build small radar systems, such as a Doppler and range radar. Highly talented scientists and engineers will work alongside and assist the attendees. The workshop will be held at the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA, and Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA.

Cost: Fully-funded

Locations: Held at both the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA and Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA.

Application Deadline: March 10

Program Dates: July 9 - July 22

Eligibility: Open to rising seniors passionate about STEM who hold US citizenship.

8. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Scholars Program

Acceptance Rate - 8-10%, with past cohorts selecting about 63 students from across the country.

If you're an upper-level high school student interested in aerospace engineering, the ARFL program is an enriching opportunity for your pre-college summer. You will receive guidance from 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. 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.

Cost: Fully funded, stipend provided

Location: Kirtland/AMOS, Eglin/Hurlbert air force bases, more locations subject to their acceptance criteria of high school students.

Application Deadline: This may vary based on the AFRL sites and/or projects you are applying to.

Program Dates: Varies from project to project, but you can expect it to be during the summer months for 9 weeks.

Eligibility: High schoolers with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale who are US citizens and have a valid driver's license. You must also be eligible to work 40 hours a week for summer internship positions.

9. NASA High School Internships

Acceptance Rate - 4-6%, with 15 students making it to the final cohort of each of the 10 NASA centers.

NASA Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) offers paid internships at locations all around America. High school students located near NASA facilities can check which research facilities have open positions. You can check out a complete list of positions here - you may have to use the “Filter” option to see opportunities open to high school students. If you’re an aspiring engineer or astrophysicist, interning with NASA is a prestigious experience you can showcase in your college application!

Cost: None

Location: Varies

Application Deadline: Varying from internship to internship

Program Dates:

• Fall - from late August/early September to mid-December (16 weeks)

• Spring - from mid-January to early May (16 weeks)

• Summer - from late May/early June to August (10 weeks)

Eligibility: Must be a U.S. citizen with a minimum 3.0 GPA.

10. Spark Summer Internship Program (Spark SIP)

Acceptance Rate - <5%, with 5-6 students making it to the final cohort for a project.

This opportunity is for students who want to be Computer Science majors in college. SparkSIP allows applicants to select 5-6 projects that they’d like to work on and then assign sponsors to selected students. The Spark SIP project list has included topics like detection tools for tick-borne infections or breast cancer, DNA Sequence Classification based on Electrical Signatures, and understanding spike-timing and spike-rate impact on Spiking Neural Network (SNN). The program lets you interact with and learn from scholars and leaders.

Cost: Fully funded, stipend of $500 provided

Location: Greater Seattle Area

Application deadline: May 1

Program dates: 8 weeks, June to August

Eligibility: High school students who can work for 40 hours/week for 8-12 weeks

11. California Academy of Science Careers in Science (CiS) Intern Program

Acceptance Rate: Approximately 8-10%.

The program website does not mention acceptance stats but notes that they accept about 42 students each year (based on their report).

This long-running program, which began in 1996, invites applications from San Francisco students from underrepresented communities to learn about science and sustainability. Past cohorts covered topics such as Python for scientific programming, astronomy, science communication, biomimicry, environmental justice, and California conservation.

You will also receive mentorship and build professional skills while being compensated for your efforts. Interns are encouraged to participate in seminars and conferences as well as interact with faculty, mentors, and peers. Students are allocated to roles and departments based on their interests and the opportunities available in the museum at the time.

Cost: Fully funded, stipend provided

Location: California Academy of Sciences

Application Deadline: April 3

Program Dates: Multi-year, year-round participation

Eligibility: All high schoolers residing in San Francisco can apply

Bonus - Lumiere Research Scholar Program

If you are looking to start your own research journey with 1-1 mentorship from a top PhD scholar, check out the Lumiere Research Scholar Program, a selective online high school program for students that I founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. You can find the application form here.

Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD 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: Harvard-MIT's Science Research Mentoring Program logo