23 Best Research Opportunities for High School Students in California
Finding a great research opportunity can be difficult, particularly in a place as competitive as California. Because we're a group of research nerds, we wanted to compile opportunities for students looking for research opportunities in the state!
In this article, we list 23 of California's best in-person research opportunities for high school students, including research internships, research immersions, and research mentorship programs.
The opportunities range from highly selective to fairly welcoming, and while some have a fee associated with them, others provide a stipend. There is something here for everyone.
Not seeing something you like? You can also look at the opportunities we’ve curated in psychology research, medical research, biology research, and virtual research.
23 Best Summer Research Opportunities for High School Students in California
Subject areas: STEM
Location: At the host institution's campus (living on campus). COSMOS is available across 4 campuses: UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz.
Cost / stipend: Fee - $4,550. Financial Aid is available.
Application deadline: Tentatively January for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June - August
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: California resident (although it allows 20 out-of-state students to participate). Demonstrated academic excellence.
This is an intensive, 4-week summer residential program for students who have demonstrated an aptitude in STEM. A typical COSMOS student has a GPA of 3.5 or above and other credentials which demonstrate academic excellence.
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. Main summer deadlines are March 15, April 15, and May 15
Duration: Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year.
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Eligibility:
You must be currently enrolled in high school
Students must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement. (Note. students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4)
No previous knowledge of your field of interest is required!
Program Dates: The summer cohort runs from June to August, the Fall cohort from September to December, the Winter cohort from December to February, Spring from March to June
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students, across a broad range of subject areas that you can explore as a high schooler.
The program pairs high-school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here.
Subject areas: Biology, chemistry, medicine
Location: Stanford University campus (Stanford, CA)
Cost / stipend: The program provides a $500 stipend.
Fee: $40 (For application. Need-based refund available)
Application deadline: Tentatively December 15, 2022 for 2023 (based on the announcement on the website).
Program dates: June - August
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Juniors and Seniors. At least 16 years old when the program begins. Living in the U.S. and U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a green card.
During this 8-week program, students collaborate with Stanford faculty and researchers to conduct medical research. Students select one of eight study fields and are then allocated to a lab where they will be mentored one-on-one.
Location: Virtual
Application Date: May 21, 2024 for the summer cohort, and September 25, 2024 for the fall cohort
Program Dates:
Summer seminar - June 24, 2024 - September 2, 2024
Fall seminar - October 23, 2024 - February 19, 2025
Lab dates are flexible, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance.
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! It is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers a choice between quantitative and qualitative research!
Once you select a particular subject track and type of research you’ll be paired with a professor or Ph.D. scholar (from a top university) who will mentor you throughout your research journey. You’ll work to create a 20-page, university-level research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student.
This program is a solid opportunity for you to pursue a research program in highly specialized fields, under the guidance of a top scholar. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student, as well as detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects and on college applications. Apply here!
Subject: Biomedicine
Application deadline: March 13, 2024
Eligibility: Students who are at least 16 years of age and have completed high school courses in chemistry and biology
Program dates: June 3, 2024 – August 9, 2024
Location: City of Hope
Stipend: $4,000
This prestigious internship takes place at City of Hope, a cancer treatment and research center. It offers a unique opportunity to engage in hands-on biomedical research under the mentorship of the leading scientists at the center. A highlight of this program is that you get to design your own research project in an area of your interest. The internship consists of laboratory work, seminars, field trips, and lectures on topics like neural stem cells, plant signaling pathways, DNA repair, and more. The program culminates in a poster session where you will present the findings of your research. Keep in mind that this program is highly competitive, with an acceptance rate of less than 5%.
Application deadline: April 1, 2024
Eligibility: Current 9th and 10th grade students from SFUSD schools who have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and a grade C or above in science and math
Program dates: Multi-year with attendance required after school, on Saturdays, and on weekdays during the summer
Location: California Academy of Sciences
Stipend: Above minimum wage
The California Academy of Science is a scientific institution including a museum, aquarium, and planetarium. The CiS program is the academy’s internship and youth development program which is aimed at students from communities underrepresented in STEM fields. The internship spans multiple years, until you graduate high school, and involves a combination of gaining STEM knowledge, enhancing personal skills like leadership, and receiving guidance on college applications.
You will spend your time attending training sessions, conducting fieldwork, networking with professionals, helping with the Academy’s experiences for the public, and working on a group research project led by an Academy researcher. While this requires a significant time investment, the CiS internship is a prestigious program (the 2021-2022 batch only had 44 students) and would be a highlight on your profile.
Application deadline: April 15, 2024
Eligibility: High school students from the Bay Area
Program dates: June 1, 2024 – August 24, 2024 for the summer research program, the school year research has cohorts during the fall term and spring term
Location: ASDRP research and development campus, Fremont
Fee: $1,070 for the summer research program, $995 for the school year research program
Financial assistance: Several scholarships are available for students from underrepresented backgrounds
The ASDRP is a non-profit research and development institution consisting of expert scientists, engineers and researchers. The research program will pair you with an experienced mentor and together you will work on a research project that focuses on expanding current scientific knowledge. There are a number of different departments you can choose from including biology, chemistry, computer science, astrophysics and more. Through the program, you will improve your critical thinking and analytical skills while learning about scientific inquiry and academic writing. A highlight of the ASDRP is that you not only present your work at a poster session but also your paper gets published in the online ASDRP journal! You will also receive support in submitting your paper to external publications.
Application deadline: April 5, 2024
Eligibility: San Diego County residents who are at least 16 years of age, have a minimum GPA of 2.75 and have completed at least one year each of high school level chemistry and biology (exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis)
Program dates: June 17, 2024 - August 9, 2024 (30-40 hours per week)
Location: Salk Institute, La Jolla
Stipend: $17 per hour
Financial assistance: is available
The Salk Institute is a non-profit, research organization and the Heithoff-Brody program offers high school students the chance to work on a research project while being mentored by one of the organization’s scientists. You will spend most of your time conducting research in the institute’s labs and learning about wet lab techniques, bioinformatics, data analysis, and more. The program also includes seminars, workshops and biotech site visits. At the end of the program, you will present your research at a symposium, either as an oral or poster presentation.
Subject areas: Biology, chemistry, medicine
Location: Scripps Research California campus (La Jolla, CA)
Cost / stipend: This program provides a $4,060 stipend.
Application deadline: Tentatively April for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June to August
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: San Diego County resident. At least 16 years of age when the program begins. Demonstrated competency in high school level chemistry and biology (minimum 3.0 GPA).
This immersive 8-week program provides exposure to contemporary issues in biomedical research, hands-on laboratory experience and mentorship from graduate students.
Subject areas: multidisciplinary
Location: Stanford University campus (Stanford, CA) *
Cost / stipend: Fee - Commuter, taking minimum of 3 units: starts at $4,926. Living on campus, taking a minimum of 8 units: starts at $15,875.
Application deadline: Tentatively November 2022 for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June - August
Program selectivity: Moderate
Eligibility: Current sophomores, juniors, or seniors. At least 16 years of age when the program begins. Must not be matriculating into Stanford as a first year.
These 8-week programs offer an array of research opportunities ranging from behavioral sciences, animation, anthropology to computer science. All Stanford Summer Session courses carry Stanford University credit.
Subject areas: Biotechnology, microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, synthetic biology and biofuels.
Location: UC Berkeley Campus or other partner institutions.
Cost / stipend: The program provides a $1,800 stipend plus a $200 stipend for supplies and transportation.
Application deadline: Tentatively March for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June - July
Program selectivity: Moderate
Eligibility: Sophomores or juniors at a high school in Alameda, Contra Costa, or San Francisco County. At least 15 years old. US citizens, permanent residents or DACA recipients. Contingent on maximum annual household income (here).
Hosted by the Joint BioEnergy Institute (U.S. Department of Energy) and other prestigious partner organizations, the Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology (iCLEM) is a 5-week, paid summer science intensive for economically disadvantaged high school sophomores and juniors. Students work on a research project and get guidance on areas such as career exploration and college applications.
Subject areas: Computer science and related fields
Location: UC San Diego campus (San Diego, CA)
Cost / stipend: Fee - Program with research project: $1,500. Program without research project: free.
Application deadline: Tentatively March for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June to August
Program selectivity: Fairly welcoming
Eligibility: Open to high school students generally. May have course-specific eligibility requirements.
Hosted by UC San Diego and the San Diego Supercomputer Center, this 8-week program allows students to work closely with mentors on a research project through which students learn how to formulate and test hypotheses, conduct computational experiments, and draw conclusions from those experiments.
Subject areas: Chemistry, physics, nanoscience
Location: UCLA campus (Los Angeles, CA). Living on campus is optional.
Cost / stipend: Fee - $2,961 + $1,521 (optional housing fee). Need and merit-based scholarships are available.
Application deadline: Tentatively April for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: July
Program selectivity: Moderate
Eligibility: Anyone enrolled in high school (freshman to senior). Strong science foundation in chemistry, physics, and biology.
During this 2-week program, students propose and conduct their own experimental research project. Students will explore a few important applications of nanoscience while also learning the basics of reviewing existing scientific literature, design-thinking, and entrepreneurship.
Location: UC San Francisco campus (San Francisco, CA)
Cost / stipend: The program provides a $1500 stipend.
Application deadline: Tentatively January for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June - August
Program selectivity: Moderately selective
Eligibility: Juniors or Seniors. At least 16 years old when the program begins. At least one completed year in math and biology. Have a background considered under-represented in the sciences.
This 9-week research program is integrated with the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland and organized by the Rheumatology and Immunology Laboratories. Students work 40 hours per week in either basic laboratory research or clinical epidemiological/translational (patient-focused) research.
Subject areas: Liberal arts, law and policy
Location: UC Irvine campus (Irvine, CA)
Cost / stipend: Fee - $1,110
Application deadline: Tentative dates are not yet available for 2023.
Program dates: July - August
Program selectivity: Fairly welcoming
Eligibility: Open to all high school students.
This 1-week program hosted by UC Irvine helps students hone a variety of skills that are foundational for research, as well as any professional career: analytical reasoning, public speaking, persuasion & argumentation, writing, and negotiation.
Subject areas: Medicine, surgery
Location: Stanford University campus (Stanford, CA) *
Cost / stipend: Fee - $4,095 for the current program (virtual). Scholarships are available.
Application deadline: Tentatively January for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: Program 1: June 29 -July 9; Program 2: July 19 - July 30
Program selectivity: Fairly welcoming
Eligibility: Juniors or seniors. At least 16 years old when the program begins. No grade requirement.
This 2-week intensive course is geared towards providing high school students with knowledge of and exposure to basic and advanced cardiothoracic surgery and technical skills (e.g., knot tying, dissection, suturing, coronary artery bypass graft, and cardiac valve replacement).
Subject areas: Chemistry, biochemical chemistry, material science, and related fields
Location: UC Berkeley campus (Berkeley, CA) for 4 weeks on site internship (living on campus). This is following a 9-month remote coaching.
Cost / stipend: Fee - $14,825 (including room and board)
Application deadline: Tentatively May for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: Remote coaching: October - June. On - site internship: July - August.
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Rising students entering grades 9-12. Good to have taken general or AP chemistry. Successful applicants will be among the top 10% of their respective class and must demonstrate maturity, motivation, and excellent communication skills.
This one-year program exposes students to hands-on research experience through group meetings, research seminars and data analysis.
Subject areas: Multidisciplinary (For example, music, sociology, engineering, or creative writing)
Location: UC San Diego (San Diego, CA)
Cost / stipend: Fee - $1,500 - online course tuition. $3,000 - commuter course tuition (in person). Need based scholarships are available.
Application deadline: Tentatively May for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: Commuter Program: July 11 - July 29. Online Program: July 5 - July 29. (tentative)
Program selectivity: High
Eligibility: Anyone enrolled in high school (freshman to senior). At least 14 years old before the program starts. Cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher. Recommendation from a teacher or counselor.
25 students are selected to each work individually with a UCSD Faculty researcher during this 6-week long program.
Subject areas: Biology, mathematics
Location: UC Irvine campus (Irvine, CA)
Cost / stipend: None.
Deadline to apply: Tentatively March for 2023 (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June - July
Program selectivity: Moderate
Eligibility: Released with the new application.
Math ExpLR is a 6-week mathematical biology program. Students will be paired with undergraduates and collaborate on a computational biology research project with a principal investigator. There will also be weekly skill development events, such as how to deliver presentations or how to write math on the computer.
Subject area: Art, history, sociology
Location: Asia Art Museum (San Francisco, CA) and also partly virtual.
Cost / stipend: This program provides a stipend (amount unknown).
Application deadline: Tentative dates for 2023 are not yet available. Please join the mailing list to remain updated on applications.
Program dates: August - May
Program selectivity: Fairly welcoming
Eligibility: Released with the new application.
This year-long internship provides unique opportunities and career training for public high school sophomores, juniors and seniors. Interns discover Asian art and cultural traditions, learn from local artists and arts organizations, engage in social justice and youth activism, conduct informational interviews with museum staff to explore careers in the arts, and develop their leadership skills by creating and facilitating hands-on art activities.
Subject area: Multidisciplinary
Location: UCLA Campus (Los Angeles, California). Also available online.
Cost / stipend: Fee - Per unit: $1440, further fixed fee: $461. Financial aid is available. Number of units a student opts for can vary.
Application deadline: Tentatively June - August for 2023, on a rolling basis depending on the courses selected (based on previous year’s application).
Program dates: June-August
Program selectivity: Fairly welcoming
Eligibility: Open to high school students generally. May have course-specific eligibility requirements.
Students can choose from over 800, 6 to 10-week courses that represent UCLA’s academic breadth. Courses range from liberal arts, foreign language to sciences.
Location: University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.
Cost: $4,975 (commuter option) | $11,874 (residential option)
Application Deadline: March 18, 2024
Program Dates: June 17 - August 2, 2024
Eligibility: Students in grades 10 and 11 (outstanding 9th graders may be accepted on a case-by-case basis) with a minimum weighted GPA of 3.80.
UC Santa Barbara’s Research Mentorship Program (RMP) is a prestigious 6-week summer initiative that pairs high-achieving high school students with UCSB faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and advanced graduate students for a hands-on, interdisciplinary research experience.
Participants dive deeply into their chosen research projects, working 35-50 hours a week both virtually and on campus. Students also earn 8 university credits through two courses focusing on research techniques and presentation skills. This program is particularly advantageous for students interested in exploring the intersection of STEM with other disciplines. The program concludes with a formal academic symposium where students present their findings.
Please note: This information is for the academic year 2022-23.
Application deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or above are eligible.
Program dates: The start dates are determined by the student’s coordinating center and research mentor; however, high school students must begin the program no later than June 6, 2022. All students are expected to have a minimum of eight weeks of research experience and can have a maximum of 10 weeks.
Location: Students choose where to research – local colleges, hospitals, schools, and private research labs. Students work with their coordinating center to identify and secure a research institution and research mentor.
Fee: Free
If you’re passionate about conducting research in biomedicine and related subjects, this program might be for you. This is a federally funded program that provides students from diverse backgrounds with the opportunity to engage in hands-on research. At STEP-UP, you will be paired with experienced mentors and work on research projects at a renowned institution of your choice. You will gain practical laboratory skills, and learn about cutting-edge research techniques in fields such as biology, genetics, neuroscience, and more. In addition to research experience, you will receive mentorship, which you can access for up to 9 months after you have completed your research.
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.