12 NYC Hospital Internships for College Students (New York City)

If you're a college student in New York City thinking about a career in healthcare, a hospital internship can be a great way to get started. These internships give you a closer look at how hospitals work—whether it's through research, shadowing doctors, or supporting medical teams behind the scenes. Even if you’re not interacting directly with patients, you’ll still gain exposure to real medical environments and build important skills like critical thinking and teamwork.

Working alongside healthcare professionals also gives you a chance to find mentors who can offer advice and help you plan your next steps. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of 12 hospital internships in NYC for college students looking to explore the medical field.

1. NYU’s Health Career Opportunity Program

Location: Various NYU locations

Cost/Stipend: None

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified

Application Deadline: December 22

Program Dates: May 19 – June 13 (session 1), June 16 – July 11 (session 2), July 14 – August 8; May 19 – July 11 (session 1 and 2 for research only), or June 16 – August 8 (sessions 2 and 3 for research and emergency medicine)

Eligibility: College students who are at least 18 years old and have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 

NYU Langone Health’s Rusk Rehabilitation offers the Health Career Opportunity Program for college students with little to no experience to learn about various healthcare professions. You will gain hands-on, observational clinical experience in various health fields. During the entire session, you will be assigned to one specialty, and you will observe professionals practicing in this specialty. Thereafter, you will attend a lecture about a branch of rehabilitation medicine or a health profession, a seminar delivered by Princeton Review, or a Q&A panel of healthcare professionals. You can discuss ethical issues and problems faced by individuals with mobility issues in weekly conferences. At the end of each session, you must pass a final exam that tests your knowledge of material covered in group meetings, lectures, and discussions to receive a personalized signed certificate.

2. Ladder University Internship Program

Cost: Varies depending on program type

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 5 – 10 hours/week for 8 weeks. Open to college students and young professionals!

A highly selective start-up internship program, the Ladder University Internship Program is for ambitious college students. You can intern with a high-growth start-up to gain work experience. These start-ups are involved in a diverse range of industries, such as tech/deep tech, AI/ML, health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. Here, you will develop practical skills relevant to the field you are interested in. This internship experience will help you understand how a business functions and what career options are available to you. You will work with and be mentored by a manager and company coach. By the end of the program, you will complete and present a solution for a real-world problem. Here is the application form.

3. Feinstein Summer Research Internship Program

Location: Manhasset, New York

Cost: None. Stipend of $2,000

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: 25 students accepted each year

Application Deadline: January 24

Program Dates: May 28 – July 23

Eligibility: College students interested in medical research

Feinstein’s Summer Research Internship Program integrates mentorship for college students as they learn about disease-oriented research. Matched with research faculty based on their interests, undergraduate students gain hands-on experience during this program by working on an ongoing research project. The institutes you can choose to work with are Behavioral Science, Bioelectronic Medicine, Cancer Research, Health System Science, Molecular Medicine, and Translational Research. Furthermore, you will attend a series of workshops and seminars. At the end of the internship, you will present a poster summarizing your research to the faculty and other students.

4. Feinstein Institutes’ Summer Visiting Scholar Program

Location: Manhasset, New York

Cost: None

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified

Application Deadline: April 1

Program Dates: Vary based on the facility

Eligibility: High school, college, and graduate students who are at least 16 years old by the start of the program

The Summer Visiting Scholar Program by the same institute is for high school, college, and graduate students. To participate in this program, you will have to identify a mentor you would like to work with and directly reach out to them. If they agree, they will initiate the onboarding process to make you a scholar. After a site orientation, you will begin working on research with the mentor. The mentor will not only guide you on conducting research but also provide insights into disease-oriented research careers.

5. NYC Health Department’s Public Health Internship Program

Location: NYC, New York

Cost: None. Stipend may be provided based on available funding

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified

Application Deadline: February 15 (summer), August 15 (fall), or November 15 (spring)

Program Dates: June – August (summer), September – December (fall), or January – May (spring)

Eligibility: Matriculated undergraduate, graduate or professional students in a degree program at an accredited college or university in the U.S. who are in good academic standing. Residency in NYC is required for the fall and winter/spring sessions. There are no residency restrictions for the summer session.

Interns with the NYC Health Department will learn about some of the real-life challenges of public health. Supervised and mentored by experienced professionals, you will work on relevant public health issues. You will apply theoretical knowledge to practical problems and increase your awareness of the needs, challenges and career opportunities in this field. The program aims to teach you about the principles and practices of public health planning, research, administration and evaluation. In addition to the practical experience, you will engage with a rigorous curriculum of seminars, workshops, and other activities.

6. Charles B. Wang Community Health Center Project AHEAD Internships

Location: Manhattan and Queens, NY

Cost: None

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified

Application Deadline: To be announced 

Program Dates: 10 weeks in the summer

Eligibility: Undergraduate students interested in pursuing healthcare careers

If you’re an undergraduate student interested in pursuing healthcare, this 10-week internship provides training and first-hand experience. Through this internship, you will learn about the history and dynamics of the New York Asian American community, as well as the particular needs, challenges, and strengths of Asian American communities. The project also aims to provide exposure to community health and its various components. These components include primary care, social work, health education, programming, and research at a federally qualified health center. By the end of the program, you understand what it means to be a community health leader who serves historically excluded communities and eliminates health disparities.

7. Summer Undergraduate Research Program for Underserved Scholars

Location: New York, NY

Cost: None

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified

Application Deadline: January 10

Program Dates: 10 weeks in June – August

Eligibility: Undergraduate juniors or seniors interested in pursuing careers as research scientists (future PhD and MD-PhD graduate applicants only)

The Summer Undergraduate Research Program provides intensive research training to college juniors and seniors in a cutting-edge biomedical laboratory. You will be matched with a mentor based on your research interests, who will guide and supervise you as you work in one of the PhD training areas. To facilitate your learning of distinct research fields and novel technologies, you will have complete access to seminars, journal clubs, and work-in-progress meetings. Furthermore, you will receive guidance on the PhD and MD-PhD application process, including one-on-one advice sessions, mock interviews with our PhD faculty, information sessions, and professional development workshops. At the end of the program, you will have the opportunity to present your SURP4US research project at a poster session.

8. Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program

Location: New York, NY

Cost: None. $5,500 stipend

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: 15

Application Deadline: February 3

Program Dates: June 9 – July 31

Eligibility: Undergraduate students

The Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program focuses on the clinician–scientist pathway. In this program, you will spend 9 weeks working on an independent research project at Weill Cornell Medicine, The Rockefeller University, or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. You will be mentored by a current MD-PhD student. Furthermore, you will participate in clinical skills and professional development workshops and attend weekly journal clubs. The program also provides the opportunity to shadow physicians at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and volunteer at a community outreach program. At the end of the program, you will present your research orally and as a poster at The Leadership Alliance National Symposium and the final Gateways Symposium.

9. Amgen Scholars Program

Location: New York, NY

Cost: None. Stipend of $5000

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: 25 (tentative)

Application Deadline: February 1

Program Dates: 10 weeks starting the Tuesday after Memorial Day

Eligibility: Sophomores, juniors, or non-graduating seniors at a four-year college or university in the United States, Puerto Rico, or other US territory

As an Amgen Scholar, you will spend the summer conducting research in a biology-related lab at the Morningside Heights campus or Medical Center campus. You will learn how to conduct research and explore the challenges encountered during scientific research. Although prior research experience and majoring in biology are not necessary prerequisites, this is a competitive program. Every week, you will hear from scientists about their research endeavors, discover what your peers are researching, and present your own progress. By the end of the program, you will write an original research paper and present a poster at the Amgen Scholars National Symposium in California.

10. Chemers Neustein Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (SURF)

Location: New York, NY

Cost: None. stipend of $6,500

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: 25 (tentative)

Application Deadline: February 1

Program Dates: June 2 – August 8

Eligibility: College sophomores and juniors majoring in the life or physical sciences

The SURF program allows undergraduate students to conduct research while working with leading scientists. The areas you can conduct research in include biochemistry; structural biology and chemistry; molecular, cell and developmental biology; immunology; virology and microbiology; neuroscience; physics; and mathematical biology. You will work in a lab setting based on a matching process that aligns with your interests. Faculty, postdoctoral fellows and/or senior graduate students will directly supervise you during the 10-week program. You will present and discuss scientific publications at weekly Journal Club meetings, which will help cultivate your scientific communication skills. You will also attend a lecture series delivered by Rockefeller faculty, who discuss their research and the evolution of their scientific interests. The program ends with a poster session where you will present your research findings.

11. Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in Microbial Biofilm Development, Resistance, & Community Structure

Location: Binghamton University, NY

Cost: None. Some students receive a stipend of $7,000

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified

Application Deadline: February 16

Program Dates: May 27 – August 1

Eligibility: Current undergraduates who have completed their first year of undergraduate education, have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale), and are U.S citizens or permanent residents

REU is a mentored program for undergraduate students. A team of faculty will act as research mentors. The collaborative research experience, teaching independence as well as teamwork on microbial biofilms promotes professional skill development and research readiness. The research will focus on 3 aspects: how biofilms form and develop; biofilm-specific mechanisms of antimicrobial tolerance, resistance, and virulence; and how the biofilm community structure and composition impact function. In addition to research, you will participate in workshops and sessions to learn networking, research communication, research ethics, graduate school, career options, and more. The program ends with a public poster session, and you will also prepare a research manuscript detailing your findings.

12. Mechanistic Biology Summer Program (MBSP)

Location: Upper East Side of Manhattan, NY

Cost: None. Stipend of $6,500

Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: 10

Application Deadline: February 2

Program Dates: June 2 – August 8

Eligibility: Undergraduate sophomores and juniors who are contemplating a career in the biomedical sciences, have a minimum GPA of 3.0, have completed college-level general biology and/or introductory chemistry, have taken some advanced science courses, and have research experience

College students looking to investigate fundamental questions in biology and pursue a career in biomedical sciences may consider applying for this program. Through this program, you can expect to get hands-on experience in cutting-edge laboratories and interact with faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. The topics you can research are Animal models of disease; Cancer biology and genetics; Cell and organelle biology; Cell signaling and regulation; Chemical biology; Developmental biology; Experimental pathology; Gene expression; Genomic integrity and DNA repair; and more. Alongside conducting research, you will attend scientific presentations by faculty and participate in skill and professional development workshops. The program ends with a summer research symposium. 

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.

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