15 Psychology Internships for Undergraduates
- Stephen Turban
- Aug 3
- 10 min read
Updated: Oct 13
If you’re an undergraduate student studying psychology or a related field, a summer internship can give you great professional experience working in research labs, clinics, or academic centers. These programs are built for students like you who want to apply classroom learning to real-world settings and explore different branches of psychology in more depth.
You’ll get to work on projects in areas like child development, neuroscience, moral reasoning, or clinical psychology. Depending on the program, you might design experiments, collect data, analyze results, or sit in on clinical sessions. Many programs also include mentoring, weekly seminars, and final research presentations, helping you build research skills and learn about careers in psychology.
To help you get started, here are 15 psychology internships for undergraduate students! If you're looking for more prestigious internships, check out this set of blogs!
15 Psychology Internships for Undergraduates
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Stipend: $5,000 total for the summer
Acceptance rate/cohort size: You’ll join a select group of 2–6 interns, making it highly competitive.
Dates: June to August (typically 10 weeks)
Application Deadline: February
Eligibility: U.S. undergraduates enrolled in accredited institutions, able to commit ~30 hrs/week of in-person lab work; U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required
Harvard University's Moral Psychology Lab Summer Internship is a ten-week research program where you work about 30 hours a week in person at the lab in Cambridge. You’ll join a small group of 2 to 6 interns and work closely with senior researchers on studies in moral reasoning, social cognition, and decision-making. You’ll help design experiments, collect and manage data, and run statistical analyses. The program includes weekly journal clubs, ethics seminars, and workshops on research methods and grad school prep. You’ll present your work midway and at the end of the program.
Location: Remote
Cost: Varies by program type
Application Deadline: Multiple deadlines throughout the year, vary with the cohort. Apply now!
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer, fall, winter, and spring
Eligibility: Undergraduate students who can work for 5-10 hours/week for 8 weeks
The Ladder University Internship Program is a virtual internship opportunity for college students and young professionals. Founded by alumni of Harvard University, the program places you with startups and nonprofit organizations worldwide. You’ll be matched with a startup manager who gives you project tasks based on your interests.
Alongside that, you get a Ladder Coach who helps you track your progress and gives regular feedback. If you're placed in a medical-related startup, you might help with research, health education tools, or digital health operations. You’ll also join weekly group sessions with other interns. For more information, read here.
Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT
Stipend: Up to $4,00
Dates: June 2 – July 25
Application Deadline: January 31
Eligibility: Undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens; international students currently enrolled in U.S. undergraduate degree-granting institutions
The Undergraduate Developmental Science Summer Internship is an eight-week research internship at Yale School of Medicine. You work full-time with a faculty-led team on projects in neuroscience, developmental psychology, or clinical child health. You’ll help design and run studies using lab experiments, data analysis, clinical observation, or community research methods. You also attend weekly seminars, journal clubs, and guest talks, and join sessions on research ethics, science communication, and career options. You’ll create a research poster and present it to Yale faculty and peers.
Location: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Stipend: $2,500 for two months of full-time research
Application Deadline: March (specific date via UT’s Psychology department)
Dates: June 5 to August 5 (full-time, in-person)
Eligibility: Undergraduates majoring in psychology at Texas institutions; U.S. citizens or permanent residents
University of Texas at Austin Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) is an eight-week research internship where you work full-time in a psychology lab under the guidance of a faculty mentor and a graduate student. You’ll design studies, run experiments, and analyze data in fields like clinical, cognitive, or developmental psychology. The program includes weekly seminars on research methods, ethics, and grad school prep. You’ll present your work in lab meetings and at a final poster session. You also attend informal events like brown-bag discussions and a welcome reception.
Location: University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
Stipend: $6,000 total plus $2,100 for meals, with housing, travel, and health coverage provided (Varies by year)
Dates: May 27 – August 1
Application Deadline: February 15
Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents who have completed sophomore or junior year; students from underrepresented or underserved backgrounds encouraged to apply
University of Wisconsin–Madison Psychology Research Experience Program (PREP) is a ten-week research internship. You spend about 30 hours a week working in a psychology or neuroscience lab and another 10 hours in training sessions on R, Python, MATLAB, and data analysis. You work in areas like clinical, cognitive, developmental, or social psychology, and use tools like MRI, EEG, and psychophysiology systems. The program includes workshops, faculty talks, lab tours, and networking events with peers and mentors. You present your research at a final symposium. The program covers housing, meals, health insurance, and round-trip travel.
Location: 2 weeks remote preparation + 8 weeks in-person at UC Irvine, CA (Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory)
Stipend: $700/week for ten weeks; includes housing, meals, and transportation.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Only 20 students are admitted.
Program Dates: June 9–20 (remote prep); June 22–August 15 (in-person)
Application Deadline: January 31
Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents; GPA ≥ 3.0 (exceptions case by case); must have completed the first undergraduate year by June.
The Irvine Summer Institute in Neuroscience Program is a ten-week research internship at UC Irvine, where you start with a two-week remote orientation covering research ethics, coding, data analysis, and literature review. After that, you join a neuroscience lab on campus to work on real projects by collecting data, running experiments, and analyzing results. You also attend daily seminars, journal clubs, and coding workshops. You’ll present your research at a campus symposium and connect with faculty, grad mentors, and peers. The program provides housing, meals, and transportation, and is funded through NSF-REU and UC-HBCU.
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Stipend: Paid (exact amount not listed but typically similar to related fellowships at $4,500–6,000)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: You’ll be one of 20–23 students, including 8–10 Penn students (via Lila R. Gleitman Fellowships) and around 8 non-Penn REU participants, making it a highly selective program in interdisciplinary mind-brain research.
Dates: June 2 – August 8
Application Deadline: March 2
Eligibility: Full-time freshmen–juniors (Penn or U.S. undergraduates); non-Penn applicants must be U.S. citizens/permanent residents
UPenn MindCORE Summer Fellowship Program is a ten-week research internship that starts with a one-week workshop on experimental design, ethics, and programming in R or Python. After that, you spend nine weeks in a MindCORE lab working on research in neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, or computer science. You design experiments, run tasks, analyze data, and take part in lab meetings under faculty and graduate-student mentorship. Weekly activities include journal clubs, technical sessions, lab tours, and career workshops. You present your project at a final symposium. If you're from outside Penn, you get on-campus housing and travel support.
Location: Pace University, New York City, NY
Stipend: Not provided; this is an unpaid internship offering academic credit
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Only 4 interns are selected each summer, making acceptance highly competitive.
Program Dates: May 21 – July 25
Application Deadline: January (typically)
Eligibility: Rising seniors in psychology or related fields (excluding Pace students); international applicants are eligible
PACE University Undergraduate Psychology Research Internship is a ten-week program based at Pace's Counseling Center in New York City, open to rising seniors in psychology or related fields from outside Pace. You’ll join a group of four interns and take part in twice-weekly seminars on clinical interviewing, ethics, diagnosis, and therapy methods. You assist with center projects by doing literature reviews, managing data, and supporting outreach work. Under supervision from licensed clinicians, you also design and complete an independent research or quality improvement project, which you present at the end. You may observe clinical operations and join staff meetings.
Location: UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (with remote option)
Stipend: Unpaid; travel stipend ($2,400) offered for students without other funding; no housing provided
Acceptance rate/cohort size: This is a competitive internship hosted by about four cognitive‐development labs (e.g., Gopnik, Xu, Srinivasan), with roughly 20–30 finalists accepted annually.
Dates: June 2 – July 25 (8 weeks, 15–25 hrs/week)
Application Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: Undergraduates (including international) interested in developmental psychology or cognitive science; must have taken related coursework, have basic computer skills (programming preferred), and some experience working with children
Berkeley Early Learning Lab Internship is an eight-week research program at UC Berkeley where you work 15 to 25 hours a week with one of several cognitive development labs. You’ll assist with studies on how children learn by helping collect data, creating experiment materials, recruiting participants, and analyzing behavioral or eye-tracking data. You’ll be matched with a grad student or postdoc mentor and take part in weekly lab meetings, reading groups, and skill workshops on tools like R, LookIt, and Datavyu. The work takes place both on campus and at community sites like children’s museums. A travel stipend of $2,400 is available for those without other funding.
Location: Virtual
Stipend: Aid and unpaid internships are available. Unpaid positions offer academic credit.
Dates: Varies based on the internship
Application Deadline: Depends on the specifics of the internship
Eligibility: Students eligible to work in the US who reside in one of the states where APA is registered as an employer. Must be at least enrolled in a part-time institution. Students under 18 must submit an official District of Columbia work permit.
Internships at the American Psychological Association are remote opportunities where you support teams in areas like research, policy, communications, education, publishing, or operations. You might help with surveys, writing projects, data analysis, or digital content, depending on your role. You’ll get guidance from APA staff and join virtual workshops on resumes, career prep, and networking. You can also work on group projects, attend webinars, and possibly contribute to APA publications. Since the internship is fully online, you will also build practical experience in remote work and communication.
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Stipend: Living stipend (approximately $3,500) plus on-campus housing and meal plan
Acceptance rate/cohort size: You’ll join a select cohort of 35–40 undergraduates across all Summer Research Village programs, including PRIMO and allied programs, making it highly selective.
Dates: Early June to mid-August (10 weeks)
Application Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Rising sophomores, juniors, or seniors at U.S.-based colleges (including international students enrolled in U.S. institutions, with CPT authorization as needed)
Harvard Business School PRIMO is a ten-week research internship where you work with faculty and doctoral students on topics like entrepreneurship, market design, corporate responsibility, and organizational behavior. You’re matched with a project based on your interests and spend the summer living on campus with students in related Harvard programs. You attend faculty lectures, professional development workshops, and regular cohort meetings. You’ll write a research abstract and present your project at a final symposium.
Location: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Stipend: $1,000 plus assistance toward housing/travel
Cohort Size / Acceptance Rate: Typically 4–6 interns; acceptance rate under 20%
Dates: June 2 – July 12 (6 weeks)
Application Deadline: January 17
Eligibility: Undergraduates enrolled in U.S. institutions; coursework or interest in developmental psychology required
Cornell University Developmental Moral Psychology Lab Summer Internship is a research program where you work with grad students and postdocs on projects focused on moral development in children. You help design studies, collect data, code responses, and analyze results. You also work on an independent project and present it at the end of the program. Weekly lab meetings and reading discussions are part of the experience. You build hands-on skills in experimental psychology and get mentorship from the lab team.
Location: Columbia University, New York, NY
Stipend: Fully funded (amount varies)
Cohort Size / Acceptance Rate: Only 10-12 students are admitted.
Application Deadline: January 10
Dates: June 9 - August 8
Eligibility: Undergraduates from underrepresented groups interested in aging, neuroscience, or psychology
Columbia University STAR U – Summer of Translational Aging Research is a research internship where you work in a Columbia lab studying aging through neurological, cognitive, or psychological research. You help with designing studies, working with participants, collecting data, and running analyses. The program also includes mentorship from faculty, professional development sessions, and regular meetings with other interns. You present your research at the end and build experience and connections useful for graduate school or future lab work.
Location: UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Stipend: $5,000 plus on-campus housing and meals provided
Dates: 10 weeks from mid‑June to early September
Application Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Sophomore or junior undergraduates with GPA ≥ 3.2; majors in neuroscience, psychology, or biological sciences
UCLA Neuroscience Scholars Program (NeuroScholars) is a research internship where you work in a UCLA neuroscience lab under faculty guidance. You help with experiments, collect data using tools like EEG or behavioral tasks, and analyze results. The program includes journal clubs, skills workshops, faculty talks, and career sessions. You’ll present your research at a final symposium. Housing, meals, and travel are covered, and you work closely with peers and mentors while building skills for future research or grad school.
Location: MIT Cambridge, MA
Stipend: Competitive stipend (amount varies), plus on-campus housing and travel allowance
Dates: May 26 – August 2 (10 weeks)
Application Deadline: January 30
Eligibility: Sophomores and juniors at U.S. institutions (excluding MIT); strong GPA (≈ 3.5+), prior coursework in brain/CS/math, and programming experience (C++, MATLAB, or Python)
MIT–CBMM Undergraduate Summer Neuroscience Research Internship is a ten-week program where you work on cognitive or computational neuroscience projects under a faculty mentor at the MIT Center for Brains, Minds & Machines. You help design experiments, analyze data, write or use code, and join lab meetings and seminars with grad students. The program includes weekly sessions on programming, research ethics, and GRE prep. You present your work at a final symposium and get to connect with researchers across MIT.
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 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.