Are you a high school student interested in getting some experience in the working world?

Stanford Summer Internship For High School Students is an opportunity for you to do just that. In this program, you’ll get to work with companies like Apple and Google while still in high school. You’ll have the chance to make lasting connections with professionals who can help you get your career off the ground. You can even earn money while doing it!

The best part? It’s totally free! All we ask is that you work hard, learn something new, and enjoy yourself along the way. If this sounds like your type of thing, then apply now!

Stanford Summer Internship For High School Students

Summer internships for high school and CC students

Summer 2021 Cohort

SHTEM Program
Applications for Summer 2022 are closed. If you would like to be notified when applications for Summer 2023 open, please fill out this form.

The 2022 program will be entirely remote.

• For the second time, we will be admitting community college (CC) students of age 21 and under at the time of application (early CC students). High school students and CC students will be placed in project groups among their respective peers. In other words, in daily activities, high school students will interact among other high school students and CC students will interact with other CC students, with the exception of program-wide activities such as orientation and final presentations.
• Decisions will be emailed out mid-April.

The Stanford Compression Forum is offering its annual summer internship program for the Summer of 2022. We are looking for passionate high school and early CC students interested in pursuing fun research projects over the summer.

This internship is intended to provide early exposure to research transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries. Students will be grouped to multifaceted projects that will benefit from their existing interests and strengths, while exposing them to new areas. Projects will be mentored by students, faculty and staff of the Stanford Compression Forum and its affiliated organizations. Themes will span and combine the science of information and communication, engineering, the arts, linguistics, psychology, biology, neuroscience, computer science, technology, philosophy, and design, among other areas.    

Program Goals:

• Provide high school and CC students early exposure to cutting-edge research in an academic environment
• Introduce students to the diversity of research topics pursued in engineering
• Emphasize the inseparability of the humanities and the human element from research in STEM

Eligibility (all requirements must be met to apply):

• Must be currently a high school junior or senior in the 2021-2022 school year (i.e. 11th or 12th grade at the time of application) OR a full-time CC student (within first three years of CC)
• If you are a high school junior or senior, you must be at least 14 by June 13. If you are a full-time CC student, you must be within the ages of 17-21 (inclusive) by June 13.

No exceptions can be made for any eligibility requirements (e.g. if you are currently a high school sophomore, you are not eligible to apply).

Program:

The internship program for Summer 2022 will be 8 weeks long. Students are expected to attend the entire duration of the internship.

• Start date: Monday, June 13, 2022
• End date: Friday, August 5, 2022

Housing and Transportation:

The program for Summer 2022 will be entirely remote.

Application:

Applications for Summer 2022 are closed.

Financial Assistance:

Although this internship is unpaid, if spending the time needed to participate in this program would pose a financial burden, please let us know in your application.

We’d love to be able to admit all applicants. But that is not realistic. If you’re not admitted, it’s because we failed to integrate you into the few projects we were able to create with our group of mentors.   

Past Projects:

Video presentations and online journal (2021)
Video presentations and online journal (2020)
Video presentations and our online journal (2019)
Humans are awesome (2018)

News:

August 2020

Presentation Day from Summer 2020

March 2020
SHTEM was highlighted by Stanford News! Check out our interview with them here: High school interns inspire new research paths.

December 2019

SHTEM was mentioned on the 2019 series finale of HBO’s Silicon Valley (the above photo shows SHTEM on the whiteboard). Richard Hendricks serves as a great fictional mentor! Read more about Professor Tsachy Weissman’s involvement in the program here.

Two interns from 2019, Aditi Talati and Karan Bhasin had their work from the summer accepted at the 2020 Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) conference. Congratulations!

Presentation Day from Summer 2019

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

• My student is currently a high school sophomore and will be a rising junior. OR My student meets the age requirement but is not currently a junior or senior in high school. Can they apply?
• Will the 2022 program be remote or in-person?
• How many rounds of application are there? Is there a waiting list?
• How many high school students are typically accepted?
• Can international students apply?
• I’m a US Citizen but not currently residing in the US. Can I apply?
• Does the program typically involve group mentoring or is it primarily 1:1 research mentoring?
• Does the program provide housing?
• Do potential applicants need to have any prior research experience?
• Does this program include an interview component?
• What particular skills do you look for in potential applicants?
• Can research projects completed during this internship be submitted to any Science fairs such as Google Science Fair or Regeneron or Siemens/Discovery Edu?
• Can previous SHTEM interns apply?
• Is there a cost to attending the program?
• My student is a high school student. Will they be interacting with college students?
• Since the program is remote, what are daily activities like?