Top 10 Summer Data Science Internships for High School Students
If you’re a high schooler looking to explore data science, a summer internship might be a good option. Summer internships in data science are an effective way to gain work experience, build job skills, and learn about career options. Internships can be an excellent and cost-effective alternative to expensive summer programs, especially since some offer stipends.
By participating in an internship, you can gain industry experience, network with professionals, and ask questions about further studies and careers. For students interested in data science, there are many internships that allow you to work with data sets, learn programming languages such as Python and R, and work in artificial intelligence or machine learning. Doing an internship in your field of interest can show college admissions officers that you’ve taken the initiative to learn outside the classroom; this can be especially useful in a competitive field such as data science.
To help you begin your search, we have outlined the 12 best summer internships for high school students in data science and computational data science.
1. Stanford’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging’s Summer Research Internship
Cost: $850 + $40 application fee
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: February 28
Program Dates: June 16 - 27
Duration: 2 weeks, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. PT
Eligibility: High school students aged 14+; U.S. citizens or permanent residents
The Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging (AIMI) offers a two-week summer internship on the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine. The internship is a project-based experience for students interested in mathematics, coding, or statistics. You will be introduced to clinical and technical AI through lectures, collaborative Project-Based Research (PBR) initiatives, and personalized mentorship. In addition, they offer longer-term, self-directed research projects for interested students. You will work alongside researchers and post-doctoral fellows at Stanford and understand how this technology can be utilized in the clinical context.
Cost: Starting at $2,490 (financial aid available)
Location: Remote
Application deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort: Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November). Program dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
Duration: 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks
Eligibility: High school students, undergraduates, and gap year students
Ladder Internships is a selective start-up internship program for ambitious high school students! In the program, you work with a high-growth start-up on an internship. Start-ups that offer internships range across a variety of industries, from tech/deep tech and AI/ML to health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. You can explore all the options here on their application form. Ladder’s start-ups are high-growth companies on average raising over a million dollars. In the program, interns work closely with their managers and a Ladder Coach on real-world projects and present their work to the company. Here is the application form.
Cost: Unpaid
Location: Virtual or Baltimore, Maryland
Application Deadline: February 15
Program Dates: June 24 - August 21
Duration: 6-9 weeks
Eligibility: U.S. high school juniors and seniors with a minimum GPA of 2.8
With a 10% acceptance rate, the ASPIRE Internship at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a selective opportunity to work alongside APL staff. You will participate in group problem-solving activities and skill-building workshops. For students interested in becoming a data scientist, the Mathematics & Data Analysis track is a good option. While the program is primarily Baltimore-based, there is also a remote option. Depending on your mentor, an internship could be year-round. The year-round commitment would consist of work from September to May, with an additional 130 hours for research.
Stipend: Unpaid positions for school credit; funding is yet to be determined
Location: San Diego, California
Application Deadline: March 31
Program Dates: June 2 - August 8 or June 16 - August 22
Duration: 10 weeks
Eligibility: High school students aged at least 16
The Scripps Student Research Internship allows high school students to explore translational research in personalized medicine. The field studies how genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic factors influence disease and health. You will work on ongoing research projects on subjects like neuroscience, cancer, and drug discovery with Scripps researchers. You will learn laboratory, writing, and data analysis techniques under the guidance of senior researchers. You will engage with complex scientific problems and understand what it means to conduct research in a professional environment. This experience will provide a foundation for students planning to go to college to study health sciences, data science, computer science, or statistics.
5. SPARK Summer Internship Program
Stipend: Some internships are paid
Location: Virtual (for some) and various locations across the country
Application Deadline: Applications open in March/April
Program Dates: Summer
Duration: 6-8 weeks
Eligibility: High school students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
The SPARK Summer Internship Program (SIP) allows school students to learn about computer science, engineering, and allied streams through practical work. During the internship, you will work with professionals from their field, gaining exposure to advanced technologies. Mentorship and teamwork are emphasized to enable you to develop technical expertise. Depending on your areas of interest, five or six projects will be assigned to you in areas like computer vision, programming, data science, neural networks, machine learning, etc. This internship will help you connect classroom knowledge and practical challenges.
6. Intensive Research Internship @ UT Dallas
Cost: $1,000 (scholarships available for low-income students)
Location: Richardson, Texas
Application Deadline: There is no information available
Program Dates: June 9 - August 1
Duration: 8 weeks
Eligibility: Open to high school students with some proficiency in programming
The Intensive Research Internship @ UT Dallas offers opportunities to build practical research skills across STEM fields. Along with faculty advisors, you will work on app development, data analysis, cybersecurity, machine learning, and computational biology. You will work an average of 20-40 hours per week, performing experiments, programming, executing computational models, reading scholarly papers, and more. The project environment varies by designated study team or laboratory. This is a good opportunity to build professional and academic analytical skills.
7. NASA and UT Austin’s SEES High School Summer Intern Program
Cost: Free and unpaid; certain students are eligible for transportation funding
Location: Virtual and Austin, Texas
Application Deadline: February 22
Program Dates: May 1 - July 22
Eligibility: U.S. high school sophomores and juniors
The SEES (Student Experiences in Earth and Space Science) allows students to work with NASA scientists on Earth and space projects. Most of the internship involves working with data collected by NASA satellites or remotely sensed instruments. Phase one will give you a foundation for data analysis as you work with faculty at the University of Texas, Austin. The internship offers the chance to do authentic Earth system studies work. At the conclusion of the internship, you will present your findings at the Virtual SEES Science Symposium.
8. UCSC Science Internship Program
Cost: $4,850 (need-based scholarships available)
Location: Santa Cruz, California
Application Deadline: February 28
Program Dates: June 16 - August 8
Eligibility: High school students who are at least 14-17 years of age
The Science Internship Program (SIP) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, offers high school students an opportunity to work on intensive technological and scientific projects. Intensives span ten weeks and focus on computer simulation, data analysis, computer programming, or algorithm simulation. Projects are usually tied to active projects at UCSC, so you will work on relevant projects. Every student has a designated mentor who guides them through the project. You will develop technical expertise and problem-solving skills. You will work on collaborative projects in labs and deliver a final presentation.
9. NASA Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) Internships
Stipend: Interns may receive a stipend dependent on the internship, academic level, and session length
Location: NASA centers in the country; remote options available depending on the project
Application Deadline: Summer: February 28 and Fall: May 16
Program Dates: Summer: Typically from late May or early June to August; Fall: Typically from late August or early September to mid-December
Duration: Summer: 10 weeks, Fall: 16 weeks
Eligibility: High school students who will be at least 16 years old at the time of application, have a GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and are U.S. citizens
OSTEM internships are competitive positions offered at NASA centers throughout the United States. Available internship areas range from space science, aeronautics, engineering, and technology to microbiology, communications, and outreach. Through mentorship by NASA experts, you will get practical exposure while working on active projects. You will develop experiments, analyze mission data, or help develop new innovations. Interns also get a chance to network with engineers and researchers. A list of opportunities, including those specifically for high school students, appears on their website.
10. The University of Chicago’s Data Science Institute Summer Lab
Stipend: $4,800
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Program Dates: June 16 - August 8
Duration: 8 weeks, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Eligibility: High school students in the Chicago area
The University of Chicago hosts a summer lab in Data Science that offers interdisciplinary research experience. You will receive mentorship in topics ranging from computer science to climate and energy policy. You will gain experience in research methods while receiving training in your area of choice. You will learn how to apply data science to solve practical challenges. At the end of the program, your research will be showcased in a video presentation. International students must have authorization to work in the U.S. and provide all necessary documentation to earn their stipend.