If you are a high school student interested in exploring engineering through hands-on work, an internship in the field is worth considering. However, in-person internships in STEM subjects can be inaccessible and expensive, which is why many high schoolers are now turning to online internships.  

What can I expect from an online internship in engineering?

• Online engineering internship programs may involve video lectures/instruction sessions, research work, hands-on field-related tasks, virtual group activities, and networking opportunities, making them worthwhile learning opportunities. 

• You may also learn about various career paths in the field of engineering, new subfields, and the college admission process through such programs. 

Additionally, taking up internships in high school can boost your profile, as these experiences indicate to recruiters and college admission teams your willingness to get a jumpstart on your career.

To help you get started, here we have listed 19 online engineering programs for high school students:

1. Ladder Internships

Cost: Starts at $2,490 | Needs-based financial assistance is offered.

Eligibility: High school students

Application deadline: The program has multiple application deadlines throughout the year. The applications for the upcoming winter cohort are due on December 10.

Program dates: The exact dates vary for each eight-week session and multiple cohorts are scheduled each year. The upcoming winter cohort starts on December 16.

Ladder Internships is a selective virtual program that provides high schoolers with opportunities to work with nonprofits and start-ups. While applying, you can choose from subject areas like software engineering, deep tech, and machine learning to be paired with a relevant organization. If accepted into the program, you will get to work on a real-world project for the given startup. 

As an intern, you will work closely with the assigned organization representative. Simultaneously, you will get to regularly connect with a Ladder Coach—a second mentor who will help you navigate the startup environment. The internship also offers training sessions to help you develop a few crucial professional skills. 

As an alternative to this Startup Internship Program, you can choose the CEO Internship Program, in which you will work directly with a start-up CEO with a FAANG background (Facebook, Google, etc.). Another option is the Combination Program, which combines elements of the other two formats—mentored research and CEO internship. Whichever format you choose, the experience is a chance to get some hands-on work experience and real-world exposure to the field of engineering and a career path in STEM.

2. EnergyMag Internships

Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors who have taken at least one honors science or honors English class and have a minimum GPA of 3.25

Application deadline: None

Program dates: The program runs throughout the year, offering two internship durations—half-time (2–8 weeks in summer) and quarter-time (1–9 months) virtual internships

EnergyMag offers flexible virtual internships to high school students who are interested in learning about energy storage. During the internship, you will research and analyze a specific company, technology, market, or other related activities with the help of a mentor who will guide you and supervise your work. This experience can offer you some insights into power engineering. This can also be a chance to develop various on-the-job skills, including research and professional communication.

As an EnergyMag intern, you will research the assigned topic, find sources of relevant information, compile and analyze the data you collected, and come up with an analysis report, which will be published on the EnergyMag website. Following the submission of your report, you will receive an Internship Letter of Accomplishment. 

3. NASA’s OSTEM Internship Program

Cost/Stipend: No cost. Most interns get stipends that are determined based on their academic level and session lengths.

Eligibility: High school students who are at least 16 and have a GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale

Application deadline: Applications for the Summer internship session close on February 28, and the Fall applications are due on May 16

Program dates: The exact dates vary for each internship.

NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) provides internships to students in many locations around the country. It also offers virtual opportunities. You can keep an eye on available remote opportunities here. Most NASA internships offer hands-on work experience and opportunities to learn from mentors who are research scientists and engineers. Each internship also typically involves short-term work on a specific project. You may also get to design experiments, analyze data crucial to NASA’s missions, or help develop new technologies. For instance, an ongoing virtual opportunity called Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) Student Collaboration, involves work on atmospheric science research associated with a NASA satellite mission. Here, you will evaluate small sensors measuring ozone, nitrogen dioxide, aerosol, and UVB and determine their ability to provide accurate information. This experience can help you get some insight into NASA's work as well as the real-world application of engineering principles. 

4. ASPIRE by Johns Hopkins

Cost/Stipend: None

Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors who are at least 15 years old, have a minimum GPA of 2.8, and reside in specific Maryland counties

Application deadline: February 15, (tentative date based on previous year’s program)

Program dates: The program typically runs between six and nine weeks, starting in June and ending in August. Certain participants and mentors may decide to extend the internship, in which case the program can run from September in the existing year to May next year.

ASPIRE is a STEM research opportunity offered by the Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). While applying, you can choose any one out of eight areas of placement, such as engineering, aerospace and space-related engineering, and physical science. The program is moderately selective, typically accepting 15–20% of applicants. If selected, you will be paired with a Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory staff mentor, who will offer guidance to help you work on your research. The program also focuses on enhancing technical and interpersonal skills that come in handy in a professional environment. 

5. NASA and UT Austin’s SEES Internship Program

Cost/Stipend: None

Eligibility: High school sophomores and juniors

Application deadline: February 22

Program dates: May 1–July 22

This is a competitive program, given that it selected just 205 students from over 2,000 applications in 2023. If accepted, you may get to participate in space and Earth research and also learn how to work with satellite data. This internship offers virtual and in-person experiences. Irrespective of the format you choose, you will be first provided with distance learning modules that help you learn key Earth science concepts and Python programming language. As a SEES intern, you will work on a project, conduct research, and interpret NASA satellite data under the supervision and guidance of subject matter experts. Additionally, under the mentorship of project scientists, you will engage in tasks like visualizing and analyzing remote sensing data, helping with mission design, and studying ice sheets and Earth’s gravity field. The program concludes with a virtual symposium where all interns present their research. On successfully finishing the internship, you will receive NASA’s certificate of program completion.

6. Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) at George Mason University

Cost/Stipend: None. An application fee of $25 is charged can be waived based on a needs-based system.

Eligibility: High school students who are at least 15 when the program begins

Application deadline: February 2

Program dates: June 18–August 8

George Mason University’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) is a summer internship program, where high schoolers get to work alongside faculty researchers and gain hands-on research experience. ASSIP offers three distinct internship formats—remote, in-person, and hybrid. 

During the program, you will get access to cutting-edge resources, develop your scientific writing and communication skills, and also explore careers in engineering. The program ends with a poster session, where you present your project. A notable highlight of this program is that you get a chance to publish your ASSIP work in a scientific journal and present at scientific conferences. You can explore the student research projects previously conducted at ASSIP here. 

7. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Internship Program

Cost/Stipend: No cost. A stipend is offered, but the exact amount is not mentioned on the official site.

Eligibility: Applicants must be graduating seniors who are at least 16, have worked on a plasma physics project, and have some experience with coding/computer languages and/or computer-aided design.

Application deadline: Applications typically close in March.

Program dates: TBD, but the program runs for 8 to 10 weeks in the summer after high school graduation. The exact dates will also depend on your school schedule; some options run during school semesters.

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the US Department of Energy’s national laboratory, through its internship program, offers graduating high schoolers the chance to work on a project with the laboratory’s research or engineering staff. While the work would largely focus on the field of plasma physics, this internship can be an opportunity to get some hands-on experience in research as well as lab work, which is required for building a career in a STEM field, especially engineering. If selected, you will work on an experimental or computational plasma physics project while also exploring various topics like plasma physics, fusion energy, and other related fields. You would be expected to work on your research 40 hours each week. Although the program offers in-person experiences, you can choose the remote internship option while applying.

8. Stanford University’s SHTEM Summer Internships

Cost/Stipend: None

Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors who are at least 14 years old

Application deadline: Applications are typically due in February.

Program dates: The program usually runs from June to August.

Stanford’s SHTEM (science, humanities, tech, engineering, and math) program is a fully virtual internship opportunity for high schoolers as well as community college students. Here, you will get to engage with cutting-edge research in an academic environment and explore diverse research topics in engineering along with the link between humanities and STEM research. As an intern, you will be placed in a project group and be assigned one or more mentors, who are usually students or staffers at the Stanford Compression Forum and its affiliated organizations\ For hardware projects, materials will be sent to you to ensure you get to work on the assignment virtually. Overall, you will be expected to work 30 to 40 hours a week. You can take a look at the past SHTEM projects here. 

Note: SHTEM is currently on a hiatus, but you can keep an eye on the program page and sign up for updates here to be notified when the applications open.

9. SPARK Summer Mentorship Program

Cost/Stipend: No cost. Up to $500 is offered as a stipend.

Eligibility: High school students in the US | The precise requirements, in terms of location, interests, and education, can vary for each project/internship.

Application deadline: March/April (exact dates TBA)

Program dates: The 8- to 10-week internship program typically runs from June to August. 

The SPARK Summer Internship Program (SPARK SMP) is a paid opportunity for high schoolers to work on cutting-edge STEM projects and connect with industry experts, professors, and mentors. Each year, SPARK SMP offers a combination of in-person and remote internships. In the past, a virtual option available to those interested in engineering-centric education was Advancing Accessibility in Engineering Education, where interns were expected to conduct background research and present a technical report regarding problems in enhancing access to engineering education. Another remote internship was Data Engineering and AI for Real World Problems, in which interns were supposed to work on applications of AI/ML, data pipelines, and predictive analytics to find solutions to real-world challenges. Through such internships, the program focuses on introducing high schoolers to a professional work environment and helping them explore academic interests.

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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