Summer Science Programs for High School Students

Happy New Year!  

January and February are the months for high school juniors (and sophomores) to apply to summer science and internship programs in the Bay Area and at nearby UC campuses. 

Stanford University offers a number of programs through the Office of Science Research including unpaid internships in laboratories, the Space Weather Monitor Program and the Institute of Medicine Summer Research Program

UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis feature COSMOS, or California State Summer School for Math and Science, with a host of topics or “clusters” students can explore in a four- week residential program.

You can also check out Pathways to ScienceNational Database for programs both in California and across the U.S. for paid internships.   A couple of local possibilities are the Perception Science Internship at UC Berkeley and the Arthritis Foundation Summer Science Internship at either UCSF or Stanford. 

All these programs are selective and require an application consisting of short essay responses, a transcript, standardized test scores and teacher recommendations.  Of course many universities across the country offer pre-collegiate summer school terms—which are less

selective, but also can be quite pricey.  I recommend these only for students who want to dig deeper into a particular subject at a more advanced level—not for enhancing a college application.

All in all the SF Bay Area offers plenty of opportunities for high school students to explore their interests in STEM during the summer.