A High School Student’s Guide To CS Programs/Internships

Updated on April 1, 2019.

Sign up for my Bay Area mailing list for CS-related opportunities!

Find hackathons in the Bay Area!

INTRODUCTION

Heyo! This is a “guide” for primarily for those (some stuff are strictly directed at girls) in tech hoping to find opportunities during your high school career. All of this information is from my own research and is in no way the most calculated and correct way to have a successful career in tech. Also, APPLY TO ALL OF THIS (it’ll be worth it to get the experience of writing (and prepare for college apps — yikes) and if you get in, have a memorable life experience and if you don’t, you’ll find something better.)

Disclaimer: This is not the complete list and I’ll be updating this! Reach out to me through Facebook or email if you have more resources, tips, or just information. Take some time out of your day to look through this. You might change find something that will give you an experience of a lifetime.

Also, there are opportunities everywhere. You just need to find it. This list is just some things that I happened to find.

INTERNSHIPS 101

I’ve placed two “paths” for an internship for those who are interested in interning at a college campus or a company (steps for both are about the same.) As most tech companies are like, they don’t have a lot of set programs dedicated to high school students which is why it’s essential for you to personally reach out to companies/colleges. Additionally, keep in mind that most high school level internships are paid through knowledge. Best of luck!

First, make an excel spreadsheet and divide it to look something like:

College Campus:

1. Find a college to intern at (should be relatively near for you to commute)
2. Check if you are eligible to intern (some have an age requirement)
3. Go to the college’s’ main website and search up faculty/labs doing research that interest you
4. Make sure it’s a topic that you at least know a little about
5. Actually be interested in the lab
6. Make a list (10ish) of faculty/labs and the emails of the professor in charge
7. Make sure the professor’s’ interests are aligned with yours
8. Create an email template
9. Should be concise ( 1 to 2 paragraphs)
10. Introduce yourself (name, age, grade, school)
11. Explain your passions, extracurriculars, interests, job/volunteer experience, work ethics, etc.
12. Why you’re interested in interning at their lab
13. Explain what you hope to gain out of the lab
14. Describe the commitment you wish to place onto lab (hours/week)
15. Make sure you’re polite
16. Should have good grammar
17. Put your resume
18. Follow up if no response after a week.
19. Professors are busy and have a lot of emails to go through.

Company:

1. Research and make a list on all of the companies that you’re interested in
2. Interest can be through their team, product, or even location
3. Find the emails of recruiters/engineers
4. Create an email template
5. Introduce yourself (name, age, grade, school)
6. Explain your passions, extracurriculars, interests, job/volunteer experience, work ethics, etc.
7. Why you’re interested in interning at their company
8. Explain what you hope to gain out of the company
9. Describe the commitment you wish to place onto the company(hours/week)
10. Make sure you’re polite
11. Should have good grammar
12. Put your resume
13. Repeat about 100 times

Resources:

• Stanford’s Guide to Interning at a Stanford Lab https://oso.stanford.edu/files/programs_111.pdf
• A Freshman’s Guide to Internship https://docs.google.com/document/d/18XaP0nRU2fS-i-uxxWpvAy41hD_UF3rzjiJRouqF_Gc/edit#
• Daniella Maydan’s advice on finding opportunities https://www.quora.com/How-does-one-find-opportunities-as-a-high-school-student
• Daniella Maydan’s advice on writing the email https://www.quora.com/As-a-high-school-student-how-can-I-write-an-email-requesting-a-research-internship-from-a-university-professor-Any-sample-emails
• Stanford Faculty Email Search bar https://stanfordwho.stanford.edu/SWApp/
• Tech companies in SF SoMa https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=14jJ8mSh_ma9uN5youZtjhOmMTg0&ll=37.77842814678187%2C-122.40367850000001&z=14

Tips (courtesy of Lizzie Siegle):

1. Use your connections + network! Although it may not get you the job, it can definitely get your foot in + get an interview!
2. Don’t be afraid to ask for more (help, resources, time, meeting with people, etc. ) Ask for an office visit. Ask for coffee. Ask for advice. Ask for a week-long externship (outlining what you can do, what you want to do, what they’d have to do ie you’d shadow, contribute ideas, but mainly shadow.) On office visits, ask questions about culture, backgrounds, people. A thing that I’ve learned is that adults want to help you. They want you to thrive in whatever subject you’re interested in, so take advantage and learn everything they can provide you with.
3. Follow up if you don’t hear anything back.
4. Cold email. Ask everyone you know. Find someone on twitter. Find their email on their twitter or personal site or LinkedIn.
5. Network. Point out someone’s tee shirt or laptop sticker. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people!
6. Utilize your own network. If your parents work at a company, ask to tour, talk to their coworkers, or even intern.
7. Say yes to almost everything.
8. Build whatever projects you enjoy and learn whenever you can.
9. LOOK AT THE GWC #HIREME INTERNSHIPS
10. Add a resume to every email — about your cover letter and resume, these are relevant articles: https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1748-forget-the-resume-kill-on-the-cover-letter and https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1799-if-i-have-two-candidates-in-front-of-me. Just make sure your cover letter isn’t a copy/paste thing that sounds like it came out of a cookie-cutter for each company ;)
11. Do what you think is best and be smart about it. Experience is number 1. — Samuel Escapa
12. Start out with start-ups.
13. If you’re writing to a professor, make sure to read a paper/publication by them.
14. Be persistent.

Real Talk

• “If you’re looking to get into a tech company — my best advice is to just build all the things! Pad your GitHub with meaningful and different projects and code samples. Teach yourself new technology stacks and programming languages to use in your projects, bonus points for knowing how they work and how to write “good code” in each. Consider doing related research at school for additional projects if you don’t have any ideas. Practice your algorithms and data structures. Lastly, be sure to prepare a good resume and apply everywhere!” — Joel Gomez, UCR, LinkedIn Intern

SUMMER 101

Some of these are strictly for girls only. Shout out to Michael Yoo for some of these.

Make sure to check out: https://peerlift.org/ to find out more about internships, summer programs, awards, scholarships, etc. that you could apply to in high school!

Freshman Year:

• AI4All Foundation’s Summer Camp http://ai-4-all.org/education/
• CYBEAR camp http://cybear.berkeley.edu/index.html
• COSMOS http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/cosmos/
• UCSC Summer Internship Program http://ucsc-sip.org/program-details/apply-now/
• Stanford’s SAILORS Program http://sailors.stanford.edu/

Sophomore Year:

• AI4All Foundation’s Summer Camp http://ai-4-all.org/education/
• HERlead Fellowship https://herlead.vitalvoices.org/apply/
• High School Engineering Program https://tinyurl.com/hsepspring2018
• CYBEAR camp http://cybear.berkeley.edu/index.html
• Summer Computer Science Institute https://apps.carleton.edu/summer/scsi/
• Management & Technology Summer Institute http://www.upenn.edu/fisher/summer-mt/mt-summer-overview
• Facebook’s Summer Academy Externs https://facebooksummeracademy.com/
• COSMOS http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/cosmos/
• SEAP Program http://seap.asee.org/program_details
• Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program https://girlswhocode.com/summer-immersion-programs/
• UCSC Summer Internship Program http://ucsc-sip.org/program-details/apply-now/
• Cornell’s CURIE Academy https://sites.coecis.cornell.edu/curieacademy/
• Cornell’s CATALYST Academy https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/diversity/summer/high_school/catalyst/
• Virginia Tech’s C-Tech² Program https://www.eng.vt.edu/ctech2
• University of Iowa: Secondary Student Training Program https://www2.education.uiowa.edu/belinblank/students/classes.aspx?P=SSTP
• Stony Brook University: The Garcia Center for Polymers at Engineered Interfaces http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/garcia/applying/HS%20instruction.html
• UCSF Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/
• Clarks Scholar Program http://www.depts.ttu.edu/honors/academicsandenrichment/affiliatedandhighschool/clarks/
• Frontiers https://www.wpi.edu/academics/pre-collegiate/summer/stem-residential/frontiers
• Preface Summer Program http://doso.rpi.edu/update.do?catcenterkey=87
• Apple’s Engineering Camp https://www.aspirations.org/summer-camp/apple-engineering-technology-camp-2017
• First Bytes https://www.aspirations.org/summer-camp/first-bytes

Junior Year:

• Kaiser Permanente Internship https://kplaunch.kaiserpermanente.org/high-school-program/
• CISCO High Internship https://americas.thecisconetwork.com/site/content/lang/en/id/6549
• AI4All Foundation’s Summer Camp http://ai-4-all.org/education/
• UC Berkeley Girls in Engineering http://girlsinengineering.berkeley.edu/volunteerApplication.html
• HERlead Fellowship https://herlead.vitalvoices.org/apply/
• High School Engineering Program https://tinyurl.com/hsepspring2018
• CYBEAR camp http://cybear.berkeley.edu/index.html
• Management & Technology Summer Institute http://www.upenn.edu/fisher/summer-mt/mt-summer-overview
• Summer Computer Science Institute https://apps.carleton.edu/summer/scsi/
• COSMOS http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/cosmos/
• Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program https://girlswhocode.com/summer-immersion-programs/
• SEAP Program http://seap.asee.org/program_details
• UCSC Summer Internship Program http://ucsc-sip.org/program-details/apply-now/
• Operation Catapult http://www.rose-hulman.edu/admissions-financial-aid/early-planning/operation-catapult/frequently-asked-questions.aspx
• Carnegie Mellon’s Summer Academy for Mathematics and Science https://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/diversity-sams
• Preface Summer Program http://doso.rpi.edu/update.do?catcenterkey=87
• MIT’s Technology Program http://wtp.mit.edu/
• Cornell’s CURIE Academy https://sites.coecis.cornell.edu/curieacademy/
• Cornell’s CATALYST Academy https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/diversity/summer/high_school/catalyst/
• MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute https://beaverworks.ll.mit.edu/CMS/bw/bwsi
• University of Iowa: Secondary Student Training Program https://www2.education.uiowa.edu/belinblank/students/classes.aspx?P=SSTP
• University of Florida: Student Science Training Program https://www.cpet.ufl.edu/students/sstp/
• UCSF Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/
• TechGirls http://www.legacyintl.org/our-programs/techgirls/us-youth-ambassadors-and-techgirls/
• Microsoft Internship https://careers.microsoft.com/students/highschool
• Center for Excellence in Education https://www.cee.org/research-science-institute
• Stanford’s SIMR Program http://simr.stanford.edu/
• Clarks Scholar Program http://www.depts.ttu.edu/honors/academicsandenrichment/affiliatedandhighschool/clarks/
• Frontiers https://www.wpi.edu/academics/pre-collegiate/summer/stem-residential/frontiers
• Apple’s Engineering Camp https://www.aspirations.org/summer-camp/apple-engineering-technology-camp-2017
• First Bytes https://www.aspirations.org/summer-camp/first-bytes
• Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES) https://oeop.mit.edu/programs/mites/program-details

Senior Year:

• WISCI GIRLS STEAM CAMP https://www.girlup.org/wisci/#sthash.WYI2uW4D.3itytUvd.dpbs
• CISCO High Scholarship https://americas.thecisconetwork.com/site/content/lang/en/id/6549
• Unite Summer Program http://www.tsaweb.org/sites/default/files/Unite%20STEMdaily_1.pdf
• Kaiser Permanente Internship https://kplaunch.kaiserpermanente.org/high-school-program/
• UC Berkeley Girls in Engineering http://girlsinengineering.berkeley.edu/volunteerApplication.html
• Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute https://edu.google.com/resources/programs/computer-science-summer-institute/
• Stanford’s SIMR Program http://simr.stanford.edu/
• Emma Bowen Foundation Program — for college students too http://www.emmabowenfoundation.com/application_info
• SEAP Program http://seap.asee.org/program_details
• Microsoft Internship https://careers.microsoft.com/students/highschool
• Physics Internship http://www.pppl.gov/education/science-education/programs/high-school-summer-internship
• Girls Make Games Fellowship = Have to be 18+ http://girlsmakegames.com/fellowshipapplication.html

Stanford Things

• https://oso.stanford.edu/programs/audiences/5-high-school-students
• https://oso.stanford.edu/files/programs_187.pdf

All Years:

• Code/Art https://medium.com/@CodeArtMiami
• EMPath (Emotion Machine Pathway) Intern Program at Affectiva https://www.affectiva.com/empath-high-school-summer-internship-program-at-affectiva/
• Little Bytes Summer Internship http://littlebytes.me/page1.html (must be 16+)
• Brown Scholars Program https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/grades-9-12/bridgeup-stem/brown-scholars (2+ year intensive program + gives you a 9 month paid internship)
• Army Educational Outreach Program http://www.usaeop.com/
• Make School Summer Academy https://www.makeschool.com/apply?utm_source=refferal&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=code-like-a-girl-email-april-2018&utm_content=
• Kode with Klossy Summer Camp https://www.kodewithklossy.com/
• Summer Program on Applied Rationality and Cognition https://sparc-camp.org/
• PAID OPP: Girls Who Code Alumni Internship @ IAC
  Summer 2018 in NYC https://iac-gwc.typeform.com/to/jjNdWw
• The Tempest Fellowship https://thetempest.co/fellowships/
• GITHUB https://github.com/blog/2246-summer-internships-at-github-in-san-francisco
• For the East Coast people, Bloomberg’s Internship Program https://www.bloomberg.com/careers/internships/ — reach out to jlennon24@bloomberg.com
• Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) http://seap.asee.org/
• #BuiltByGirls Wave Mentor Program https://www.builtbygirls.com/programs/wave
• Stanford’s RISE Internship https://oso.stanford.edu/programs/39-rise-summer-internship-program
• Carnegie Mellon CS Program http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~leap/
• More bio/research related https://summer.uchicago.edu/high-school/ribs
• Boston University’s RISE Internship http://www.bu.edu/summer/high-school-programs/research/
• University of Pennsylvania’s Engineering Summer Academy https://esap.seas.upenn.edu/about/
• University of Pennsylvania’s Management & Technology Program http://www.upenn.edu/fisher/summer-mt/how-apply
• Girls Teaching Girls To Code: Code Camp http://www.girlsteachinggirlstocode.org/events/
• usaco http://www.usaco.org/
• DigiGirlz https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/programs/digigirlz/hightechcamp.aspx
• Science and Engineering Apprentice Program http://seap.asee.org/program_details
• University of Evansville https://www.evansville.edu/options/hsGirls.cfm
• UC Santa Barbara: Research Mentorship Program http://www.summer.ucsb.edu/pre-college/research-mentorship-program-rmp
• University of Texas — Summer Research Academy https://cns.utexas.edu/tides/k-12/high-school-summer-research-academy
• Summer Research Experience https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/bioinformatics-computational-biology/resources/summer-research

These links also have great opportunities:

• https://github.com/JustinChavez/Pre-College-Opportunities
• https://people.rit.edu/~gtfsbi/Symp/highschool.htm

Scholarships for CS:

• LOOK AT THIS https://www.aspirations.org/participate/opportunities

Remember that even if you don’t attend any of these, there are still online courses or local community college courses that you can enroll in. Udacity is a great place to start!

RESUME

For all of these programs, you will probably need a resume. Check out this medium article for help:

The Perfect Resume

Some College-related Internships/Opportunities:

• SWEShips http://www.sweships.com/
• xterns https://www.xterns.com/
• Last-Minute Freshman/Sophomore Opportunities https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VYiLhwLTvDvX2JwLDiGD8gwYFX-VD7fo9KWFkfjZexY/edit?fbclid=IwAR1s1hZlcFM7vXwrHdOpB69H9cPUJQqhlxw66mQza6pK1jfORews6wUgQgg#gid=326865513
• The Pinterest Engage Scholars Program https://careers.pinterest.com/careers/details/pinterest-engage-scholars-program_san-francisco_1097752
• 2019 Rewriting the Code Fellowship https://airtable.com/shrMsyq7RpFZSXpMz
• Twitter #TakeFlight18 https://takeflight18.splashthat.com/
• Square Code Camp https://squareup.com/code-camp
• IBM Research Internship https://www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/ibm/index.cfm
• HackNY Fellowship https://apply.hackny.org/
• https://www.martystepp.com/cs-internships-for-freshmen/
• https://vmware.beamery.com/events/codehouse

EVENTS

• Hack Club’s list of HS hackathons http://hackathons.hackclub.com/
• SM Hacks www.smhacks.com
• Superposition superposition.tech
• HS Hacks www.hshacks.com/
• TinoHacks tinohacks.tech/
• Code for Cognitive Aid, July 13–15 (2018). Our website is http://codeforcognitiveaid.wordpress.com !
• def hacks() defhacks.io/
• Los Altos Hacks www.losaltoshacks.com/
• BASEHacks /www.basehacks.org/
• Girl Geek Academy http://girlgeekacademy.com/
• Verizon App Challenge https://appchallenge.tsaweb.org/
• Congressional App Challenge http://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/2017-student-signup/
• CodeDay Bay Area codeday.org use “AREETAW” for a 15% discount on your ticket :)

More Hackathon Related Things:

• https://mlh.io/seasons/na-2018/events
• https://www.eventbrite.com/d/ca--san-francisco/hackathon/
• http://www.hackathon.io/events

Resources:

• Stanford Programs/Internships https://oso.stanford.edu/programs/audiences/5-high-school-students
• STEM Programs http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/programs.aspx?adv=adv&alpha=B&c=either&p=either&sa=either&submit=y&u=HighSchool_High+School+Students
• Black Girls Code http://www.blackgirlscode.org/
• Girl Develop It https://www.girldevelopit.com/
• APCSA curriculum provided by TEALS https://tealsk12.gitbook.io/apcsa/

Things to participate in:

• Marvel’s Thor Ragnarok National Contest https://www.marvelstudiosstemchallenge.com/home
• National Center for Women Information Technology https://www.aspirations.org/participate
• she++ Include Fellow http://sheplusplus.org/include/
• Technovation http://technovationchallenge.org/
• Congressional App Challenge http://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/
• #BuiltbyGirls https://www.builtbygirls.com/programs
• Code Jam https://code.google.com/codejam/

Things to look at:

• https://github.com/elizabethsiegle/Bay_Area_tech_meetups
• https://github.com/acqcolor/bayareawomenintech#emaillists
• https://www.engineergirl.org/
• https://theconnectory.org/

Facebook groups to be in:

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/techladies/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/hackathonhackers/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/LadiesStormHackathons/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/ncwandintern/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/WOCinbay/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/PennAppsHS/
• www.facebook.com/groups/Flow.makemeflow
• https://www.facebook.com/ReigningIt/

Scholarships:

• https://www.cappex.com/
• THIS IS THE ONE YOU WANT TO LOOK AT: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1loSgAn7-XA5BPWNyhJ8exVmVAbL2wPPoDk9D4gVAaXs/htmlview?usp=gmail
• http://www.coca-colascholarsfoundation.org/apply/
• https://www.questbridge.org/
• http://www.jkcf.org/scholarship-programs/college-scholarship/
• https://www.engineergirl.org/GetThere/Scholarships.aspx
• https://scholarshipamerica.org/what-we-do/students-parents/open-scholarships/
• https://medium.com/@melaniejane.pascual/my-scholarship-experience-senior-year-16db02399a45

For all of seniors out there, I recommend applying for college fly-in visits. They basically fly you out for free and let you experience their college.

• https://blog.collegegreenlight.com/blog/college-fly-in-diversity-programs/
• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lPJHjm8WlaV9DvwBKFpIBHyqm3HPOTz92Mgl5BgSfOo/edit#gid=0

CONCLUSION

I hope all of you found that at least semi-helpful. If not, here something that you might like: link . Remember to PM me if you have suggestions, comments, or issues (yikes). Huge thanks to everyone who’s sent me some of these.