21 High School Internships in NYC in 2024
What’s Covered:
The internship opportunities for high school students in NYC are plentiful across all five boroughs, at high-profile and prestigious institutions, and some even pay their interns. Internships aren’t just a college application booster—they’re also an important way to learn about a field or area of interest, network with professionals in your prospective industry, meet like-minded people, and gain career skills.
To help you identify opportunities that might be a good fit for you, we’ve rounded up 20 of the top internships for high school students in New York City.
21 Best High School Internships in NYC
1. Apollo Theater Academy Technical Stage Production Internship Program
Application Deadline: January 19
Duration: Six weeks
For over a century, the Apollo Theater has been a hub for cultural innovation, particularly within the African-American community. If you’re entering your senior year of high school and are interested in pursuing a career in the arts or entertainment, you could become a part of that history!
This is a paid opportunity—participants earn $15 an hour—in which interns learn the technical skills of stage production through close work and training with Apollo employees. Over the course of the program, participants will learn about lighting design, videography, audio engineering, and production design.
2. Apollo Theater Academy Arts Administration Internship Program
Application Deadline: January 19
Duration: Ten weeks
Current high school seniors with an interest in live and recorded production will want to check out this awesome opportunity with the historic Apollo Theater in which students develop an understanding of the impact of arts administration and develop a concept for the theater’s signature summer event, Teen Takeover.
Interns are paid $15 an hour and, except for special events, will generally work from 3 to 6 pm.
3. Ladder Internship Program
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort. Main summer deadlines are March 15, April 15, and May 15
Duration: 8 weeks for the startup internship
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, AI/ML to health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. Ladder’s start-ups are all high-growth companies raising over a million dollars, on average.
Past founders have included YCombinator alums, founders raising over 30 million dollars, or founders who previously worked at Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. In the program, students closely with their managers and a Ladder Coach on real-world projects and present their work to the company.
This program is designed to accommodate your schedule—internships are available throughout the year, and you can also do your work fully remotely. Students can expect to work 10-20 hours per week, for 8-12 weeks. Gap year students are also eligible to participate! Here is the application form.
4. Brooklyn Museum Apprentice Program
Application Deadline: N/A
Duration: 8 months (November – June) or 2 months (July – August)
Learn about art, history, and museum education at one of the city’s finest museums through this apprentice program. You’ll have the opportunity to meet curators, assist with family programs, run tours, and teach camp groups during the summer. First-time apprentices earn $15 an hour, and returning apprentices earn $16 an hour. You can work up to 180 hours per year, and a MetroCard is provided. The program is open to all New York City high school students, ages 14-19.
5. DOROT Summer Teen Internship Program
Application Deadline: N/A
Duration: Three weeks
DOROT is dedicated to alleviating social isolation among the elderly, as research shows that loneliness can have severe mental and physical health consequences. Summer high schooler interns build vital social connections with older adults while developing critical skills like communication and leadership.
Interns should expect to participate in activities including discussion groups, home visits, and arts programs. Intern opportunities are available in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Suffolk County—program details vary slightly depending on location.
6. DOROT Academic Year Teen Internship Program
Application Deadline: N/A
Duration: Academic year
High schoolers in grades 9 through 12 in Upper Manhattan can participate in DOROT’s Academic Teen Internship Program. The program connects teens with older adults in intergenerational activities ranging from home visits to discussion groups to chess.
Participants are expected to commit to one afternoon a week and build valuable skills like communication and leadership. They also receive service hours for their volunteer time.
7. Futures and Options Internship Program
Application Deadline: February 9
Duration: 15 weeks (school year program) & six weeks (summer program)
Any high school student living in one of the five boroughs of New York City can apply for the opportunity to partner with a range of business partners. Pairings will be made based on your skills and interests, but all program participants will receive training in universal skills like communication, resume writing, interviewing, and financial literacy.
After-school interns are expected to work 5-10 hours a week, and summer interns are required to work 20-30 hours a week. To be eligible, you must be 16 or older, and a current 11th- or 12th-grade student living in the city. Participants earn at least $15 an hour while gaining hands-on business experience.
8. Memorial Sloan Kettering Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP)
Application Deadline: February 9
Duration: Eight weeks
Interested in working in biomedical sciences? Memorial Sloan Kettering’s HOPP gives you a taste of what a career in the field is really like. You’ll work with a mentor who will act as a supervisor to help you develop your research skills. Additionally, you’ll have the opportunity to complete an independent research project that aligns with your mentor’s work. Outside of the lab, you’ll be able to participate in activities such as tours, training sessions, and team-building exercises.
To participate, you must be in at least 9th grade and possess a 3.5 GPA in science subjects. This is also a paid opportunity—participants will receive a stipend.
9. NASA’s Center Internships
Application Deadline: Varies
Duration: Varies
NASA offers a variety of internships for high school students across all its campuses, including New York City’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, as well as locations like CUNY New York City College of Technology. Participants must be at least 16 and current sophomores, juniors, or seniors with at least a 3.0 GPA. NASA internships are paid and are available throughout the year.
10. Ladders for Leaders
Application Deadline: January 21
Duration: Six weeks
Ladders for Leaders is administered by the New York Department of Youth & Community Development. The program allows high school and college students between the ages of 16 and 24 to complete paid internships (interns earn a minimum of $16 per hour) with a wide range of organizations, ranging from positions with industry-leading businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies.
Participants must be residents of New York City who are able to legally work in the city and must have prior volunteer or paid work experience. Interns receive pre-employment training and, following the program, are invited to attend post-internship opportunities and networking events.
11. Manhattan District Attorney’s Office High School Internship Program
Application Deadline: March 8
Duration: Five weeks (July 8-August 9)
Program participants learn about the criminal justice system from the inside by engaging in a wide range of workshops and discussions with staff at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. To be eligible, you must live in or attend school in Manhattan and must be a current high school sophomore, junior, or senior at the time of applying. Interns are paid minimum wage for their participation in the program.
12. New-York Historical Society Student Historian Internship Program
Application Deadline: April 7
Duration: Five weeks
If you’re a history buff, this may be the program for you! You’ll have the opportunity to conduct your own research on a topic that is important to you, and in the process, you’ll work with historian mentors, visit history archives around the city, lead gallery tours, and produce your own digital projects.
Applicants must be entering grades 10, 11, or 12, live in and attend school in one of the five boroughs of New York City, and be able to legally work in the city. While this opportunity is unpaid for most participants, some interns with demonstrated financial need will be offered a stipend.
13. The Ranger Conservation Corps Internship
Application Deadline: Registration on a rolling basis year-round
Duration: Eight weeks
This internship is a great opportunity to learn about the natural world and environmental issues. You’ll work with Urban Park Rangers to complete environmental restoration projects across New York City’s most famous parks. You may also have the chance to go on field trips centered around activities like camping and canoeing.
Participants must commit to one day a week (for 2-2.5 hours) for eight weeks in either the fall or spring. The Park Rangers will work with you to make sure your work schedule and location are compatible with your other commitments.
14. Thurgood Marshall Summer Law Internship Program
Application Deadline: January 31
Duration: Six to eight weeks
This program pairs diverse students from New York City’s public schools with employers in the legal field. If you think you may one day be interested in law school, this could be a phenomenal opportunity for you to start learning about what a career in law looks like.
Interns must work between 35 and 40 hours a week. The tasks you complete during your internship will vary, but will likely include administrative responsibilities such as answering phone calls, filing paperwork, and assisting paralegals.
To apply, you must live in one of the five boroughs of New York City, and attend one of the city’s public schools. All interns will be paid at least minimum wage ($15 an hour), but in the past, some have earned up to $21 an hour.
15. Zuckerman Institute Brain Research Apprenticeships in New York at Columbia University (BRAINYAC)
Application Deadline: N/A
Duration: N/A
If this program’s name seems like a mouthful to tell your friends at school, don’t worry—you can call it BRAINYAC for short. Participants have the rare opportunity to work on research in a university lab as high schoolers; as a result, they come away with a stronger understanding of how scientific discovery happens.
To apply, you must be in 10th or 11th grade and must be nominated by one of the program’s partners—S-PREP, Lang Youth Medical, Double Discovery Center, Columbia Secondary School, and BioBus (a list of the individual partner links can be found at the website linked above). Applicants must also live in New York City.
16. NYC Parks Internships
Application Deadline: N/A
Duration: Varies
NYC Parks internships are perfect for those who are passionate about the environment and want to gain experience in the public sector. A variety of different internships are available, and your responsibilities will depend on which one you apply for. You could be coordinating meetings and events as a Benefits Administrative Intern, or you could be tagging fish and turtles as a Habitat Connectivity in Salt Marshes Intern!
17. The Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) at the American Museum of Natural History
Application Deadline: March 8
Duration: One year
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the most iconic and fascinating places in New York City. Its Science Research Mentoring Program is an amazing opportunity for NYC high school students to conduct a year-long research project with Museum scientists.
Students in SRMP get paid to learn how scientific research is conducted. Depending on the project, students will learn a variety of skills, like working with DNA in the lab, analyzing data from space-based telescopes, reading scientific articles, and learning to code and analyze data in Python, R, and other programming languages.
To apply, you must be in the 10th or 11th grade and must be passing your classes for the last three semesters—a full list of criteria is available on the program’s website. Students earn a $2,500 stipend upon completion of the program.
18. Alley Pond Field Biology Internship (FBI)
Application Deadline: June 1
Duration: Six weeks
This program presents a great opportunity for students with an interest in studying sustainability, environmental science, biology, or natural sciences. Students are introduced to STEM skills while gaining first hand fieldwork experience and learning about local ecosystems and life. Participants will leave the program having gained real-world knowledge of research and reporting, built a network of mentors and like-minded peers, and developed soft skills like public speaking, communication, and teamwork.
This is not a paid internship; rather, there is a $150 fee to participate in the program.
19. Wave Hill Forest Project
Application Deadline: February 23
Duration: N/A
Students get an exceptional chance to learn about ecological restoration and urban ecology in this paid summer internship. Participants can expect to get their hands dirty and gain experience in the field assisting with activities like trail maintenance, invasive plant removal, and buttressing eroded slopes.
The program is open to students 16 years of age and older who are residents of New York City and eligible to work. Students are paid $2,275 for their work and leave the program with credit for one college course.
20. New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) Summer Internship Program
Application Deadline: March 8
Duration: Six weeks
This six-week program for New York City high school students seeks to introduce students to careers in architecture, engineering, construction management, information technology, business, and public administration. Participants spend four days a week with their intern host and one day engaged in educational programming like design challenges and panel discussions.
Participants are expected to work 30 hours a week over the six weeks of the program and are compensated at a rate of $16 per hour.
21. NYU Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering (ARISE) program
Application Deadline: March 1
Duration: Seven weeks
While not an internship per se, this paid seven-week program provides current 10th- and 11th-grade New York City high schoolers with the chance to perform research and build their STEM skills. Students also participate in workshops, college advisement, and skill-building sessions. Students earn a $750 stipend for completing the program and additional funds may be available for students with demonstrated financial need.
How Do Internships Affect College Admissions?
Participating in internships can influence your chances at college admission, but this depends on many factors, including the scope of the internship, its prestige, your role and performance, the institution’s connections to or sponsorships by certain colleges, and even how much weight a college places on extracurricular activities in general.
There are four tiers of extracurricular activities that colleges think about when reviewing applicants’ activities. Selective, competitive, and prestigious activities are often found in the top tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 includes things such as being a highly recruited basketball player or an award-winning national science fair competitor. Tier 2 is similar, but is usually reserved for activities that are more common than those in Tier 1. Tiers 3 and 4 are reserved for more common extracurricular achievements, such as holding school leadership positions or being a member of a debate team.
A prestigious, selective program such as the one offered by the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University, for example, may be considered a Tier 1 program by many other colleges’ neuroscience and psychology departments.
Do you want to get a sense of how the internship you participated in might change your admissions chances at your dream college? CollegeVine has created a free chancing calculator to estimate your odds of getting into hundreds of different colleges and universities! It uses a multitude of factors such as your high school grades, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities, while also providing feedback on how you can improve your odds.
Disclaimer: This post includes content sponsored by Lumiere Education.
