Johns Hopkins University
An intensive summer research internship at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, for high school juniors and seniors. Students are paired with an APL staff mentor and work on real projects in a professional STEM environment, developing technical and interpersonal skills rather than being assessed purely on academic record. The internship is unpaid and requires students to be on site 30 to 40 hours a week for the full summer, with mandatory in-person onboarding before the placement can begin and a capstone event at the end. Admission is highly competitive - the acceptance rate for new students is under 10 percent - and applications require an essay plus a recommendation from a science, technology, mathematics or engineering teacher. Applicants are notified of their status by May 15.