12 Internships for High School Students in Los Angeles, California

If you are a high school student hoping to gain early work experience, internships can help you explore different career paths before college. Through structured placements, you can learn about workplace expectations, develop practical skills, and build confidence in professional settings. Internships also allow you to connect with mentors and better understand how different industries operate on a day-to-day basis.

Why should you intern in Los Angeles, California?

Los Angeles offers a wide range of internships across healthcare, research, arts, technology, and public service organizations, hosted by universities and non-profit organizations. In these roles, you might assist with biomedical research, support hospital staff, contribute to museum programming, analyze data, or collaborate with startup teams on ongoing projects. Whether you are a local student or considering programs in the area, these internships provide structured ways to gain exposure to professional environments in one of the country’s largest cities.

To make your search easier, we have made a list of 12 internships for high school students in Los Angeles, California.

If you’re looking for summer programs in Los Angeles, check out our blog here.

1. UCLA BrainSport Summer High School Research Internship

Location: UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: June – end of August
Application Deadline: April 1
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors intending to mentor interns in the next year

The UCLA BrainSport Summer High School Research Internship offers high school students the chance to learn from a diverse team of clinicians, researchers, and scientists. You will attend weekly lab meetings with the BrainSport team, learn about Traumatic Brain Injury, and gain insights into daily operations conducted in clinical research. The internship allows you to conduct study protocols, recruit patients, and enter research data while working directly with the BrainSport Study staff.

2. Ladder Internship Program

Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Cost: Varies depending on program type; full financial aid available
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November)
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students!

Ladder Internships is a selective start-up internship program for ambitious high school students, where you work with a high-growth start-up on an internship. Start-ups that offer internships span a variety of industries, from tech/deep tech to AI/ML, health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. Interns work closely with their manager at the startup on real-world projects and present their work to the company. The virtual internship is usually 8 weeks long.

3. MOCA Teen Internship Program

Location: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
Stipend: Paid
Dates: Year-long internship
Application Deadline: Not specified. Applications open in April.
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors

The MOCA Teen Program is a paid, year‑long position for high school juniors and seniors at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Participants work with museum professionals and local artists on collaborative projects and help plan events like Teen Night, gaining insight into how a contemporary art museum operates. The program meets regularly on weekday evenings and sometimes on weekends, providing teens with ongoing opportunities to engage in exhibitions, creative work, and peer collaboration. Throughout the year, students build experience in project planning, teamwork, and arts‑related professional skills while engaging with contemporary art and the museum environment. 

4. The Intern Project (TIP) Summer Program

Location: Los Angeles County, CA
Stipend: Paid
Dates: June–August (8 weeks)
Application Deadline: March 15
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10–12 attending public schools in Los Angeles County, including DACA/undocumented and foster youth candidates

The Intern Project places Los Angeles high school students in paid summer internships with companies, nonprofits, and other organizations to gain workplace experience and explore career fields such as media, engineering, business, and healthcare. Participants complete internships for at least four weeks while also attending virtual skill workshops and professional development sessions. The program includes career-readiness training, informational interviews, and mentor and coach support to help students develop workplace skills and navigate professional environments.

5. Samuels Family LA‑HIP High School Internship Program

Location: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Los Angeles, CA
Stipend: Paid
Dates: Mid‑June – early August
Application Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Current high school juniors in Los Angeles County who are eligible to work in California

The Samuels Family LA‑HIP High School Internship Program places high school juniors into hands‑on biomedical research work at CHLA’s Saban Research Institute. Over the seven‑week summer lab internship, students conduct research under the guidance of professional scientists, learn laboratory techniques, and contribute to active biomedical investigations. In addition to laboratory research, the program includes college‑level biology instruction, SAT preparation, and workshops on college and financial aid planning that continue through the senior year. The experience concludes with students presenting their work at an Annual Science Symposium. 

6. UCLA Health Volunteer Summer Program

Location: Multiple locations in Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Dates: June – August; exact dates vary
Application Deadline: Rolling basis; limited slots available
Eligibility: High school students (minimum age: 16 years)

The UCLA Health Volunteer Summer Program is a free, in-person program for high school students. It will provide you with the opportunity to work in different areas, including patient transports, wayfinding, and floater. You will be responsible for discharging patients, assisting with transfers, and supporting the patient transfer staff. While volunteering as a wayfinder, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate soft skills such as strong communication, friendliness, and proactivity. You will be responsible for delivering patient mail and newspapers, and you will conclude your volunteering after completing a minimum of 50 hours.

7. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: High School Summer Volunteer Program

Location: Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Dates: June 16 –  August 1
Application Deadline: February 10
Eligibility: High school students aged 15-17

Children's Hospital Los Angeles offers a free in-person High School Summer Volunteer program for high school students. This opportunity lets you gain hands-on experience by working directly with patients and supporting them, as well as families and hospital staff. Responsibilities include escorting patients to appointments, welcoming them, providing administrative assistance, and giving patients developmentally appropriate items. You will have limited contact with inpatients but will acquire practical experience in a hospital environment.

8. CAMP CHLA - Health Care Career Exploration

Location: Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Dates: Session 1: June 16 – June 20 | Session 2: July 28 – August 1
Application Deadline: January 10
Eligibility: Current high school freshmen, sophomores, or juniors living in Los Angeles County

CAMP CHLA - Health Care Career Exploration is a free, five-day program for high school students that offers an opportunity to explore healthcare careers. Participants will hear personal career stories from healthcare professionals through presentations and gain skills in disease and injury prevention and health promotion. While the program is more of a career exploration program rather than a traditional internship, it’s included here because it offers structured, hands-on exposure to healthcare careers.

9. USC Dornsife’s Young Researchers Program

Location: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Dates: June 16 – July 25
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: High school rising senior students in the Los Angeles, Lynwood, Compton, or Inglewood Unified School Districts

The USC Dornsife Young Researchers Program (YRP) is a fully funded six-week summer immersion designed exclusively for high-achieving high school students from local school districts. The program's core goal is to provide intensive, hands-on scientific research experience under the guidance of top-tier faculty and graduate mentors from USC Dornsife. As a participant, you'll be integrated into a USC Dornsife research lab to work on an objective, independent scientific investigation in fields like biology, chemistry, or physics. The program structure includes weekly research seminars, professional development workshops focused on college applications and STEM careers, and field trips.

10. NASA OSTEM Internships

Location: Virtual / NASA centers across the country
Cost/Stipend: Free; Some internships provided a stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Varies on placement
Dates: Summer: early June – August | Fall: early September to mid-December | Spring: mid-January – May
Application Deadline: Summer: February 27 | Fall: May 22
Eligibility: High school students must be U.S. citizens ( minimum age:16) and have a 3.0/4.0 GPA

NASA's OSTEM internships provide opportunities across space exploration and technology. Participants collaborate with NASA scientists and engineers to address real-world challenges in aerospace engineering, planetary science, data science, and systems design. Current opportunities encompass fields such as conservation, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for air traffic management data, atmospheric science, social media marketing, deep learning, and polarimetry, among others.

11. Summer Research Internship – Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging (AIMI)

Location: Virtual
Cost: $850+ $40 Application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 25 students
Dates: June 16 – June 27
Application Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: 9th-12th grade high school students, minimum age 14+, must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents; preference given to students with strong mathematical/programming skills or a healthcare project experience

The Summer Research Internship by Stanford Center for AIMI is a two-week virtual program for high school students interested in the role of AI in medicine. You will attend technical and introductory lectures on AI in healthcare, be mentored by Stanford student researchers and leaders, and participate in group hands-on activities. You will have the chance to engage in various social activities and learn from guest speakers from industry, non-profits, academia, and government. Those who do well will also be eligible for an extended independent research internship opportunity. 

12. Stanford Program for Inspiring the Next Generation of Women in Physics (SPINWIP)

Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Dates: July 7 – 25
Application Deadline: May 1
Eligibility: 9th-11th-grade high school students; students from under-resourced backgrounds are encouraged to apply

The Stanford Program for Inspiring the Next Generation of Women in Physics (SPINWIP) is a free, three-week virtual program for high school students. The program will allow you to learn about the latest research in physics, including fields like quantum computing, astrophysics, quantum physics, and cosmology. You will enhance your Python coding skills and apply them to physics-based projects. You will also collaborate in small groups led by Stanford undergraduates, take part in career development workshops, and attend lectures by Stanford professors and researchers.

If you’re looking to build a project/research paper in the field of AI & ML, consider applying to Veritas AI! 

With Veritas AI, which was founded by Harvard graduate students, you can work 1-on-1 with mentors from universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and more to create unique, personalized projects. In the past year, we had over 1000 students learn AI & ML with us. Check out a past student’s experience in the program here. You can apply here!