The University of Utah HS summer research internship asks interns to meet an expectation of professionalism that goes beyond the research itself and mirrors an entry-level employee: answering emails promptly, respecting due dates, and taking independent ownership of the tasks they are assigned.
If you are a rising senior in the Salt Lake City area considering a first lab role, that expectation is a useful lens. The rigorous research program tailored to ambitious Utah high school students is a structured, eight-week introduction to academic research. Faculty mentorship enhances students’ research skills and academic growth.
This guide covers who can apply, how the application works, what the program costs and the trade-offs to weigh.
The Summer Research Internship at the Price College of Engineering is an eight-week program built to show high school students how research is actually conducted in a university lab. It is run by the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering, so the program focuses on multiple disciplines in engineering and computer science. It is separate from research programs based at the university’s medical campus, such as those at the School of Medicine or the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Students are placed in a faculty-led lab and work on an assigned independent research project, meeting weekly with the broader intern cohort. The summer ends with a symposium presentation.
Each intern is placed in a laboratory setting through a matching system, and the lab’s principal investigator assigns the research project and independent research paper. Interns work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, for roughly 30 hours a week alongside industry professionals.
Outside the lab, interns meet weekly as multiple cohorts to discuss university life and gain insight into academic research. They also team up with interns from other labs on a shared project, which gives the summer a common thread beyond any single lab.
The final symposium is the culminating event. Past poster topics shown on the official page include deep reinforcement learning, modeling biparietal fractures and synthesis of polymers. Students interested in potential career paths on the computing side can compare this internship with other computer science research programs to see how lab-based experiences differ across schools.
Only rising seniors are eligible. The program restricts the pool to rising seniors because applications are competitive, and it automatically removes any submitted by younger students.
There is no formal educational requirement, though some labs expect applicants to arrive with a working grounding in math and basic technical skills.
The program does not publicly disclose an acceptance rate. It describes itself as competitive and notes that spots may be scarce, which is worth taking seriously when you plan.
The application has several parts, and the teacher recommendation runs on its own deadline separate from the student application. Ask your teacher early, since that part is outside your control.
At the time of writing, the official page showed registration as closed and did not post a University of Utah HS summer research internship deadline. Based on previous years, the application window has historically opened around mid-February, but confirm the current dates with the program before you plan. Because the teacher recommendation has its own deadline, treat the two dates as separate items on your calendar, and contact the program’s outreach coordinator if the page still shows registration as closed.
The internship charges no participation fee, and interns are not paid for their time. That makes the internship free in tuition terms but not free in practice. For a local family, the expense does include commuting five days a week for eight weeks.
Indirect costs are the ones to plan for. The program offers financial aid in the form of UTA transit access on request, and students who drive cover their own parking. Students from outside the area also need housing: the university does not provide it, and while the program’s page mentions the University Guest House, it notes that students staying there are not supervised.
The standard is closer to a first job than a class. Interns are held to the norms of a workplace, so reliability matters as much as curiosity.
Attendance is flexible within limits. Interns may miss up to one week with faculty approval, and any additional absences must be made up. Interns must attend the opening orientation, the final presentation of the poster project that closes the summer, and a share of the cohort meetings, so vacations should be planned around those dates.
Because the program does not spell out selection criteria beyond its application parts, the best preparation is to make each part clear and complete.
For a local rising senior interested in career exploration in engineering, this competitive program is a no-cost way to spend a summer gaining hands on experience inside a university lab alongside stem professionals. The value of this high school summer research internship lies in the research topics students explore, the broad range of skills students practice, the professional development opportunities they experience and the clarity they gain about which academic areas hold their interest, not in any admissions advantage.
The trade-offs are real. The high school summer research internship is unpaid, it offers no housing or classroom instruction, and projects are assigned rather than self-designed. That is how many strong lab internships work, and it suits students who want to engage in hands on learning with an established research group.
It is an especially practical choice for students who already live near campus, because it removes two of the largest barriers to summer research in engineering fields: tuition and travel. It fits best for students who are eager to contribute to a lab’s existing work.
Programs like this high school summer research internship belong to the university-driven category covered in our guide to summer research opportunities, which explains how to weigh oversight and student agency across options.
Students outside Salt Lake City, or those who cannot attend an on-campus Utah science program, may also want to explore online research programs for high school students. Programs with a comparable structure include the following:
No. Only rising seniors can apply, and the program automatically removes applications from younger students.
No. The internship is free to participate in, but interns are not compensated. Families should plan for indirect costs, such as parking or transit and housing for students who live outside the area.
No. The program assigns interns to labs and faculty mentors according to the interests they describe in their application. You do not need to contact a faculty member first, and the lab assigns the research project once you are placed.
No. The university does not house interns. The program’s page mentions the University Guest House as an option but notes that students staying there are not supervised, so out-of-area families should confirm housing and supervision arrangements before applying.
Interns work about 30 hours a week, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Some flexibility is possible depending on the lab, with faculty approval.
The University of Utah HS summer research internship is a well-defined opportunity for a specific student: a rising senior who wants to see a university engineering lab up close and can manage the practical costs. It rewards students who approach it as professional work rather than a resume line.
The strongest summer research program experiences, at Utah or elsewhere, are the ones that match a student’s interests to real work, state their trade-offs plainly, and leave the student clearer about what to study next. If you are still comparing options, our overview of college-based research programs for high school students and the best summer STEM programs can help you choose with intention.
If you’re interested in conducting the highest level of research for high school students, consider joining a Pioneer information session to learn more about the Pioneer Research Institute.
Based on a recent survey, 71 percent of Pioneer Research scholars’ acceptances were to the top 20 US colleges and universities. Additionally, our alumni report acceptances to highly-selective institutions at a rate five times higher than the school’s published acceptance rate.
If you are a 9th or 10th grader, we encourage you to also check out the Global Problem-Solving Institute. You’ll have the rare opportunity to take an interdisciplinary approach to complex global problems, while earning college credits from UNC-Chapel Hill.
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