Consistently ranked as one of the top, if not the top, universities in the world, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has several of the leading STEM departments for college and graduate-level students. For high school students seeking to attend MIT or another premier institution, getting exposure to the people and resources at the university can be invaluable to their academic and career development as well as their college applications.

High school students who excel in STEM courses and enjoy creative problem solving are often a natural fit for careers in engineering. And though it may seem like there are few opportunities to explore engineering as a high schooler, there are in fact many ways for students to experience what a career in engineering might be like during high school.

By spending time in a medical environment, high schoolers can begin to decide for themselves whether a career in medicine is right for them and, if so, how they would like to be involved in the healthcare apparatus, be it in clinical work, drug discovery and development, or hospital administration.

Many high schoolers aspire to careers in biology as lab researchers, physicians, or naturalists. Nowadays, there are ample opportunities for high school students to explore these career paths well before college and even use their experiences to clarify their college prospects.

Summer programs in engineering are a great way of boosting a high school student’s college applications by demonstrating to colleges that a student is invested in engineering as a field of study and potential career. Additionally, students can explore different concentrations and applications of engineering––such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or software development––through summer engineering programs.

Extracurricular science competitions can be a way for high schoolers to demonstrate exceptional merit and earn prestigious awards in STEM fields on top of their academic success at their schools.

Besides listing a student’s accomplishments, college applications give hopeful candidates the opportunity to tell universities about themselves, to tell a story to admissions officers about their academic journey and scholarly potential. One of the core elements of the college application is a student’s extracurricular involvements.

Of all the extracurricular activities for high school students, participating in research provides perhaps the greatest number of benefits. Through their research, high school students can build up their resumés and portfolios, improve their candidacy on college applications, and discover their passions in a concentrated academic setting.

As a high school student, one of the most valuable activities for your career development and exploration can be an internship. However sometimes, these positions can be hard to come by, especially at the local level.

Whether you’re a senior anxious to submit the perfect application to your dream school or an underclassman looking to get a head start on college application prep, the following tips will be useful to your college application process wherever you are in your high school journey.

One of the best ways to gain experience in the field of computer science as a high school student is to complete a coding internship. In these programs, you can learn from experts in the field, participate in important research and form connections with industry professionals.

Are you interested in learning about computer science internships for high school students? Computer science is an ever-growing field with wide-ranging applications that is also growing increasingly accessible, so that you can make an impact in the field as early as high school!

Having an internship as a high school student can help you prepare for the next stage in your academic or professional career.

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