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Undergraduate Students
Highly Aided Summer Internship & Research Funding
Summer Internship & Research Funding
Student Registration & Financial Services is proud to offer Highly Aided students up to $5,000 to support unpaid and underpaid internships.
Note: that this program is not intended to fund fee-based, short-term summer experiences. This funding is also not intended for summer courses. Students planning to register for summer courses, at Penn or abroad, should complete the 2024 summer financial aid application.
Funding Eligibility
You must be a Highly Aided first-year, sophomore, or junior participating in a 6-12 week summer internship or research opportunity. Opportunities less than 6 weeks will not be considered.
Note: If you are applying for an internship or research opportunity through a Penn department that places you in the role (i.e. Global Research & Internship Program, CURF's PURM program, etc.), please complete that program’s application process. If you are placed in a position, we will work with that department to provide you with funding. You cannot receive funding from SRFS if you have already received $5,000 or more from another Penn summer funding program.
Application Process
- Submit an application using the personal link provided to you via email. The link will be sent in mid-February 2024.
- Submit an offer letter from your employer to the Document Submission Portal and select “Summer Experience." This letter should be on letterhead offering you the position. It must include the dates of your internship and, if it is paid, how much you will be paid per hour, and list how many hours per week you will work.
- Submit a budget template to the Document Submission Portal and select “Summer Experience.” Please complete the budget template by estimating your expenses and any expected earnings over the course of the summer.
Your application will not be considered until all three items are submitted. Once all three items are submitted, your application is ready for review by the Highly Aided Counseling Team.
Employment Offer Letter Sample
Budget Template Sample
Note: Please list amounts for your entire internship; do not list monthly expenses.
Previous Internship and Research Opportunities
- McNeil, Gray, and Rice: Strategic Communications Agency
- Penn Program for Public Service
- NYU Langone Tisch Hospital
- A Book a Day
- Penn LGBT Center
- Penn Libraries
- Penn’s Civic House
- Paragon One
- NASA L’Space Program
- Philadelphia Union Soccer Camp
- JUNTOS
- Scrum Adventures
- Boxi Storage
- Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana
- ThinkGive
- FPW Media
- Maire A. Guerraty Lab, UPenn
- Carenostics
- God’s Appalachian Partnership
- Codepath
- Hopsital of the University of Pennsylvania
- Aera Consulting, LLC
- NETRIGHT Ghana
- The Netter Center, UPenn
- Cereal4Dinner
- MOVE Activist Archive
- The Pink Lemonde Stand
- Morgan Stanly
- Wainaina Ireri Advocates, Nairobi, Kenya
- St. Nick’s Alliance
- Washington State Legislative Youth Advisory Council (LYAC)
- Heritage Foundation Academy
- Make a Play Foundation
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital
- Corder Lab
- GSK
- NASA Langly Research Center
- Ballet for all kids (84)
Student Testimonials
"One particularly meaningful and profound moment during my internship at the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania was when I had the opportunity to observe a live brain surgery. Being in the operating room, watching skilled surgeons work to treat a patient with a brain tumor, was an awe-inspiring experience. It provided me with a firsthand view of the direct impact of medical research and the critical role it plays in improving the lives of patients. This moment solidified my dedication to pursuing a career in research and medicine, as it highlighted the significance of the work we were doing and the potential to make a tangible difference in the lives of those affected by neurological conditions.”
“I worked with PennPraxis under the Design to Thrive team where we spent 6 weeks with West Philly high school students from numerous high schools. During that time we introduced them to a slew of Design careers, inevitably letting them know that their options are not limited. The most memorable experience of the summer was seeing all of the skills they learned throughout the weeks come together to create numerous projects: a zine (my group of students); building models; and benches. They then presented their work to a community charette where Philadelphian community members came out and took my students’ suggestions on what to do for the Powel School site very seriously. I was extremely proud.”
“During this summer I got to have an experience of what being a project manager looks like. I was part of a project management team for half the internship period and then I switched to a consulting role. I learned how much I enjoyed being on a team delivering solutions to clients while managing the internal firm resources. Now I am convinced I am pursuing a career in a project management role.”
“I know for sure that in my future as a physician, I want to give back to Hispanic communities across the United States. I think my long-term goal would be to open up a clinic similar to Puentes de Salud in Houston. There's a lot of free clinics in Houston, but Puentes de Salud is special because it doesn't just include the medical aspect in its clinic, but educational, artistic expression, legal aid, and dentistry. It builds a community in itself and if I could replicate something similar in parts of my hometown that is needed, I would love to do it.”
“My summer internship at the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania had a profound impact on the way I think about my future studies and career pathway. It allowed me to see the real-world applications of research in the field of brain tumor research and the importance of collaborative efforts in building a consortium of data. This experience has strengthened my passion for scientific research and has motivated me to pursue a career in a similar field, with a focus on contributing to collaborative efforts that can make a meaningful impact on healthcare and medicine.”
“One particularly memorable experience I had was getting complimented on a contribution I made towards the research in regards to finding a particularly noteworthy online database/dataset with pictures and documents of electronic health scans, which was essential to the research project, and which was difficult to find at the time even when looking through other studies. Receiving positive feedback from my employer at the end of the internship made me feel much more secure in my chosen career pathway.”
“A particularly memorable experience I had during my research this summer was when I had my first team meeting and it was predominantly people of color. This was so crucial for me as a black young women in STEM to see a wide range of representation.”
“A memorable experience I had this summer was working doing liver regeneration surgery on mice. The researcher I was collaborating with patiently taught me her technique and let me practiced doing the surgery myself. She also taught me to think about why we perform each step of an experiment which show me how my studies had real world applications.”
