About

The Science Internship Program (SIP) at UC Santa Cruz is one of the most prestigious California research-mentorship programs available to high school students. Founded in 2009, it pairs students directly with UCSC faculty and researchers for eight weeks to work on real-world, ongoing research projects. SIP is not free — tuition is about $5,000, though financial aid is available — but its structure places it closer to university-level research than all but a handful of high school summer experiences.

SIP does not release application details except to note that “a few thousand” students apply, but its overall acceptance rate is likely somewhere between 10-20% with some specific labs dipping to 5%. Applicants can indicate interest in specific fields and projects; SIP is open to both US and international students outside the Bay Area provided they have a local guardian or sign up for residential on-campus housing, although the applicant base skews heavily toward California and the West Coast. After students are admitted to the program, individual faculty mentors review applications and select interns for their projects, creating a second—oftentimes much more selective—application layer.

Over the eight weeks, SIP students are placed in UCSC labs spanning astrophysics, bioinformatics, marine biology, computer science, genomics, and more. Although projects focus heavily on STEM, research projects in the social sciences are occasionally featured. After a week of online introductory learning, each student works under the guidance of a UCSC faculty member, graduate student, or postdoc, contributing to ongoing research. Students learn lab protocols, data analysis, and scientific communication, culminating in a research paper and conference-style presentation. The program is residential, with students housed on the UCSC campus, and it fosters a cohort experience through seminars and peer collaboration.

Under the leadership of founder and UCSC professor Raja GuhaThakurta, SIP’s reputation has quickly grown into one of the premier high school research programs. Alumni have co-authored peer-reviewed papers, presented at professional conferences, and submitted work to competitions like Regeneron STS, ISEF, and other science fairs. Students have also been known to return for a second summer of research at SIP, further strengthening their profile. SIP’s reputation for serious research exposure and high applicant standards both contribute to the respect it receives from admissions offices, and the program is an exceptional way for a high-schooler to demonstrate a high level of STEM proficiency in a specific field.