Stanford Unpaid Internships

anon32910704
Sat, 30 Apr 2016 18:58:30 +0000

Haven’t emailed any professors at Stanford specifically, but I’d say it depends on how high-demand the subject is. I wouldn’t /just/ email Stanford professors, though–look at some other universities in the area because it’s already pretty late & people start emailing professors in January (it’s still possible to get positions, but it’s definitely easier at not-Stanford at this point). I emailed nine professors and two got back to me with positions. However, depending on the subject, it can be much, much harder–I know people who emailed over fifty and got only one response. Mine is one not many high school students are interested in.

Things that help:
Prior research experience & programming experience. Play these up a lot in your emails. One of the professors who got back to me knew the professor whose lab I had worked in the previous summer. It relied heavily on the programming skills that I have (R, for example, is a huge huge help in data analysis).
Interest in the subject. Another professor offered me a position because of where I live, because I talked about how it made me interested in his research.