The "pay to play" label is mostly applied to university summer school type programs.

You can apply for scholarship for most of selective summer programs that are not free. So that you may attend it for free, sometimes even a travel grant.

These summer programs just love to recruit first gen low income or urm kids. The majority of the attendees in these summer programs are given aid. Absolutely absolutely don't limit yourself to free programs only.

AEOP and SEAP

Governor's Schools....Virginia has so many to chose from. Yes, they are competitive to get into, but if you do it is such a wonderful experience and will open up many doors for your kid having it on their resume.

Anonymous wrote:Governors schools

+1. Excellent and free!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government labs pay the interns. It is competitive to get a HS internship at one.

How do you find these?

Haven't a lot of these been canceled because of funding cuts?

The only kids I know who were able to get lab internships have parents who work there.

And the colleges know that too. It's not hard to look up the parents' Linkedin and put 2 and 2 together. I have a friend who is dept head at a top hospital, who got her son an internship as her assistant. Rejected by all Ivies/reach school. Son's a great kid too. I wonder if the internship hurt his app.

I also know a girl whose dad is C suite at a hospital in New York where she did internships for 4 years and she is at Stanford. It might be something else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government labs pay the interns. It is competitive to get a HS internship at one.

How do you find these?

USAjobs.gov but one needs to check regularly. For a HS student, likely it will be a GS-3 Engineering Aide or similar position.

Different labs will post their summer jobs on different weeks. Often the jobs are only posted for 7-14 days, which is still long enough to get a flood of applicants.

Most of these are only open to US Citizens. Permanent Residents (green card) usually are not eligible. Be sure to list one's citizenship somewhere on the resume.

Governors schools

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government labs pay the interns. It is competitive to get a HS internship at one.

How do you find these?

Haven't a lot of these been canceled because of funding cuts?

The only kids I know who were able to get lab internships have parents who work there.

And the colleges know that too. It's not hard to look up the parents' Linkedin and put 2 and 2 together. I have a friend who is dept head at a top hospital, who got her son an internship as her assistant. Rejected by all Ivies/reach school. Son's a great kid too. I wonder if the internship hurt his app.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government labs pay the interns. It is competitive to get a HS internship at one.

How do you find these?

Haven't a lot of these been canceled because of funding cuts?

The only kids I know who were able to get lab internships have parents who work there.

Anonymous wrote:Government labs pay the interns. It is competitive to get a HS internship at one.

How do you find these?

Ole Miss’s Rebel Research Scholars. Grant-funded 1-month program in various research centers/labs. Even travel grants if you need.

If you are a minority and/or woman, there are a lot more of them available.

Government labs pay the interns. It is competitive to get a HS internship at one.

What are some competitive free options for summer programs for a rising junior?