Frequently Asked Questions for SIP Applicants (and Parents)

Projects are designed by the mentors based on their own research interests, and they are quite different from any lab a high school student will do in a science class. Things may go wrong, the project may go down a new route, and the SIP intern’s result may end up disproving the initial hypothesis. But no matter what happens, the intern can be assured that they will wind up knowing something that no one knew before!

Please do NOT contact mentors! Attempts to circumvent the selection procedure (e.g., by lobbying prospective mentors, submitting material beyond what is requested by the application, etc.) may disqualify the applicant. The materials that are submitted as part of the application allow the SIP Selection Committee to make an objective match between interns and mentors. With a few thousand applicants to our program, things would quickly spin out of control if applicants were to email prospective mentors directly.

Students should apply to SIP if they are excited about academic research. They should apply if they’ve enjoyed their classes and want a chance to go deeper, if they’re thinking about one day being a researcher, or even if they have no idea what research is all about and want to give it a shot!

Students should not apply to SIP if they can’t commit to an entire summer of full time work. For example, if they are already taking a full load of summer courses, they most likely will not have enough time or energy to also participate in the internship.

Students should not apply to SIP if they can’t commit to an entire summer of full time work. For example, if they are already taking a full load of summer courses, they most likely will not have enough time or energy to also participate in the internship.

Interns will spend the summer fully immersed in real research. 

Depending on the project, they may learn to:

• Read professional journal articles or other primary sources
• Write code for scientific computing
• Gain practical experience and skills in a lab
• Present academic concepts orally and in writing 

Interns will develop a relationship with a real researcher (their mentor), and they will learn to collaborate with other researchers towards a common goal. The program culminates in a symposium at UCSC where interns present their research to their peers, their mentors, and their families.

Communication

• Interns are expected to communicate regularly with their mentor. If they are going to miss a meeting, experience a delay, or are unsure about anything, they should inform their mentor promptly.
• Interns must check their email daily. It is the primary method of communication used by SIP staff and mentors to share important updates.

Demeanor

• Interns will be working in a professional environment with many different people. Interns should make sure to follow procedures about locking up and safety, moderating their voices inside, and keeping their space clean and trash-free.

Yes, students who live outside the Bay Area are eligible for SIP, but it is necessary for them to have/avail of one or more of the following options:

• Opt for the special seven-day (weekday & weekend) campus housing option that is offered as an option to out-of-area students.

• Have a local guardian who they can stay with if they wish to participate in the program in-person at UCSC. General campus weekday housing is offered as an option to all (Bay Area and out-of-area) students and is available for all seven weeks of the program from Sunday through Thursday nights.

We are concurrently hiring our Mentors, and will update the website after the Intern application deadline. This year, we are encouraging students to select interested subject areas as opposed to focusing on a specific research project. In the meantime, please refer to our Past Research Projects for an idea of what each subject area and research project may entail.

As of December 2025, the UCSC campus has not issued any travel restriction or warning for International applicants applying to SIP, or intending to travel internationally in order to attend SIP in the summer of 2026. Please note that in all cases, applicants and their families should have a conversation about the potential risk of travel to the United States prior to accepting an offer of attendance from SIP.

Applicants  are eligible to attend SIP 2026 if they meet any of the following criteria:

• U.S. Citizen, Green Card Holder, or Resident of the U.S.
• Canadian Citizen
• Active F-1 or J-1 visa to study in the U.S., sponsored by their school
• Citizen or National of a Visa Waiver Program/ESTA designated country (see HERE), participating in SIP as incidental to their primary purpose (visiting or visiting family), or recreational in nature. When possible, a family member or designated adult should accompany this individual during their travel.
• B1, B2, or B1/B/2 visa holders, participating in SIP as incidental to their primary purpose (visiting or visiting family), or recreational in nature. When possible, a family member or designated adult should accompany this individual during their travel.

Special considerations for admission in 2026 include:

• Remote Interns who successfully completed SIP 2025, and are still eligible to return this year using any of the above methods, likely as incidental to their primary purpose of travel.

Prospective Interns are not eligible to apply in 2026 if their country appears in the 2025 U.S. Travel Restrictions list (see HERE and additional information HERE), subject to change.

Sometimes schools and the computers they lend to students can block certain web addresses. Please try a different device, and clearing your browsing history, cache, and cookies.

Additionally, try to open the application on a different browser (other than Chrome), or a private browser.

If the issue persists, please know that some countries have sanctions that will require you to use a VPN to bypass the security block and access our platform. Please try accessing our application from a VPN, and walk through all troubleshooting steps again.

Unfortunately, SIP is not in a position to provide travel assistance to Interns this year. We encourage you to consider any fundraising opportunities within your community that may support these travel costs. We have seen various fundraising campaigns, bake sales, and sponsored events such as runs, rides, etc. be successful in raising funds. Your school may also be able to offer some ideas and guidance.

SIP does not require applicants to provide TOEFL scores. Applicants must be fluent in English in order to communicate clearly within and beyond their research setting.

You must include one Reference who is a Teacher, Counselor, Coach, or Mentor; your Reference will complete an Academic Reference Request Form as part of your application. Only one reference will be considered. Your application will be considered incomplete if your reference is not on file by March 6, 2026 at 12:00pm PST.

Speak to your Reference early in your application process, and share this link directly with them. Late request submissions will not be accepted. If your reference is no longer able to provide a recommendation on your behalf, you may change who completes your reference.

What to provide to your Reference:

• Academic Reference Request Form
• Student ID # provided to you in the creation of your application account (Starts with “J” followed by six numbers: ex. J123456)

• Your first and last name as it appears on your transcript/school records

Without this information, there is a chance your Reference may not be matched to your application.

There are no general coursework requirements for SIP. Some programming experience may be helpful for computational projects and the SIP admissions committee does look for strong grades in the high school courses that the student has taken. Some research projects may require specific courses if specified in the project description.

SIP mentors are researchers who are affiliated with UCSC. Most are graduate students or post-doctoral scholars. Some are faculty members. The mentors are, without exception, world-class researchers who are being paid by their institutions to work full time and carry out first-rate research. They participate in SIP because they are excited to introduce high school students to the research experience! They have kindly chosen to offer their time and effort to train high school students and include them in their own research.

The research projects offered in the SIP program vary from year to year based on which mentors decide to participate in the program, and what research they are working on at that time.

On the application form, students will be able to select areas of interest and skills they would like to hone. The SIP program takes these requests into account, along with many other criteria and makes the final selection of research project for each intern.

In past years, SIP interns have submitted papers to the Siemens Competition (which no longer exists), Sigma Xi Student Research Conference, Regeneron (formerly Intel) Science Talent Search, and/or other science competitions after completing their research during the summer. SIP interns should check the competition guidelines to determine whether the subject area of their research, the format of their SIP project, their high school grade level, etc. make them eligible for any of these competitions.

*SIP interns will need to obtain approval from their research mentors before making plans to submit papers to any high school competitions.

The program is 8 weeks long (1 week of online research preparation work, followed by 7 weeks of in-person active research). However, due to the independent nature of the program, interns and mentors do have the flexibility to work together to create their schedules and work around any other time commitments.

SIP Interns work directly with mentors in labs and departments around campus. Interns and mentors plan meeting times/locations and specific tasks together. Although there may be an intern workshop occasionally, the majority of the time is spent with the specific lab/research group. Interns therefore have to be mature enough to organize their schedules, meet deadlines, and use their time wisely. They must also be comfortable communicating with adults and checking emails regularly. Consider whether the independent and flexible nature of the program would be a good fit for you.

SIP does not offer any academic credit. Most interns feel that the program is valuable for their college applications because it provides real-world research experience.

For more information on the fees and payment schedule, please visit Applying to SIP. The program offers full and partial need-based scholarships to qualified students, and encourages all students to apply even if they are worried that they might not be able to afford it. For more information, please contact SIP staff at ucsc-sip@ucsc.edu.

We get many excellent applications each year — many, many more than the number of openings. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept every qualified applicant, but we encourage you to apply again the following year if eligible.

There is no way for us to predict who will submit a “winning” project to any competition. While many SIP interns have enjoyed success in these competitions over the years, success depends far more on the intern’s writing skills than any detail of the project. In fact, several past SIP interns have placed in these competitions without having any concrete results at all. We would like to caution interns and parents against prioritizing these competitions at the expense of the intern being fully immersed in the research experience.