Ladder Internships: A Comprehensive Review for Aspiring High School Interns

For high school students, balancing academics and extracurricular activities is often the primary focus. However, exploring internship opportunities can provide invaluable real-world experience and practical skills that extend beyond the classroom. Ladder Internships offers a structured program connecting high school students with startups for virtual, project-based internships. This article delves into a comprehensive review of Ladder Internships, exploring its programs, eligibility, application process, benefits, drawbacks, and testimonials to help you determine if it's the right fit for you.

Why Pursue Internships in High School?

There are several compelling reasons to consider an internship during your high school years:

Exposure to Applied Learning: Internships bridge the gap between classroom concepts and real-world applications. You'll encounter challenges that require critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication.
Building a Professional Network: Internships connect you with mentors, supervisors, and peers who possess industry experience. These interactions can provide valuable insights into different career paths and potentially lead to strong letters of recommendation in the future.
Demonstrating Initiative on College Applications: Participating in an internship showcases your motivation to explore your interests beyond the confines of the classroom. It highlights your willingness to take initiative and gain practical experience.

What are Ladder Internships?

Ladder Internships is a virtual program designed to connect high school students with fast-growing startups for project-based, remote internships. Participants collaborate on meaningful assignments and present their outcomes at the end of the program. The program is open to high school students, college undergraduates, and students taking a gap year. All internships for high school students are conducted virtually, offering accessibility and flexibility.

Ladder Internships Programs

Ladder Internships offers multiple programs tailored to different learning goals:

Startup Internship Program:

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- Duration: 8 weeks
- Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
- Eligibility: High school students
- Description: This program involves working on a project with a startup company, attending eight sessions with the host company, and contributing to tasks that contribute to the startup.
CEO Internship Program:
- Duration: 8 weeks
- Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
- Eligibility: High school students
- Description: This program entails working directly with a startup founder or CEO, often with backgrounds from well-known companies or top universities, with eight sessions with the host company.
University Internship Program:
- Duration: 8 weeks
- Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
- Eligibility: Undergraduate students and students taking a gap year
- Description: This program allows students to contribute to a startup project related to their interests, with a weekly time commitment of 5-10 hours.
Combination Program: CEO Internship and Mentored Research:
- Duration: 23 weeks (8 weeks internship + 15 weeks research)
- Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
- Eligibility: High school students
- Description: This program combines the 8-week CEO Internship with a 15-week mentored research project.

How Ladder Internships are Structured

The internship is structured to provide a guided and supportive learning experience:

Company Matching + Project Assignment: At the start of the program, you’ll be matched with a company based on the interests you’ve outlined in your application. Ladder collaborates with startups and nonprofits to create specific, short-term projects that interns can work on over the course of the program. Ladder suggests company projects based on an applicant’s interests and notes from their interview. Details of the best fit projects are shared with students who have the final say in whether they wish to move ahead with the suggested match.
Weekly Structure with Meetings: During the 8-week internship, you’ll meet once a week for 45 minutes with your internship manager. In your first meetings, you’ll define your project goals and set clear deliverables. These meetings are used to discuss your progress, refine your work, and stay on track with your timeline.
Feedback and Final Presentation: You’ll begin by outlining your project. By the fourth week, you’re expected to have the first version of your deliverable ready for review. Ladder’s company mentors have previously worked at companies such as Google and have been funded by Y Combinator.

Throughout the 8-week internship, you will have a mandatory 45-minute meeting with your intern manager weekly. Here, you will start by defining your project and deliverables. You will also discuss weekly deadlines and progress goals! At the end of the 8-weeks, you will have a complete project to present to the company, and the cohort of interns you graduate with!

You will start by defining your project and deliverables before sharing this with your company coach who will give you feedback on your work. At the Week 4 mark, you can show your first deliverable to the company, and at Week 8, you will present your final project to the company! Here’s a week-by-week summary of your project timeline. You can get this information on the brochure as well!

The Application Process

The application process for Ladder Internships involves several steps:

Written Application: The process begins with a written form where you’ll be asked to describe your interests and goals. The form asks questions such as what industries the student is most curious about, why they want to explore those areas, and how they would contribute to an internship setting.
Interview: If your application is shortlisted, the next step is an interview. The conversation provides an opportunity to expand on written answers, discuss skills, and clarify objectives.
Decision and Matching: Based on your performance in both the written application and interview, a decision is made. After confirming your participation, you’ll be matched with a startup based on the interests you outlined earlier. You’ll receive details about the company and the project you’ll be working on.

Eligibility and Program Dates

Ladder Internships is open to high school students, undergraduates, and students taking a gap year. To participate, you should be able to commit 10-20 hours per week for 8-12 weeks, depending on the track. Because all placements are remote, you can join from anywhere.

Ladder runs multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Fall, Winter, Spring, and two Summer sessions. The Startup Internship Program, their core offering, runs for 8 weeks. The CEO Internship Program also runs for 8 weeks and provides guidance from a founder or CEO. For students who want a longer, more intensive experience, the Internship plus Mentored Research track spans 16 weeks. This combines the 8-week CEO internship with an 8-week academic research project.

Deadlines are typically a few weeks before the cohort start date, with deadlines for the 2 summer cohorts typically on April 6 and June 22.

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What Companies Can You Work With?

Ladder’s startups cover areas such as AI, healthcare, education, media, and sustainability. Ladder claims that students work with companies led by founders who have experience at major companies, like Amazon, or top universities, such as the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Past intern projects include creating content to boost Vietcetera’s online presence and using AI to improve menu ordering for Billion Dollar Startup Ideas. As a Ladder intern, you can work with companies in these fields - finance, health tech, environmental science, engineering, fashion, tech/deep tech, non-profits, consulting, mental health, machine learning/AI, and media/journalism!

What Projects Can You Expect to Work On?

The project(s) you work on as an intern vary from subject to subject, and company to company. However, here is a list of 4-5 projects that you can expect to work on, depending on the company you are matched with. You should note that this list is not exhaustive, but an indicator of the type of projects you can delve into.

Pros and Cons of Ladder Internships

Like any program, Ladder Internships has its advantages and disadvantages.

Pros:

Structured Mentorship: Students are mentored by a manager or founder who has worked at a successful company, such as a FAANG organization, or graduated from a Top 20 college. The program is structured with clear deliverables and regular feedback, making it worth considering for high schoolers who want an introduction to the professional world. Mentors and other staff members are incredibly helpful and friendly, always there to make sure I don't feel lost. The onboarding process helped me to become familiar with the objectives of my internship program, so I felt confident about what I was going to do.
Remote Internship: The program is fully remote, so you do not need to travel or arrange housing. You can schedule your work around school and other commitments.
Project-Based Learning: Each internship requires you to deliver a project that contributes to the company or nonprofit. This gives you experience applying your skills to professional work and something tangible to include on your resume or in college applications. You can complete an internship from anywhere: The program is fully remote, so you do not need to travel or arrange housing. You can schedule your work around school and other commitments.
Financial Aid: Ladder offers need-based financial aid, and some students receive full scholarships. However, aid is competitive.
Research Experience: If you want both professional and academic research, the CEO Internship plus Mentored Research track allows you to complete an internship and a college-level research project.
Personalized Goals: Finding the right internship opportunities is often the hardest part of the process. If you become a Ladder intern, you won’t have to scout for internship opportunities yourself! The program will match you with a company based on your interests. Moreover, you will intern with a company that is fully prepared to host and mentor younger students.
Guided Internship Experience: If you haven’t had any past internship experience, you may be confused about how to go about an unstructured/independent internship or research program. To solve for this, you can consider Ladder internships, keeping in mind that your Ladder coach will constantly provide guidance and advice for your project, which many past interns have praised in various Ladder internships reviews. This mentorship will allow you to maximize your potential and refine your project!
Networking Opportunities: Participating in this program is a great opportunity to network with leading experts in their respective fields. Ladder coaches are ex-Harvard, ex-Microsoft and have been featured in Forbes 30 under 30! You will be able to build a very valuable professional network through Ladder, and this can be valuable for college applications. Networking before high school is one aspect many students miss out on, and this can impact their journey to gain LORs, future work opportunities, and guidance for further research!

Cons:

Program Fee: Unlike some internships for high schoolers, the program charges a fee, which can be a significant barrier for some students. Cost may be a limitation for some students, as the fee is on the higher side.
Competitive Admission: The program states that the acceptance rate for recent cohorts was around 20%, which means there’s no guarantee of acceptance, even if you have strong academic or extracurricular credentials.
Time Commitment: You will have to commit 5-10 hours every week. Internships run for 8-23 weeks, depending on the track. The internship can be demanding if you are managing schoolwork or college applications.
Virtual Environment: While virtual internships are more flexible, they may not offer the same level of interaction you’d get in a physical workplace. You won't be able to network in-personAs opposed to in-person internships, you may notice a certain lack of exposure in terms of networking. You may not be able to freely network and work with different individuals or peers working at the company, but will have to put in a bit of an extra effort to reach out to people.
Contribution Expectations: Since the internship is only 8 weeks long, you’ll likely be expected to contribute early and work independently.
Potentially Delegated Roles: You may get roles that an organization can reasonably delegate to a high school studentThis isn’t really a con, but more of a reality check. Since there are different skill sets required for different roles, you may find that the roles that are feasible for high school students are similar in nature - even though the industries are diverse.
Time Commitment for Internship + Research: You may have to commit long hours to the internship + research optionWhile Ladder offers both tracks in a combined manner, this may take up a chunk of your time, especially if you are a high school senior preparing for university admissions in the summer. You can consider branching out with your research with other mentored research opportunities such as Lumiere Education’s Research Scholar Program, and focus only on an internship with Ladder.

What Past Students Say About Ladder Internships

Reviews of Ladder Internships, particularly on TrustPilot, reflect a positive experience among participants. Ladder has an ‘excellent’ score of 4.8 out of 5 with 41 reviews presently. For instance, one student mentioned that for her first internship experience, Ladder paired her with a startup that suited her strengths, and she appreciated the guidance she received from her mentor during the project. Participants also mentioned developing both soft skills and subject-specific knowledge and appreciated the opportunity to work on meaningful projects, especially for a first internship experience. Students who have completed the program have included their internship experience on college applications and resumes.

Here’s what Khalid Hajji had to say about his experience as an intern with Billion Dollar Startup Ideas, a sentiment echoed by many in their Ladder internships reviews- “This internship was my first real working experience, and I took away a lot of value from it. It was both fun and a great learning experience. It opened my eyes to the world of business, finance, and AI, and also helped me realize that this is what I would like to pursue as a major in college. I also valued my direct interaction with the founder of my host company, who I found to be inspiring, and who I hope to continue to have as a mentor going forward.”

Christopher Tilley, a high school junior who interned with Certinell Telehealth mentioned how he worked with the company on some manuals for their new patient monitoring system, and how the program “allowed them to get to know himself, his workflow, and how to work with and around other people!”

On TrustPilot, Ladder holds a rating of 4.8 out of 5, with students commenting on the real-world experience and the personalized support from mentors. Students say they gained confidence in project planning, communication, and research, and some mention that their Ladder projects helped strengthen their college applications and resumes.

On Google, Ladder has received mostly positive feedback from students, with reviewers highlighting the program's mentorship quality. One Medium reviewer praised the program’s flexibility, saying her company allowed her to customize her project to match her interests.

Another student, Co May, an alumnus of the Ladder Internship Program Summer 2023 Cohort, shared a comprehensive review of the program, highlighting the credibility of Ladder, the wide variety of fields and industries offered, and the unique structure of having two different mentors. Co May also emphasized the importance of the relationships built with mentors and the new friends made during the program.

However, it's important to note that some reviews on Reddit are more mixed, with some students saying their managers didn’t have enough time to mentor them. Other students report that the program provided valuable experience and helped them develop professional skills.

Is Ladder Internships Prestigious?

Ladder does not publish detailed acceptance statistics for every cohort. Their team reports that the acceptance rate for a recent spring cohort was about 20%. This suggests the program is selective. Although it’s difficult to estimate the prestige of a new program with acceptance rates, we looked at their college admissions results to gauge the caliber of applicants. Ladder also claims that their interns are 1.66 times more likely to gain admission to a Top 20 university than the average applicant, though we can’t independently verify this without their data.

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