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An internshipship is an opportunity to work in a field that interests you, gain valuable work experience, enhance your college resume, and possibly even earn some extra money.

While internships are more commonly available to college students, it may be possible to get an internship when you’re still in high school.

Read on to learn more about high school internships, including how they work, their pros and cons, and how to find one.

What Is the Purpose of an Internship?

An internship is a temporary position that’s often related to a student’s academic field of study or career interests. It offers students a chance to apply lessons learned in the classroom in a professional setting, while also developing additional skills. Internships also give students an opportunity to make connections in their field of interest and determine if they want to pursue further study and a career in that area. Internships also give employers the opportunity to discover and develop future talent.

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The Duties of an Intern

The duties of an intern vary from job to job. For example, those interning at a doctor’s office might shadow medical professionals and take notes on patient visits. Those interning at a marketing firm might sit in on marketing meetings and assist in any communication needs.

An internship experience can be somewhat similar to an entry-level employee position. However, there is typically an educational component. The point is to learn more about the career path, not just get coffee or file the office mail (though you may be asked to do this, too).

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Pros and Cons of High School Internships

There are plenty of pros when it comes to getting internship experiences in high school. For one, an internship allows you to learn about a particular career path without having to commit to a lifelong job.

Learning about a path early on could help you determine whether you want to go to college (rather than directly enter the working world) and help you decide what you’d like to study in school.

Another pro of completing an internship in high school is gaining new experiences and skills. An internship allows you to learn from professionals and add relevant skills to your resume. This can give you a leg up in applying for jobs in the future.

And, of course, all this experience and new learning make for excellent items to add to any potential college applications.
A potential downside to seeking an internship in high school is that they can be hard to find. In addition, the position may not be paid, and might be time-consuming, taking time away from other obligations like homework, studying for SATs, and applying to college.)

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Finding the Right Internship

Finding the perfect internship is a wholly personal experience. A good first step is to consider your interests in both the near and far term. By thinking about career paths you might be interested in, you might identify internship opportunities around you.

However, not every young person knows, or believes they know, exactly what they want to do in the future. But you may have a general interest. For example, if your favorite class is English, an internship at a local newspaper may make sense. If you’re interested in nature, an internship with a local parks and recreation group may make a good fit.

If you’re a high schooler, make a shortlist of interests and sit down with a parent or guardian to identify careers that may fit within these bounds.

Next, it’s time to identify a few companies you might be interested in interning with. Search around for companies near you that may be taking interns. From there, check out career pages on the individual companies to see if they have internship listings. If they don’t, try emailing the company to get in touch with the human resource (HR) department to see what may be available.

One quick tip: While researching and reaching out about internships, make sure to stay realistic about the time commitment. If an internship takes place during the school year, you may only be available in afternoons. Ensure the hiring manager knows the hours you’re available before committing to any long-term work.

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Resources to Find Internships in High School

While there isn’t any centralized listing location for internships for high school students, there are still plenty of places to find information on opportunities.

Schools: You can reach out to school resources like guidance counselors, principals, and individual teachers who may know of companies worth looking into.

Individual companies: Again, seek out information from company websites and reach out to human resource departments to see what may be available.

Job search websites: Check out job search websites, such as Linkedin and Indeed, and search for “Internships in [specific field here].” Make sure to search by location to ensure the internship is nearby.

Friends and family: This is the simplest tip — just ask around. Friends and family members are the ultimate social and work network. Make it known you’re looking for an internship and ask people for their advice on just where to look.

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Questions to Ask Before Accepting an Internship

After figuring out your interests, asking your network, and finding an internship opportunity, you may think the work is done. However, there are still a few more questions to ask.

Before accepting an internship offer, make sure to ask about the full details. What are the hours? What can you expect to learn while on the job? What are the specific job duties and how will you be evaluated along the way? Will there be opportunities for mentorship? And finally, one of the most important questions: Is the internship paid?

💡 Quick Tip: It’s a good idea to understand the pros and cons of private student loans and federal student loans before committing to them.

Paid vs. Unpaid Internships

Scoring a paid internship isn’t a guarantee, but it’s not a completely far-fetched idea either. If a paid internship isn’t available, you can always ask about an exchange for class credit. Unpaid internships are a hotly contested issue so just make sure to do whatever feels right and comfortable for your situation.

Also keep in mind that even a paid internship likely won’t pay enough to make a major dent in your college expenses (though it can help).

If you’re concerned about how you and your family will pay for the cost of tuition, a good first step is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) with your family. This will let you know if you are eligible for financial aid, including grants, scholarships, work-study, and federal student loans. If those do not cover your costs, you may also consider private student loans.

Private student loans are available through private lenders, including banks, credit unions, and online lenders. Rates and terms vary, depending on the lender. Generally, borrowers (or cosigners) who have strong credit qualify for the lowest rates.

Keep in mind, though, that private loans may not offer the borrower protections — like income-based repayment plans and deferment or forbearance — that automatically come with federal student loans.

If you’ve exhausted all federal student aid options, no-fee private student loans from SoFi can help you pay for school. The online application process is easy, and you can see rates and terms in just minutes. Repayment plans are flexible, so you can find an option that works for your financial plan and budget.

External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.

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A stock oscillator is an equation or software program used by traders to help them decide when to buy or sell a given stock. It works by identifying trends in a stock’s price along with other metrics, then using that data to help determine whether the stock is overbought — making it a good time to sell it — or oversold, in which case it might be a good time to buy.

Investors typically use oscillators at times when the trend for a stock’s price is unclear, either because it’s in a sideways trading pattern, or because the markets themselves are choppy. An oscillator will show underlying trends in other quantifiable aspects of the stock, such as its buying or selling volume, which may indicate if the stock is likely to move up or down in the near future.

Investors may have access to oscillators through their brokerage account or trading programs. Because oscillators are mathematical, it’s even possible for savvy investors to program them directly into a spreadsheet.

Stock Oscillators and Technical Analysis

Stock oscillators are valuable tools in technical analysis, an approach taken by investors to try to forecast the ways a stock might perform based on its current data and past movements. (Though it’s worth remembering that past performance is no guarantee of future success or failure.)

As a strategy, technical analysis involves looking at a wide range of data and indicators, such as a stock’s price and trading volume, to locate opportunities and risks.

But technical analysis typically doesn’t involve researching the underlying companies, their industries, or any macroeconomic trends that might drive the success or failure of those underlying companies. Rather, it solely analyzes the stock’s performance to find patterns and trends.

As such, these tools are mostly used by short-term traders who plan to hold onto a stock for days or weeks, rather than long-term investors who plan to hold a stock for periods of years.

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How Do Stock Oscillators Work?

While every oscillator differs, they all tend to identify a normal range for a given stock, using specific criteria to determine if the stock is overbought or oversold based on that range.

Oscillators can help identify buying or selling opportunities. But they can also mislead investors if a stock undergoes a price breakout, which is when an event occurs that effectively resets the trading range of a stock higher or lower.

During a breakout, an oscillator may show that the stock is overbought or oversold for a long period of time. For this reason, many traders consider oscillators best used in sideways or choppy markets.


💡 Quick Tip: How do you decide if a certain trading platform or app is right for you? Ideally, the investment platform you choose offers the features that you need for your investment goals or strategy, e.g., an easy-to-use interface, data analysis, educational tools.

Types of Trading Oscillators

There are a number of different types of trading oscillators. Here’s what to know about them.

Relative Strength Index (RSI)

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) works by taking measurements of a stock’s recent price changes to determine if it’s overbought or oversold. It’s a popular tool for investors looking for entry and exit points of a given stock position.

The RSI measures the speed and size of a stock’s price movements, and calculates the momentum using the ratio of higher closing prices to lower closing prices. In this oscillator, stocks that have more frequent or larger positive changes receive higher scores. Investors typically chart RSIs over a 14-day timeframe, and rate stocks on a scale from 0 to 100, though they may create custom timeframes.

The oscillator selects a “horizontal channel,” which is a common RSI score for a stock, then marks out price bands above and below that band at which the stock may be considered overbought or oversold.

Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD)

The MACD is an oscillator traders use to understand the momentum of a given stock. It uses the moving average of a stock to determine where a stock is trading over a set period of time. Most investors prefer 12-day and 26-day time spans for their MACDs, but they can also create their own custom MACD measurements with time spans that better fit their own particular trading strategies.

The MACD compares the moving average of the short- and long-term moving average to see if those averages are getting closer (converging) or farther apart (diverging).

If the MACD of a given stock is positive, that means its short-term average is higher than its long-term average, which indicates that the stock’s price is on an upswing. A higher MACD indicates more pronounced momentum in that upswing. On the other hand, a negative MACD indicates that a stock is trending downward.

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Commodity Channel Index (CCI)

The CCI is a momentum-based oscillator that investors use to spot price extremes and possible price reversals, and to understand the strength of price trends for commodities, currencies, and stocks. The CCI measures the variation of a security’s price from its statistical mean.

So when the indicator goes above zero, that indicates the price is above the security’s historical average price. When it’s below zero, the price is below the historical average.

The CCI assigns scores that tend to fall between +100 and -100, but the indicator is unbound. CCI scores over +100 mean that a stock may be overbought, while scores below -100 indicate that a stock may be oversold, but there are no fixed points that indicate one condition or the other.

Stochastic Oscillator

A stochastic oscillator, or “sto indicator,” compares a stock’s average price levels to its current price levels to determine if a stock is overbought or oversold.

Specifically, a stochastic oscillator compares a stock’s closing price to a range of the security’s highest and lowest prices over a period of time that the trader can set. By changing the time frame of the oscillator, traders can adjust its sensitivity to recent market fluctuations.


💡 Quick Tip: Are self-directed brokerage accounts cost efficient? They can be, because they offer the convenience of being able to buy stocks online without using a traditional full-service broker (and the typical broker fees).

Pros of Using Oscillator Indicators

There are a number of potential benefits to using oscillator indicators.

•   Using multiple oscillators may help investors better understand how a particular stock is trading.

•   Oscillators may provide useful alerts that a stock is nearing a price at which an investor may consider buying or selling it.

•   Stock oscillators may be highly effective in helping investors identify overbought or oversold conditions in a specific stock.

•   Oscillators may be highly effective tools in sideways or choppy markets, where a stock’s trading price remains within a fixed range.

Cons of Using Oscillator Indicators

There are also potential drawbacks to using oscillator indicators.

•   While oscillators can be effective in helping investors identify overbought or oversold conditions in a specific stock, whether a stock is overbought or oversold is not necessarily a clear signal to buy or sell it.

•   In strong bull or bear markets, an oscillator signal that a stock is overbought or oversold may be misleading.

•   Oscillator signals only offer stock price information, and not the bigger picture of what’s happening with the company or its industry.

The Takeaway

Stock oscillators are one set of tools in technical analysis, which also employs close reading and interpretation of charts, as well as other technical indicators. Oscillators may help investors determine if a stock is overbought or oversold, even if the price of a stock isn’t giving clear indications.

Ready to invest in your goals? It’s easy to get started when you open an investment account with SoFi Invest. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, alternative funds, and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here).

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