underclassmen-internships

What the list covers

Underclassmen Internships is a curated list of internships, externships, and fellowships that are open to computer science freshmen and sophomores. The repository is maintained in collaboration with Zapply and is organized into clear sections: Internships, Fellowships, Internship Matching Fellowships, Externships and Insight Series, Winternships, and Special Programs and Resources. Each entry is a table row with the program name, an open or unknown status, the eligible class year, and a short note. The list focuses on opportunities that explicitly welcome first and second year students, which are often hard to find because many programs target juniors and seniors. A note at the top warns that open and close statuses are not updated daily and that applicants should check each program themselves. The README also points to related lists for all class years, open source fellowships, and undergraduate research internships, so a student can widen the search once they have worked through the underclassmen specific entries. The tone is practical and community driven rather than promotional, and the maintainer asks for stars and pull requests to keep the list accurate through the recruiting season. Because open and close statuses change through the season, the maintainer notes that applicants should verify each program on the employer's own site before spending time on an application.

Program types and examples

The internships section includes well known names such as NASA, which is open year round for all students, Microsoft Explore for freshmen, and Dropbox, Palantir Path, and Activision Blizzard SPARX for sophomores or both years. The fellowships section lists longer programs of six to twelve weeks, including the MLH Fellowship, Year Up, Google Summer of Code, Outreachy, and the Jane Street Immersion Program for freshmen. Internship matching fellowships such as Coding it Forward, INROADS, Code2040, and Hack Diversity pair students with host companies, and the README notes these are usually not exclusive to underclassmen but give them a fair shot. Externships and insight series are short one to five day programs from firms like Jane Street, SIG, Citadel, and JPMorgan, designed to help students get noticed. Winternships are one to four week winter break programs such as the HRT Women in Trading Tech Internship. Special programs and resources include CodePath and similar free training. The breadth means a freshman can find a first step whether they want research, open source, finance, or product engineering experience, and the status column helps them prioritize programs that are open now. The fellowships section in particular gathers longer programs of six to twelve weeks, which suits students who want mentorship or open source contribution experience before a full summer internship.

Community and tooling

Beyond the list itself, the project promotes a companion website and a Chrome extension from Zapply that autofills job applications in seconds, along with a job board and application tracking with streaks and commitment awards. The README invites students to join a Discord community and a LinkedIn page to connect with peers and new graduates for advice. The maintainer asks for stars and pull requests to keep the list current through the fall recruiting season, and the collaboration with Zapply suggests the list is kept practical by linking real application infrastructure. Because the list is a GitHub repository, anyone can open an issue or pull request to add a program or correct a status, which fits the open source model. The descriptions stay factual: they name the organization, the eligible year, and a note such as stipend available or express interest, rather than promising outcomes. For a first or second year student starting to plan a career in technology, the repository is a single place to scan many early opportunities that are otherwise scattered across individual company pages. The list is updated as opportunities open, though the README reminds readers that statuses can change faster than the document. The Discord and LinkedIn links give students a place to ask peers about deadlines and experiences, which complements the static list with current, informal advice from people who applied.

Editorial conclusion

At the time of writing, the Underclassmen Internships repository recorded 201 stars and was last updated on 2026-08-24, and it is maintained in collaboration with Zapply.