<p>I've been having a difficult time finding solid internships/lab experience as a high schooler. Our local college has a good research program but internships are only available to college students. Any help/suggestions?</p>
<p>Email professors and tell them you’re very interested and see if they’ll make an exception. Try volunteering at a hospital and try to leverage that into a research position at a college or with one of the doctors there. </p>
<p>The only way you can find out if they’ll take you on is by asking.
Keep in mind, though, that if professors take you on as a high school student, it is a HUGE investment of time for them. They will probably invest more than they’ll get out. You’ll have little experience or background, so you will probably require a lot of training, have limited tasks that you can do, and your work (especially at the beginning) will have to be really thoroughly checked. So if they say no, don’t be offended. They’ve only got so much time.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in med school, volunteering at a hospital is a great experience and usually open to high schoolers. You could also look into getting CNA (certified nursing assistant) certification and getting a part time job.</p>
<p>Networking. I landed a very nice internship at UNC Hospitals working on programming machines for cutting-edge cancer research with the help of my dad, who works as a department head in and knows one of the clinical researchers there who could use some free labor. That said, it’s a huge time investment, (I spend around 12-20 hours there per week staring at a computer screen) and I don’t get paid a cent. It’s an interesting experience, but it’s not something to be taken lightly if you’re not ready to be under a bit of pressure (not to mention hours of dry and uneventful work). </p>
<p>And that’s probably the reason. You’re a high schooler, does anyone actually hire an intern at that age? And do you know anyone your age that has one? Probably not. I mean, I’m sure you’re a smart person and everything but I swear in high school, all they expect is volunteer experience, not interns. I’m going to be a freshman in college and I can’t even get one until after my first semester so they can at least have my GPA to evaluate. I’ll stick with volunteering at a hospital if I were you. Saves both your time and efforts! 
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<p>You need to be at least 18, since the hospitals and labs have liability issues. If your high school has a biotech class, you should be going through that class to get your internships done.</p>