Can freshmen and sophomores get tech internships?
Which graduation years open tech internships accept, how many mention freshmen or sophomores, and the programs built for first- and second-year students.
By Kevin Tang · Updated November 2026
The short answer
Yes, though most tech internships are aimed at juniors and seniors. Of 2,363 open tech internship postings we read on November 6, 2026, only 18 percent named the graduation years they accept. Among Summer 2027 internships that did, 88 percent accepted 2027 graduates and 96 percent 2028, while 23 percent accepted 2029, today's sophomores, and 13 percent 2030, today's freshmen, mostly through open-ended windows such as "graduation is August 2026 or later". Mentions are rare too: 4.3 percent of descriptions mention sophomores, often as a minimum such as "at least a sophomore", and under 1 percent mention freshmen. Internships that invite first- and second-year students include Palantir, SpaceX, xAI, Visa's Sophomore Program, TruStage, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If you are early in school, apply to the postings that name no graduation year, which is more than 80 percent of them, to open-ended windows, and to programs built for your year.
"Do I have to be a junior?" is one of the first questions first- and second-year students ask. We read the eligibility lines of every open tech internship we could reach to see which class years they actually accept.
What we measured
On November 6, 2026, we read the full description of every open U.S. internship on the SimplifyJobs internship tracker, the feed behind Arial's job board, that applies through Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, or Workday, one per role: 2,363 internships at 772 companies, 1,107 of them for Summer 2027. We collected the graduation years each description names in its eligibility lines, filling in ranges such as "December 2027 to May 2029" and treating "or later" as open to every later year, and counted mentions of freshmen, sophomores, and rising juniors or seniors. A Summer 2027 intern graduating in 2029 is a sophomore this year, and one graduating in 2030 is a freshman. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, November 6, 2026 file, and the job pages of its open postings on Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, and Workday, read that day)
Which graduation years Summer 2027 internships accept
Scroll sideways to see every column
| Graduation year | Class this year | Share of postings naming a year that accept it |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Senior | 87.5% |
| 2028 | Junior | 96.3% |
| 2029 | Sophomore | 22.9% |
| 2030 | Freshman | 12.5% |
297 of the 1,107 Summer 2027 internships, 27 percent, named the graduation years they accept, often as a range such as "graduating between December 2027 and August 2028". Juniors fit nearly all of them and seniors most. Sophomores fit about one in four and freshmen about one in eight, mostly through open-ended windows such as Auto-Owners Insurance's "graduation is August 2026 or later". Across all open internships, including fall and spring terms, 18 percent named a graduation year. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, November 6, 2026 file, and the job pages of its open postings on Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, and Workday, read that day)
How often postings mention freshmen and sophomores
| The description mentions | Internships |
|---|---|
| Freshmen or first-year students | 0.8% |
| Sophomores or second-year students | 4.3% |
| Rising juniors or seniors | 2.7% |
A mention is not always an invitation. GlobalFoundries, which mentions sophomores most, asks for applicants who are "at least a sophomore at time of application", and others ask for completed sophomore coursework, which in practice means juniors. The clearer invitations come from employers that list pay by class year or say so outright: Palantir notes its opportunity "is open to freshmen and sophomores", SpaceX and xAI list pay for "Software Engineering Intern/Freshman/Sophomore", TruStage calls one program "most appropriate for freshmen and sophomores", and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory lists a freshman rate. Visa posts a dedicated Sophomore Program Software Engineer Intern role. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, November 6, 2026 file, and the job pages of its open postings on Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, and Workday, read that day)
Read nextDo internships have application deadlines?
How first- and second-year students can get in
- Apply to postings that name no graduation year, which is more than 80 percent of them, and to open-ended windows.
- Look for programs built for early students, and for postings that list freshman or sophomore pay.
- Skip the ones whose graduation window clearly excludes you, and do not lie about your year.
- Use projects, research, and campus work as your experience; most internship postings do not ask for years of it.
On Arial, the agent applies for you to the internships you pick: on Greenhouse, Ashby, Workday, Oracle, and Indeed postings, it fills in the employer's form, including your school and education, from your resume and profile, asks you only what it cannot answer, and submits it. Your job is choosing roles your year can take; the eligibility lines above tell you which.
Most tech internships are written for juniors and seniors, but most never say so. Read the eligibility line, apply where it does not rule you out, and you will find more open doors than the headlines suggest.