Finding an internship that pays (and pays well) can be a challenge, and research shows that 41% of internships are unpaid. A recent poll on Glassdoor revealed that only 37% of professionals say they’ve had an unpaid internship at some point in their career. To break the numbers down, we looked across genders and found that 42% of women have worked an unpaid internship compared to just 33% of men.
We also asked the Work-Life Bowl community members if they’d accepted or declined an unpaid internship. Most who hadn’t accepted one said they simply couldn’t afford it. The majority of those who had taken an unpaid internship cited experience as their reason for accepting.
We’ve ranked the 25 best internships to help students and new grads identify companies offering exceptional opportunities. What exactly makes them the best? This ranking factors in median salary and career opportunity ratings on Glassdoor, made possible by the anonymous salary and career ratings shared by professionals. In addition to pay, a good internship should also provide valuable, real-life experiences and ideally, the foundation to land a full-time job after graduation.
The no. 1 internship comes from our top Glassdoor Best Places to Work company, Bain & Company, a global consulting firm whose program offers a firsthand look into various roles in the industry. Overall, our best internships list features 18 tech companies, 4 finance companies, and 3 consulting companies, signaling that despite a tough year for the tech industry, job seekers are still finding meaningful internship opportunities that are helping them get their foot in the door.
Here are the 25 companies offering the best internships in 2024.
1. Bain & Company
Median Base Monthly Salary: $9,000
Career Opportunity Rating:4.9
2. Roblox
Median Base Monthly Salary: $10,333
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.4
3. NVIDIA
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.9
4. J.P. Morgan
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.7
5. Amazon
Median Base Monthly Salary: $9,000
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.4
6. Atlassian
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,166
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.7
7. Capital One
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,833
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.5
8. Barclays
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,833
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.6
9. Uber
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,666
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.5
10. Adobe
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,500
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.5
11. Qualcomm
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.6
12. Salesforce
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.6
13. Microsoft
Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,890
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.7
14. Boston Consulting Group
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,000
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.6
15. LinkedIn
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.5
16. AMD
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,000
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.6
17. eBay
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,666
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.4
18. Google
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,000
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.6
19. Meta
Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,400
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.4
20. Oracle
Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,500
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.6
21. BlackRock
Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,166
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.7
22. McKinsey & Company
Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,083
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.7
23.ServiceNow
Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,000
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.7
24. Intuit
Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,666
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.5
25. Apple
Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,500
Career Opportunity Rating: 4.5
Tips for finding an internship
While we can’t guarantee that all of these companies are still hiring interns this summer, we can confirm they’ve been known to pay interns competitively and provide a positive experience. Check out the Career Advice for Students Bowl on Glassdoor, where students can get advice and ask real professionals questions about their careers across industries.
Methodology: Companies are eligible if they have at least 30 salaries and at least 15 career opportunities ratings submitted on Glassdoor by U.S. interns from April 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024.
The poll ran from March 28, 2024 through March 30, 2024 and was answered by 3,985 U.S. professionals. Respondents could answer with either “Yes” or “No” to the question, “Have you ever worked an unpaid internship?” For subgroup breakouts including gender identity and industry, all categories received at least 100 responses from U.S. professionals on the platform.