Internships make or break college apps.
A real internship is the one credential admissions officers cannot dismiss. Through founders we know, we place students inside startups, asset managers and labs, over the summer or alongside the school year. They return with a track record, a recommendation letter and an essay that writes itself.
- YC-backed startups
- Tier-1 VC portfolio companies
- Post-grad founders
- Research labs
- Asset managers
A project is no longer a differentiator.
Admissions officers now read thousands of applications with a polished app, a research write-up or a startup pitch attached. Since AI can produce all of those, they no longer separate anyone. What still does is experience that has already translated into value in a production environment, with real users, real money or a real result at stake. That means internships, lab work and research, not hobby projects.
A seat on a real engineering team
Shipping code that goes to production and is used by actual customers, reviewed by engineers who do this for a living.
Seed to Series B startupsAnalysis and operations with money on the line
Financial analysis at an asset manager, or strategy and operations inside a startup where the numbers decide what happens next.
Asset managers · StartupsLab work with a question and a result
A research assistantship with a defined problem, a method, and something to show for it at the end of the placement.
University labs · Research groupsPlaced through people we actually know.
The Ivy Academy is deeply connected to post-grad founders, YC founders, startups backed by Tier-1 venture firms, and to researchers and their labs. These are working relationships, not a job board. No organization is better placed to put your student in the hot seat at one of these companies.
YC founders
Founders who have been through Y Combinator and are building with small teams, where a capable student is noticed.
Tier-1 VC portfolios
Startups backed by the top venture firms, at the stage where real responsibility is handed out early.
Post-grad founders
Recent graduates building companies, close enough to the admissions process to know exactly what a student needs from a placement.
Researchers and labs
University labs and research groups with open questions and room for a prepared assistant.
One placement. Every part of the application.
A personal statement and supplementals written from something that happened, not something imagined.
Work that already created value for someone, which is what the activity list is supposed to prove.
Every student who completes a placement leaves with one, from the person they worked for. It serves the college application and the first job alike.
Before day one, high-level startup operators teach your student how to behave, think and optimize at the start of a career.
Founders, engineers, analysts and researchers who know your student by name.
The confidence that comes from being trusted with something that mattered.
A real test of whether the field is the right one, before four years are committed to it, and usually the experience they talk about for the rest of high school.
A first line on the résumé that opens the next internship, and the job after it.
Trained first. Placed second. Never alone.
Preparation
High-level startup operators instruct and advise your student directly on how to behave, think and optimize in the first stages of a career: communication, ownership, asking the right questions, delivering.
Placement
A role in our network matched to the story your student is building, agreed with the host before the first day. Placements run year-round: a full-time block over the summer, which most families choose, or part-time alongside the school year.
Check-ins
Frequent check-ins with the student and the host throughout, so problems are caught early and good work is noticed.
Recommendation
Every student leaves with a recommendation letter from the person they worked for, for college and for whatever comes next.
“Thank you Rob for everything! He loved working at [his internship] and has much more clarity on how to be successful in college. And we feel at ease knowing you guys have the entire application process covered.”
Parent of an 11th grader
Put your student in the hot seat this year.
Begin with a private consultation. We talk through your child’s interests and tell you plainly what kind of placement we would pursue, and whether it belongs in the summer or in the school year.