Announcing Vault's 2025 Internship Rankings!
Published: Oct 23, 2024
We’re thrilled today to share our 2025 Internship Rankings! The Internship Rankings highlight the top programs in more than 30 categories. Vault’s rankings include the Most Prestigious Internships, Best Overall Internships, Best Internships by Industry, Best Internships by Role, Best Internships for Diversity, and Best Internships for Key Employment Factors.
This past summer, Vault surveyed nearly 20,000 current and former interns from almost 300 internship programs. We asked respondents to rate a list of top companies on how prestigious their internship programs are. We also asked respondents to rate and review their own internship experiences for our 2025 Best Internships Rankings in six core areas: Quality of Life, Compensation & Benefits, Interview Process, Career Development, Full-Time Employment Prospects, and Diversity.
To determine an overall score for each program, the ratings were assigned relative weights based on what interns told us they value most in an internship. The overall scores are based on the following weighted formula: 30 percent career development, 20 percent employment prospects, 20 percent quality of life, 20 percent compensation, 5 percent diversity, and 5 percent interview process. Vault then compiled rankings of the top internship programs in more than 30 different areas.
This year’s top programs are:
No. 1 Overall Best Internship: PKF O'Connor Davis Internship
This year introduced plenty of new competition in the survey, but that didn't stop PKF O'Connor Davies from claiming the top spot for the second year in a row. Past interns from the program said, "The resources at the firm are great and allow you to expand your knowledge, but also promote an effective workflow. There are professionals who can help guide you to the professional goals you may have, and the firm supports and wants to hear your problems, if you may have any, in order to make the workplace better for you. The professionals here all help one another, and they promote learning within the engagements as your peers help you solve problems and show you things you may have not known. The assignments are challenging, and there are opportunities for you to step outside of your comfort zone, which pushes you to achieve more.” One intern said of their coworkers, “Everyone I have met and worked with has been incredibly kind and helpful. From the fellow interns to the partners, I have had the opportunity to have conversations and get to know everyone a little bit.”
For those interested in joining future PKF O’Connor Davies internship classes, one intern had this piece of advice to offer: “Pay attention and take notes. It’s not only who you know, it’s also what you learn and how you perform," while another assured future interns that, “The first week will be stressful and will feel like there’s so much to know, but it will become second nature very quickly.”
No. 1 Most Prestigious Internship: NASA OSTEM Internship
NASA once again comes in the No. 1 spot for Most Prestigious Internship, this being its fourth consecutive year at the top. To the interns surveyed, NASA has certainly earned its reputation, calling it "the most desired STEM internship" whose interns "must be insanely smart", and one intern noting that NASA is "Top in its industry, [has a] cool culture, innovative, [and] an incredible learning opportunity."
Meanwhile, interns at NASA have similarly complimentary things to say about their program. One intern said, “Everything during my internship was amazing! The people were awesome and treated me like I was a member of the team. I was not treated any differently than anyone else in the department." Another intern reports, “The experiences you get from this internship are unbeatable, especially if you intend to go into aerospace. Also, you cannot beat the early career clout that comes with a NASA internship.”
Below are the No. 1 internship programs in each ranking category.
Top Internships by Employment Factor:
Compensation & Benefits: PKF O'Connor Davies Internship Program
Employment Prospects: Greenhill & Co. Summer Internship
Networking Opportunities: ScanSource Spark Internship Program
Overall Career Development: College Works Painting Internship
Quality of Assignments: College Works Painting Internship
Quality of Life: PKF O'Connor Davies Internship Program
Real-Life Experience: College Works Painting Internship
Training & Mentoring: The New York Stem Cell Foundation Internship Program
Top Internships by Diversity Category:
Overall Diversity: PKF O'Connor Davies Internship Program
LGBTQ+ Individuals: Synovus Bank Corporate Summer Internship Program
Racial & Ethnic Minorities: Lumsden & McCormick Internship Program
Women: iHeartMedia Internship Program
Data Analytics: ServiceNow Internship Program
Engineering: Walbridge Internship Program
Finance: Lincoln Financial Internship Program
HR: The Home Depot Internship Program
Information Technology: FTI Consulting Internship
Sales, Marketing, & Communications: Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits Summer Internship Program
Software Engineering & Development: ServiceNow Internship Program
Strategy & Business Development: College Works Painting Internship
Accounting: PKF O'Connor Davies Internship Program
Construction & Trades: College Works Painting Internship
Consulting: Spaulding Ridge Internship Program
Consumer & Industrial Products: LyondellBasell Internship & Co-Op Program
Energy & Renewables: NRG Energy Internship Program
Financial Services: Lincoln Financial Internship Program
Health Sciences: Abbott Internship Program
Insurance: CareSource Internship Program
Investment Banking: Guggenheim Securities Summer Associate Internship Program
Media: Comcast Internship Program
Retail: Lowe's Summer Internship Program
Tech & Engineering: MongoDB Internship Program
Travel & Transportation: Royal Caribbean Corporate Internship Program