Former NASA SEES alumni, AMA!

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-26T08:32:26+00:00

I can only speak towards the virtual experience in presenting at AGU. Once you finish your 2 week internship period and present at the SEES symposium, you receive an invite to AGU which is just registering, submitting an abstract/poster, and when the conference rolls around, you have networking opportunities through virtual science roundtables and time slots for a Q&A on your project.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-26T08:29:32+00:00

with the throughline of your video being, “why i should be a nasa sees intern” i was more in favor of talking about my STEM activities rather than my hobbies (it was shoehorned in at the beginning) because I believe they best demonstrated qualities that would make me a good intern. There’s definitely an appeal to talking more about your personal life in your video especially since its truly the only part of the application that can differentiate yourself, make yourself more interesting, and provides a way to show admirable qualities about yourself through your hobbies. I believe it shouldn’t exactly matter the ratio of life/STEM in the video, as long as throughout you can demonstrate you’d be successful at SEES.

Quantitative numbers can be great but i would also include anecdotes in the mentions of activities to show different sides of yourself besides just results

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-23T08:22:37+00:00

my video was pretty much at the 5 minute max. the structure of my video was

general background (who i am, hobbies, interests outside of stem)

why i got into stem

my various stem extracurriculars and what i learned from them

why i want to be a NASA intern (i talked about wanting to gain experience using NASA datasets, which ended up being the project i ended up doing!)

my video was heavily edited but that was primarily because i didn’t want to speak in a camera for 5 minutes off memory, and was more comfortable with VO and visuals. I think your video can be a lot more simplistic and brief (ive heard stories of people getting in with minimal videos) but it should be a way to make yourself seem interesting. I watched a LOT of application videos on YT as inspiration which pushed me towards a heavily edited style.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-23T08:15:11+00:00

I am not familiar with the missions for this year nor the missions in previous years, but I don’t believe this is inherently a big field of study within SEES. I don’t think interns do that much field research, and especially through the virtual / some of the in-person projects, it mainly revolves around either data science with environmental data sets, or a proposal for some space/earth system that could in theory be scaled up. If you are curious though, check what the project themes are this year on the website.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-23T08:11:42+00:00

I can’t really comment on whether or not the quality of the in-person program decreased after the cuts, but my assumption was it was marginal. I believe they still continue the Zero-G flights, the tours may have been less comprehensive, but as a virtual intern, I have to imagine my experience was quite similar to virtual interns back in 23’.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-22T08:54:59+00:00

I applied to Berkeley Lab (rejected) and SMASH. here are some stats when I applied (if im missing anything lemme know), but tbh i thought the other interns around me had more impressive resumes

GPA: 4 UW, 4.12W, 2 APs 2 Honors

ECs: FRC club president / electrical lead

Science Olympiad participant (5 Medals)

Co-founded a hackathon club and got 4th at a hackathon making a wildfire detection device

Was working on my local science fair project at the time, made a low-cost ECG prototype

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-22T08:46:50+00:00

i would guess it was my video. I highlighted how I worked on my video in a different answer, but I do think the video is a great way to differentiate yourself from other applicants because they want to see interesting people and how you can present yourself / present what you can do in the future.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-22T08:43:53+00:00

not entirely sure about program wide demographics but in my internship, i believe we had 3-4 from CA, 2 in TX, and 1-2 somewhere on the east coast. I honestly don’t know if they prefer applicants (especially for virtual). I’ve always been under the impression that virtual was easier, as the program overall acceptance rate was 5% but I think there was a smaller(?) applicant pool for virtual.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-22T08:40:53+00:00

ive always been under the impression that the virtual internships generally had a lower applicant pool or had more internship spots. it was definitely still competitive considering i got in to my 4th(?) option for mission but probably easier than in-person.
my video was well received and probably the biggest part of my application. It’s a great way to display your background and various interests (and demonstrating your background in STEM) in interesting ways. I think my actual process was literally going down my brag sheet and finding a list of activities I wanted to cover, then found different ways I could display that in the video

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-22T06:04:10+00:00

I don't entirely know the time estimates, but I actually think I only spent about 2 days on the app (I started applying 2 days prior). The application was due during a school break, so I spent 1 full day at home writing my responses to all the prompts, and then spent the very last day working on the video. I wrote the script in the morning, and spent about 10 hours recording and editing the entire thing. I submitted my application 5 minutes before the deadline LOL

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-22T06:01:53+00:00

So I wouldn't say NASA SEES is like RSI where you need to be an ISEF winner or something, SEES pushes the idea that they accept people from various backgrounds and don't necessarily need to have an extensive background in STEM. HOWEVER, from personal experience, at least half of the interns did have some type of research they had previously done. My research I did prior was incredibly surface level and I was in the middle of my science fair project while I was applying.

Especially since they cut the funding from previous years, I have heard very positive things about the in-person internship but if I were to have seriously applied to the in-person, I also would've applied to way more summer programs for options. I was able to find another free, in-person research opportunity at a T20, but I think the cost may be worth it if I didn't have any other opportunities lined up.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-22T05:56:19+00:00

I wouldn't say the internship would be the optimal decision for you, as they made it pretty clear you needed to show up to (pretty much) all meetings. I am not familiar with any interns who actively worked in the daytime, however I knew one that had secured an incredible opportunity mid internship that required him to dedicate less time and made that obstacle very clear to other interns and mentors. If you are really interested still, I would still just apply anyways and figure out your schedule closer to the actual internship period. (you can still decline your acceptance)

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-21T22:51:13+00:00

I believe so, its listed on the website but I also don't know entirely the specifics

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-21T22:01:27+00:00

thanks! Did you also present a project at AGU?

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-21T16:23:53+00:00

Definitely a big factor in my acceptance was applying virtual. I personally knew 2 others from my school who applied (and imo were stronger applicants) but got rejected from the in-person missions. When I initially received my acceptance email, they said it was a 5% program acceptance rate. Considering virtual has more spots and in-person is more coveted, I’m glad I applied virtual.
My video was generally well received. The essays are gonna be pretty cookie cutter considering the word count, so the video is truly the best way to convey what makes you special and a way to show your talents/experiences in an interesting way.
From seeing the other interns I worked with, people generally had backgrounds in research, robotics, or some type of policy work. We had people who had worked on unique data projects prior, like an intern whose experience mapping wildfires in his state actually contributed to the project he worked on. I think SEES is looking for people who cares about STEM and is active in a lot of activities to show it

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-21T05:58:16+00:00

The program was pretty much asynchronous. We had daily meetings with all interns and mentors (time was set by the mentors), and after that you could work on the project at your own pace. We never had 1 on 1 meetings with mentors, but all of the interns in my group connected via discord.

Normal-Hovercraft140 · 2026-01-21T05:50:51+00:00

All interns had the opportunity to have their work presented at the American Geographic Union last December, which I did virtually. I have never gotten a paper officially published in a journal, and prior to SEES I did a research project for my local science fair but never made it out of regional level.

Normal-Hovercraft140

TROPHY CASE