Inside the Internship 2026

ECs talk about where they worked, what surprised them, and which lessons they're bringing back to campus this fall.

Harsh Sanghi (Section A)

Where did you work this summer? Scope Health, a healthcare AI company automating the admin and paperwork in medicine — scheduling, insurance paperwork, medical scribing, and more — so doctors can focus on spending time with their patients and practicing medicine.

Why did you choose this path? I wanted to spend the summer being as close to AI as possible. Figuring out how to deploy AI to solve messy workflows across legacy industries is where there is immense opportunity in the next decade. I was looking at roles at later-stage startups, big tech, and AI PE funds, and decided to join Scope Health because they had the right combination of revenue/traction, a great team and founders, and backing from amazing VCs — yet the role would let me actually set up their entire SMB GTM motion, make decisions, and get real, tangible learning in a short 10 weeks. Most larger companies would not give me a fraction of the hands-on experience.

What was your experience like, and how does it impact your post-HBS goals? I loved it! I learned a lot about building a company and deploying AI to automate workflows, plus a lot about GTM and sales. I wanted to test if I would enjoy AI/software or only want to work on energy/climate, and this helped me confirm I can broaden my horizons. Post-HBS, I will look for a broader set of roles beyond energy. It also validated that PE/VC/the buy side are not the best roles for me post-HBS.

What advice do you have for RCs considering similar opportunities? Don't worry about prestige and focus on finding a job that lets you actually do real things, gives you responsibility, and teaches you the most. Also use the summer internship as an opportunity to test a new thesis, new function, role, or industry.

Shivani Das (Section C)

Where did you work this summer? Sanofi.

Why did you choose this path? Before the MBA, I worked in consulting (like half of our class), but in a really interesting space — helping underrepresented patients enroll in clinical trials and supporting public health clients navigate the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. I knew I loved the healthcare space, but wanted to explore what it could be like to support patients from a completely different side — that of pharma.

What was your experience like, and how does it impact your post-HBS goals? This summer, like much of our class, I was interested in using AI to support patients. At Sanofi, I got to use AI tools to build marketing materials for rare disease patients and shape patient identification strategy. Rare disease is a fascinating space, since usually there are only hundreds, maybe even tens, of patients for a given condition. AI has been a gamechanger in identifying patients, but my job was making sure those patients received more tailored information about their condition and had the tools to speak to their doctor about sometimes the only treatment option available. In short, I had the immense privilege this summer of telling the stories of patients with some of the rarest and most life-threatening diseases to help others get treated faster and better. Post-MBA, I've become even more interested in how AI can be used to accelerate rare disease patient identification.

What advice do you have for RCs considering similar opportunities? Start having conversations with ECs whose internships you find cool early on — whether that's cold-emailing an EC for a coffee chat or booking a CPD student appointment — and have them impart their recruiting wisdom on you.

Anything else to add? If you're interested in healthcare recruiting opportunities, I am more than happy to chat with you!

Keerthi Medicherla (Section E)

Where did you work this summer? I was a Product Management intern at Outlast Power, an early-stage battery storage startup in New York City.

Why did you choose this path? I came into HBS excited about operator roles at early-stage startups, and I'm very interested in the energy transition and grid resilience. From my first conversations with Outlast Power this past spring, I could tell the team was strong and the opportunities to contribute and learn would be plentiful.

What was your experience like, and how does it impact your post-HBS goals? I had a fantastic experience. Over the summer, I owned our energy management system workstream — evaluating vendors and decisions across diverse criteria, interacting with external stakeholders, analyzing the technical and commercial feasibility of strategic options, and moving forward to begin implementation. The trust and agency granted to me by the team made me excited to work hard and deliver valuable work product, and our COO invested a lot in my professional skill development over the summer as well.

What advice do you have for RCs considering similar opportunities? Your internship is about the work you're doing, but it's also about the team you'll be joining. As you're considering your summer options, try to talk to people who work or have worked at your target organizations. And as you enter RC year, keep an open mind — last fall, I could have never predicted what my summer would end up entailing!

Abhinav Pathak (Section F)

Where did you work this summer? KAUST Investment Management Company (KIMC) in Washington, D.C., a multi-billion dollar Saudi university endowment fund.

Why did you choose this path? I spent five years in VC before HBS, so I wanted to see investing from the other side of the table. I was curious about how an endowment thinks about picking managers, constructing a long-term portfolio, and deciding when newer areas like blockchain actually make sense for an institutional investor.

What was your experience like, and how does it impact your post-HBS goals? I really enjoyed getting exposure to a different style of investing. One of my projects was digging into stablecoins, tokenization, and institutional blockchain adoption to think through where an endowment should and shouldn't invest. Because KIMC has a relatively small team, I also had the chance to work with and learn from directors across asset allocation, private investments, public markets, absolute return, and real estate, which gave me a much broader perspective on risk and return across a portfolio. The experience reinforced that I want to build my career at the intersection of technology and investment management after HBS.

What advice do you have for RCs considering similar opportunities? Don't feel like your summer has to fit neatly into a traditional recruiting path. Smaller investment teams can give you a surprising amount of ownership and access. I'd also recommend talking to people across different parts of investment management — VCs, endowments, family offices, hedge funds — before deciding which model actually interests you.

Anything else to add? Coming from VC, I found it useful to understand the allocator's perspective. I had spent years thinking about which companies deserved capital; this summer made me think much more about which managers, strategies, and asset classes deserve capital in the first place.

Ziyang Zhu (Section G)

Where did you work this summer? I was a Product Strategy MBA Summer Intern at TikTok.

Why did you choose this path? I'd never experienced the tech industry or life on the West Coast, so it's been a great chance for me to explore both.

What was your experience like, and how does it impact your post-HBS goals? I basically helped TikTok draft its five-year business plan for brand ads, including how it could surpass Meta. I also did deep dives into a bunch of growth opportunities, like capturing more real-money gaming ad budget during the World Cup surge, plus many other interesting topics.

What advice do you have for RCs considering similar opportunities? Make sure you have a Plan B in this job market.

Eleonora Pompeo (Section J)

Where did you work this summer? Replit.

Why did you choose this path? I came into this with no tech background, so I wanted exposure that was broad rather than narrow. Being in San Francisco meant I could be close to the AI frontier directly, not reading about it secondhand. Vibe coding was something I wanted to understand firsthand — how people were actually using it and what it changed — especially since I was learning the technical side from scratch. And an infrastructure platform gave me a wider view of AI rather than just one product or one layer of the stack, which mattered more to me given where I was starting from.

What was your experience like, and how does it impact your post-HBS goals? Being there in person made the difference. I could meet the team, understand their goals, and watch the company evolve from the inside rather than reading about it secondhand. I worked on the growth team but had the chance to collaborate across departments, and people gave me real agency and stayed open to my input. That experience clarified something specific about what I'm looking for after HBS: a fast-paced tech company, roughly 200 to 300 people, past the chaos of pre-seed but before the structure sets in too rigidly.

What advice do you have for RCs considering similar opportunities? Stay open to what comes, even if it's not what you originally pictured. I wanted New York at first, and San Francisco wasn't the plan, but I said yes anyway — they had an NY office too, but I took the opportunity to go, and I don't regret it at all. Don't compare your path to anyone else's. The timing, the decisions, understanding what you actually want — that's yours to work out, not a template someone else already followed. And be kinder to yourself in the process. You're in an incredible place with incredible opportunities around you, and it's easy not to realize that while you're in the middle of it. Take the time to actually take care of yourself along the way.