I applied in the end of December 2017 and I got an email from Merck within two weeks for a phone interview. The interview was set up for next day. The interview was taken by the project lead who I would be working with. She was really nice and patient. They just wanted to confirm that I was local and my research advisor knew that I had applied for an internship. The interview was easy and still waiting to hear back from them. They said it would take a week or two. The next step is in person interview as I am local.