Getting an internship is an essential and worthwhile step towards investing in your future. Making a decision to gain experience in your major or field of interest is the key to unlocking your success in the professional world. Experience may be the single most important factor in making informed career decisions.

 

Career Services is here to help guide you along this exciting path of

exploration and self discovery. Our website will provide you with the information, tools and resources to successfully enter the world of internships.

Internships are experiential learning experiences bridging the knowledge you learned in the class room with the opportunity to transfer theory into practice and develop industry specific skills. The term “internship” is used to refer to a real world work or service experience where learning takes place outside of the classroom and includes intentional learning goals. While students gain practical and or professional work experience, many internships are exploratory in nature and short term in length. They may be paid or unpaid and possibly qualify for academic credit.

An internship provides you with the opportunity to gain practical experience in your selected career field and builds your network of contacts. An internship experience can give you an advantage during the interview process and is sometimes a “foot in the door” to a full-time job upon graduation.

In today’s job market, experience is the key to your ultimate career success and is the competitive edge you’ll need to succeed once you graduate. College is great for building a solid foundation for your future, but to really understand what you are actually going to do when you graduate, you will need an internship. Experience may be the single most important factor in making informed career decisions. Internships make it possible for you to:

 

Career Services recommends doing an internship at least one semester prior to

graduation. Your junior year is the most desirable timeframe for gaining practical,

hands-on experience. At this level of your education you have completed several upper division courses and have acquired skills that you can offer to an employer. However, some employers offer internship opportunities as early as the summer following your freshman year or during your sophomore year. Participating in an internship early in your college career will offer you the added advantage of doing multiple internships before you graduate. From time to time, students can gain internship experience post graduation. However, this is somewhat rare and is only available in certain fields.

Internships are usually 4 months in length. Typically, internships are offered each

regular semester and during the summer. Some organizations only offer internships over the summer lasting 8-12 weeks. Involvement may be part-time, for as little as 10 –20 hours a week or full time (35-40 hours). Full time internships typically take place during the summer and are paid.

Internships can be paid or unpaid. Some internships provide a stipend at the end of the experience while others offer academic credit only. If you seek academic credit for an internship, you must get approval from the faculty internship coordinator or the chair of your department. If gaining academic credit, you will enroll in the appropriate internship class and pay tuition for that class.