Graduate Students & Internships
The Learning Edge
Career Center Internship Resources
Internship Programs
The Learning Edge
Internships can play a crucial role in graduate student professional development. They provide valuable experience for graduate students, and can be beneficial in multiple ways. An internship offers an opportunity to gain relevant experience, and to get a realistic perspective on what it is like to work within a given field. If you decide to seek employment in your internship area, employers know you are making an informed choice, rather than a last-ditch, "anything other than academia" leap.
Not only are internships valuable in terms of skill development, another key advantage is that you can gain an insider perspective of the profession. This kind of exposure to the field can make the difference between being regarded as a viable candidate, as opposed to an enthusiastic, yet relatively uninformed applicant.
Employers place a high value on relevant skills and work experience. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that graduates who completed paid internships were more likely to receive job offers than those without internship experience.
Career Center Internship Resources
- Search Handshake our online database of jobs and internships.
- Review Internship Listings in specific fields.
- Make an appointment with a PhD Career Counselor for help identifying and applying for internships.
Internship Programs
The following list contains just a few organizations that offer internships for graduate students.
Remember that many companies offer internship programs. Visit the websites of organizations that interest you to search for internship and summer job programs for graduate students.
- Asian Development Bank
- HASTAC - Find internships in digital humanities for doctoral students. Fellowships and other opportunities are listed as well.
- Microsoft - Many internships are available for PhD students. The laboratory locations include Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, Redmond, Washington and Bangalore, India
- National Cancer Institute - The National Cancer Institute offers a variety of internship and fellowship training programs.
- Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) - See the summer internship and dissertation fellowship programs.
- RAND Graduate Student Summer Associate Program
- United Nations University PhD Internships
- World Bank - The World Bank features several training opportunities for PhD students, including a Bank Internship Program, and a Junior Professionals Program.
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