Thursday, December 8, 2016

This is the time to find a summer internship

The holiday break is the perfect time to identify and apply for summer research internships.  Application deadlines will begin in February and stretch through the Spring, but now is a great time to line up faculty letters of support (you usually need two of them) and the time off during break can be used to put together your applications.

Biology graduates Caitlin Duncan and
Emily Lundquist at Stone Labs on Lake
Erie in the summer of 2014
Summer research internships are competitive, but our students have a great track record of taking part in these great opportunities.  Use the Summer Research Internship tag on this blog to see examples of where our students have gone in the past.  It is best to apply to multiple opportunities to increase your chance of getting one.  Most University-based research internships last 10-weeks and cover travel costs, room and board and pay a stipend.  Science-related internships with companies also usually pay a salary.

So how do you find internship opportunities to apply to?  University-based internships are usually funded by the National Science Foundation and can be searched on this site.  This site from Texas A&M University is excellent for searching wildlife and fisheries related internships.  We also post opportunities on this Blog, as well as on our Facebook page and Twitter feed using #auinternships.  All of our social media is auto-posted to Twitter, so that is the best single location to find all opportunities we post.

Be sure to ask your academic advisor if you have questions about the internship search process and good luck!