The Internship Process

Getting an internship is an important part of the college experience. It allows you to get job exposure without all of the pressure. Luckily, McDaniel makes it pretty simple to get an internship and is very helpful! I will share with you how my internship process has gone as a psychology major, and I believe it is similar for other majors as well. The psychology department has an awesome internship packet set up for students. They have several pages of local companies and programs that offer internships in a variety of different categories. For psychology, the packet is broken into sections such as Behavioral Programs, Drug Abuse, Children, etc. It makes it easier to pick an internship that you may possibly be interested in. So that is where the school helps you start, and then it is kind of up to you to take over. The internship packet has all the contact information listed as well, so the next step is emailing the place and letting them know you are interested. It is best to also ask when there is a good time to meet, that way you can make a good impression in person, and check out the location and the environment. Once you meet with all of your options and find a good fit, continue staying in contact. It goes pretty quickly after that! You figure out times that fit into your schedule to go to your internship on a weekly basis, make sure it works with that company, and BAM…you have an internship! Oh, I almost forgot the most important part. When you have an internship figured out, you can let your academic advisor know and they will work with you to tell you what you need to receive credit! In my experience, you have to get  your academic advisor and internship advisor to sign a paper, figure out how many hours you worked, and write a little summary about what you did, and you are set. Then you have nice looking internship credits on your transcript! As long as you are persistent, committed, polite and respectful, getting an internship is usually not a problem. It is a great aspect of college that everyone should really take advantage of, and as you can see, McDaniel makes it nice and easy!