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Planning Your Internship

Getting Started

  • Map out your academic plan to brainstorm when you’d like to complete an internship. Your major, class schedule, study away plans, and additional jobs/work all affect your ability and capacity to complete an internship in any given term. 
  • Determine your search parameters for an internship. Do you have any specific skills, passions, or career interests that you’d like to further explore and develop through an internship? Where would you like to be geographically? Are you looking for an in-person, remote, or hybrid experience? Does compensation affect your ability to participate in an internship? 
  • Finding and securing an internship takes time! Meet with a Career Advisor or attend one of our bi-semester “Finding an Internship” workshops well in advance of the term in which you’d like to complete an internship.
  • Are you an international student here on a student visa? You will need CPT authorization in order to pursue an internship. Luckily, it’s a very easy process! However, we do recommend that you meet with ISP and/or Career Exploration prior to beginning your internship search in order to understand how CPT may impact the search process as well as registration.

Factors to Consider

  • Internships for credit may begin as early as the summer after your first year. During your first year at Macalester, we want you to focus on being a student!
  • You can complete a 4-credit internship as one of your four primary classes during the fall or spring semesters. You may also wish to add a 1 or 2-credit internship on top of your four 4-credit class schedule if you can realistically commit to the required number of hours. 
  • You can complete a study away program that includes an internship. 
  • You are able to register for an internship during the January term. These are generally easier to secure if they are an extension of your fall or spring internship, but it is a great time period to complete internship work without the added time commitment and stress of classes. 
  • Summer internships are fantastic opportunities to complete full-time internships, and often there are more positions available during this period. Tuition is charged for registered credits during the summer, but many situations qualify for tuition to be waived.