Internship Tips for English Majors

by Jizelle Villegas ’26

Looking for internship opportunities can be daunting. Should you apply for a fall, spring or summer internship? Are you willing to do an unpaid one and get course credit for it? Or would you rather it be paid? These are just some of the many questions English majors ask themselves as they look for an internship to dedicate their time to. 

I have my own, sometimes tedious, experience with applying for internships. After my fall semester of my sophomore year, I applied for a remote internship with Deep Vellum Publishing, a Dallas-based nonprofit publishing company. I had just wrapped up taking Steve Woodward’s Literary Publishing class and felt that it was a good time to apply for an opportunity, and it just so happened that my hometown publishing company was looking for an intern. As with most, if not all, internships, you just need to submit a cover letter about the position you’re applying for and a resume. I applied for three roles: Production, Editorial and Marketing. Within two weeks, I had heard back and was informed that I received a Production Intern role. The internship would be during my spring semester, consisted of 20 hours a week, and was (unfortunately) unpaid. 

Despite this, I was excited for the experience I was about to embark on. I had already registered for four classes, but I found out through Career Services on campus that you can register an internship for up to four credits, depending on the hours per week. Once I realized the commitment of my internship, I decided registering my internship for four credits and dropping a class during Add/Drop would be the best option. 

If you are interested in registering an internship for credit during the semester, you will need to find a faculty member within the English department who will support you throughout the semester. Try to ask a professor that you’ve taken a class or two with and have a good relationship with. Having them as your internship advisor will also help you grow a working relationship with them. 

Now, almost a year after completing my internship, I have some reflections on the experience. First, I personally don’t recommend doing an unpaid internship during the semester. The kind of work that I did, which consisted of reading many manuscripts, learning the editing style of Deep Vellum and attending weekly meetings, felt like work that should have been paid. Though it was nice to get four credits, I’ve realized I could have taken a class to fulfill my majors and/or minors, but it hasn’t set me back by that much. Also, a remote position might not be the most motivating for you if you’re not getting paid, which is a valid concern. 

I will say it is hard to find internships that pay, especially if you’re looking at publishing internships that aren’t with the big publishing houses (I’m looking at you, Penguin Random House). It took Penguin four months just to notify me that the internship position I applied for had closed. At that point, I wasn’t even considering them as an option. 

Handshake is a decent resource to find internships, but a lot of the options might be out of state. This is also another thing to consider: are you able to relocate for an internship or would it need to be local? If the internship you’re applying for only offers a stipend, you can apply for the Macalester Summer Internship Grant, but applications are due at the end of February for almost every academic year. This year, applications were due on February 24th. You don’t need to have an internship confirmed, but it’s good to have this option if you do end up accepting an offer and need funds to help you throughout the summer. 

Currently, one of our own student workers, Sarah Tachau ’27, has a Button Poetry internship registered for credit. For her internship, she works10 hours a week, which is four credits. I asked her how balancing her three classes with this internship is going. She said: “It’s been a lot easier than I expected to balance the internship with my classes. The way I think of it is that the amount of time I’m devoting to Button is about how much I’d be spending in/ doing work for another class. That certainly depends on the class, though.” This is the mindset I had too, so other English students might be thinking along the same lines when considering how their workload for the semester will be.

As I said earlier, I wouldn’t recommend doing an unpaid internship and only get credits for it, but Sarah will get a small stipend at the end of the semester, so this is one difference in our experiences. She also gets to go in person to Button Poetry, which is an exciting perk. As for recommending interning during the school year, she said “I would recommend it, as the opportunity to get off campus (even to an office building) has been really nice, and it’s expanded my view of the area between the Twin Cities. I would certainly plan it alongside the expected workload of the classes you’re thinking of taking.” With her insight, it seems that getting a local internship in the Twin Cities might be a better experience instead of solely remote work. 

Sarah also took Prof. Woodward’s Literary Publishing class! If you have time next fall semester, you should definitely take it, as it is a great entry point to different aspects of the publishing industry. Because of her experience in the class, she said that “this internship has built beautifully on what I learned with Prof. Woodward.”

Since this is all about internships, I reached out to Marcos Cruz, who works in Career Exploration, and he and Sara Rodriguez, Internship Program Manager, provided some insights about some internship trends for English and Creative Writing majors. 

Cruz provided us with some general advice. He said: “When creative folks are looking for internships, I advise them that the communities that they are often looking to join are tight-knit. You are not going to connect by typing up applications into a keyboard, and so I encourage folks to arrange virtual or in person meetings, go to events and be present. While folks tend to be stretched thin, they are also usually very open to answering your questions, since they were in your shoes, trying to make the decisions you are about to make.”

As for the types of internships students in our department apply for and get accepted for, Rodriguez said that they consist of “editorial internships, communications/ content creation internships and development internships.” Roles like this “require attention to detail and creating compelling messaging.” 

When it comes to students completing internships either during the school year or summer, Sara said: “Overall, it looks like students tend to complete the internships throughout the school year.” That seems to be fairly true, us English majors and minors like to keep busy. 

To wrap up on Cruz’s and Rodriguez’s perspectives, Cruz said: “I am seeing a lot of editing, writing, content creation, education. Anecdotally, I will say these types of internships tend to be very competitive so folks can’t rely on just being good to get noticed. Someone at these organizations has to have a sense of how good you are and can champion your skill set through the process.” Though this is a lot of information to take into consideration, putting yourself out there through applying for internships can help you build skills in your writing, articulation and create vast ideas for future endeavors.

I hope Rodriguez, Cruz, Tachau, and I could provide illuminating opinions and outlooks on internships. Don’t stress out if you can’t find one that you want to apply for. There is always something out there for us, whether that be an opportunity during the semester, summer or even post graduation.