An academic internship is a credit-bearing, career-related work experience of limited duration in which an individual takes on responsible roles outside of the traditional university environment. Academic internships may take place in a nonprofit organization, government office, or for-profit business. Depending on the employer, some internships are paid.
Rising sophomores, juniors, or seniors may earn academic credit for internships during the fall, spring, or summer terms.
Once you receive approval from the Career Connections Center for your academic internship, apply through the ISSO Portal to receive CPT from ISSO.
Wait to receive your I-20 before starting your internship. The ISSO cannot backdate CPT applications. You are not legally allowed to work in the United States until you’ve received your I-20 with CPT work authorization.
Application Deadlines: While we accept applications on a rolling basis, the application deadline to avoid a later registration fee is one week before the drop/add deadline set by the University. This allows time to process your application and register on time. Go to Clark’s academic calendar.
Graduate students: If you are a graduate student, including graduating seniors in the summer of the ADP program, do not use this application process. Instead, work with your academic department to obtain credit.
International Students: The Academic Internship Program is available to undergraduate Clark students in good academic standing regardless of citizenship or immigration status. If you need CPT, please see the instructions above. For further questions about CPT, please contact ISSO.
“This internship has enabled me to engage with the field I want to pursue in a way that would not have been possible otherwise. It has highlighted the importance of working both in and out of the classroom. I honestly cannot emphasize enough the value that doing an internship has added to my college experience!”
– Kasyan Green
How did you first find out about your internship, and how did you secure this opportunity?
“I first found out about this internship opportunity via Indeed.com. Then, I recognized that my friend and Clark alum, John Pisacreta, works for the company. After talking to him and discovering that he also did an Accounting Internship for them, I figured it would be a good internship to apply for. I used his name as a reference and heard back from them soon after. The next steps were a phone screening interview and an on-site interview. A couple of weeks later, I received a call asking if I would like to accept the position.”
– Kyle Coughlin
How did your internship experience affect your perception of the industry or role, and how did it inform your future career goals/plans? Did it confirm what you want to do next? Did you decide to move in a different direction?
“This internship made me realize how much I love working in a startup. Even as hectic as it can get, everything is new and exciting and we have to be as flexible and supportive as we can when things don’t go exactly how we want it to be. Also, from this internship I’ve realized that I might want to pursue being a program manager.”
– Nadia Fakhrol
“Some of the highlights of my internship has been in the second week where I led a workshop on critical media literacy and one of my campers built a poster of inclusion and how they would want to see the world. Having been able to convey the biases of the media and how it affects people of color and seeing that reciprocated has been one of the best moments. Being able to engage all these campers from different cultures and backgrounds into such conversation has been a strength that I have developed.”
– Anisha Hassan
Has your academic component changed at all? If so, how?
I started the internship thinking I would research on if these resilience building programs work or not, however my paper has evolved to cultural competency, and how that is essential to working in a multicultural environment such as camp.”
– Anisha Hassan
Previous Site Supervisor Experiences
Was the student’s academic preparation adequate for the internship? Is there anything Clark University can do to ensure a better learning outcome and experience for future academic interns?
“Our intern has a strong understanding of creative writing, grammar, and communications which I am assuming is reflective of her education at Clark University. In addition to her academics, she also has amazing soft skills which will make her a great future employee for a lucky employer.”
– Pulse Magazine
“Our interns’ academic preparation was great for the internship. We look forward to working with future Clark University students and offering them internship opportunities at the Center.”
– Worcester Youth Center
“Our intern has set the bar very high for our next intern. Kudos to Clark for helping prepare her. Her academic preparation was exceptional.”
– Center for Health Impact
Academic department internship listings
Many academic departments and concentrations maintain lists of internship opportunities. Several also send out listings to students in the department via email. If you do not receive these emails, check with the administrative assistant in the department.
This list is not exhaustive; to find out about additional opportunities, check with your department or schedule an appointment with a Career Connections Center adviser by clicking this link.
The History department has a short list of internships as well as profiles of student research and internship experiences on the department website.
Holocaust and Genocide Studies keeps an extensive list of opportunities on the Career Development Blog. There are also profiles of student research and internship experiences on the department website.
Physics has a list of undergraduate research opportunities on its site.
Psychology has information on undergraduate research opportunities.
Screen Studies has internship and study abroad/away information on its site.
The Stevenish Career Management Center in the Graduate School of Management has information about past internships, career outcomes, events, and other resources.
