Maximize Your Internship

Congratulations on finding and securing your internship! This is where the fun begins. How can you make the most of your time at the organization? Whether this is your first professional work environment, or you have had multiple internships already, it is time to apply your coursework in a real-world context! Check out these resources for helpful tips and context:

• Intern Tips: A Guide to Making the Most Out of Your Internship This is an overview of what to expect during your internship, and it provides information and tips for each of the different stages you will likely experience during the course of your internship.  
• Independent Internship Resource Guide This contains resources for students who have secured an internship at an organization off-campus and will not receive academic credit or formalized supervision from a faculty member.  
• Internship Learning Goals: How to Make Them and Why They Matter This resource should be reviewed before completing an Internship Learning Agreement, and can be helpful even for students not doing internships for credit. 

If you are completing your internship for academic credit, make sure you have completed your Internship Learning Agreement via Handshake within the first two weeks of the term. Your supervisor needs to know what your learning goals are and make sure that those are in alignment with your agreed upon job description. If your faculty supervisor or internship coordinator have any questions or concerns about your experience, those can be addressed at the beginning of your time with that organization. And if it turns out that there are organizational difficulties with getting the paperwork signed, this gives UP staff and faculty time to work with the employer (this does happen more often than you might think).