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Career Development: Internship Support
La Follette internship support encourages students to strengthen their career preparedness and broaden their placement opportunities by actively seeking rewarding and prestigious internships in federal government agencies, international organizations, or national offices of non-governmental organizations, when these internships offer little or no salary compensation. The fellowships are intended to defray some part of the higher costs of investing in these sorts of internship experiences in Washington, D.C., New York City, other major centers in the United States, and foreign countries. Internship fellowships are limited in number. Students should invest in the most suitable internship experiences to advance their career goals, even if they are not selected for fellowship support.
Tuition Fees and Stipend
Students with approved summer internships earn three academic credits by registering for PA 827 Administrative Internship for three credits in a summer session. Internship fellowships include tuition fees for PA 827 and an small stipend. Internship Fellows receiving no salary compensation are guaranteed a minimum stipend of $2,000 for the summer internship; those earning some salary compensation receive the difference between that compensation and $2,000. Depending on availability of funds, stipends may be augmented, but successful fellowship applicants must not condition internship acceptance on an augmented stipend. Whether the stipend is augmented above $2,000 and by how much may not be known until late May. Students accepting internships that pay more than the sum of $3,000 plus summer tuition fees for PA 827 are not eligible for fellowship support. In normal circumstances, stipends are paid before July 1.
Eligibility
Students are eligible for internship fellowships in the summer between their first and second years of study in the MPA or MIPA program. In evaluating applications for fellowship awards, the Summer Internship Fellowships Committee, which includes the associate director and career development coordinator, takes into account academic performance and career development focus. The latter is evidenced by timely submission, careful resume preparation, suitable cover letters, and strong internship search effort. Fellowships are awarded to students, not internships, but not all internships are eligible for fellowship support. Students are encouraged to apply widely for suitable internships, but the Summer Internship Fellowship application should list only those internships consistent with the purpose of fellowship support, described above. If successful fellowship applicants ultimately choose to accept an internship outside that scope or one that is too highly compensated to be eligible for fellowship support, support will be reallocated to fellowship alternates. To be eligible for fellowship support, students must work full time for an internship term of at least eight weeks. Students should be aware that many agencies prefer interns to work for a longer term, often ten weeks.
Application Procedures
Some of the most interesting and competitive summer internships have application deadlines in November. We encourage students to actively search and conscientiously prepare applications for internships. The first deadline for Summer Internship Fellowship applications will be sometime around the end of March. After this date, applications are accepted, considered, and awarded on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted. Fellowship applicants may also be listed as alternates. Fellowship applications are available at the Career Development Office, and applicants are encouraged to discuss their application with the career development coordinator before submitting it.