What is an Internship?

An internship is a career-related learning experience that provides an excellent opportunity for students to gain “real world” experience and to explore a variety of career fields. The academic internship program at Purchase College is designed to give students practical experience in their area of academic study or in other fields of interest.

Time commitments for on-site experience typically range between 3 and 10 hours per week during the course of the semester.  Credit-bearing internships are supervised both within the work setting and by a Purchase College faculty member.

Academic internships may be paid or unpaid in accordance with the US Department of Labor.  An internship can be both paid and for academic credit.  The Career Development Center strongly encourages for-profit internship sites to offer students compensation of at least minimum wage.  Non-profit organizations are also encouraged to compensate interns and if unable  to offer a stipend, travel reimbursement, or housing expenses for a summer program. Please refer to the NACE Position Statement on the need for all internships to be paid and NACE’s Guide to Internships.