Tips for SMFA First-Years
To be honest, my first year at SMFA at Tufts was a bumpy road. I laughed a lot, cried a lot, but most importantly, I learned countless important life…
Doing an Internship during an Academic Semester
This semester, I’m doing an internship along with my regular classes. Technically, it’s still considered a class since I’m getting credit for it. I’m majoring in International Relations (IR) and Community Health (CH), and for my CH major, I’m required to do an Internship as part of the graduation requirements. More specifically, all CH major students have to complete a 150-hour internship at a site of their choosing. Since I’m interested in health law as a career and pursuing law in the future, I decided to intern at the Greater Boston Legal Services. I’ve been interning for almost a month and I wanted to share a couple of tips if you’re interested in doing an internship during the academic semester (doesn’t have to be for CH majors only, applies to any internship!).
1. Time Management! This is a big one that covers a lot of areas. First, think about how it will fit into your schedule. Thinking about balance, make sure you are dedicating enough time for classes, work/other responsibilities, social life, and self-care time. It’s easier said than done, but creating a schedule that’s too packed can lead you to burn out quickly. Additionally, time management also includes transportation! Due to COVID-19, a lot of internships are remote/virtual so transportation time may not be a factor to think about. However, if you have an in-person internship, transportation time adds up, so you’ll want to plan your schedule accordingly! As you begin your internship, you’ll begin to get a feel of the schedule and manage your time better!
2. Actually like the work you’re doing! Okay, this one might be hard at times since interns don’t get the best tasks sometimes. However, because you’re doing this for class credit, it’s a great opportunity to network and develop a better sense of what you want to do! Taking advantage of the opportunity to be able to work in a professional setting before graduating is helpful. It’s like a ‘sample’ of what working in a field you’re interested in may look like. Depending on the experience, it may solidify your interests or cause you to shift some parts of your career plan. Regardless, getting professional working experience is valuable so you should spend some time searching for a site where you’ll be actually interested in the work!
It’s definitely not required to do an internship during the academic semesters in college (unless it’s part of your graduation requirements!). However, it can definitely add to the experience and build your resume, network, and, most importantly, an insight into what you want to do. It can be difficult to imagine exactly what you want to do with your major, and doing an internship is like dipping your toes in the water.
