Ryan Buttone at computerThe Internship courses are open for Geography and Environmental Studies majors that are doing a internship relevant to Geography or Environmental Studies. Please set up an appointment with any of the advisors (Prof. Rennermalm, Prof. O'Keefe, and Prof. Gabriel) to learn more.

Read the advice of a former Rutgers Geography student Ryan Buttone.

 

The internship course

To do the internship, you first need to find an internship that is relevant to the Geography or Environmental Studies programs. So, it will require a bit of work for you before you can take the course. But don't give up! An internship can be very rewarding and internship experience is often highly valued by future employers. Lots of students have managed to find internships. You can do it too!

All students wishing to register for an internship must obtain a special permission number in person from the Department Secretary. Ask anyone of the advising team for assistance

Students may register for 1, 2 or 3 credits per internship. A 3-credit internship involves approximately 112 hours of work, based on 8 hours/week for a 14-week semester. The organization offering the internship can be either public or private. In either case, students who receive academic credit for their internship cannot be paid.

Here is the process broken down in steps

  1. Find an internship where you will work approximately 100 hours over a semester or summer. You can work more hours, but we only need about 100 for the internship course. (see some suggestions below)
  2. Don't get discouraged or give up if you don't get an internship immediately. Searching for an internship will take some time, but it will be very useful when you start searching for a job. 
  3. Check-in with me, or one of the other advisors to confirm that the internship is relevant to your geography degree.
  4. Secure the internship and put us in contact with your supervisor at the company/institute/organization where you will be an intern. We will draft an agreement with them that outlines expectations and deliverables. 
  5. We will set up a 3-credit internship course for you. If your internship is in the summer, we can set up the course during the summer or in the fall semester. Since finding and doing starting an internship may not fit completely with the University semester system, we can set up the course outside of the add/drop period
  6. At the conclusion of the internship, you will prepare a report about the internship. We will set your grade, which will be based on your report and a statement from your internship supervisor.  See more details about the report below

Tips on how to find an internship?

Use the resources by Rutgers Career services: https://careers.rutgers.edu/

They regularly have internship career fairs, they offer resume writing resources, and you get a one-on-one advising session. Internship opportunities are posted in Handshake.  https://app.joinhandshake.com/auth?auth=590 

Also explore the website for organizations/companies/institutions where you want to work. Big organizations typically have internship programs, e.g. Doctors without borders, the red-cross, the American Association of Geographers, American Geographical society. Several Rutgers Undergraduates have had internships at Middlesex County, and New Jersey Department of Environment. Here are some links. 

https://jobs.doctorswithoutborders.org/go/Office-Internships/8060900/

https://www.redcross.org/local/new-york/greater-new-york/volunteer/internship-program.html

http://www.aag.org/internships

https://americangeo.org/initiatives/student-scholar-internship/

 

Information we need from your supervisor at the internship company/institute/organization.

  • Confirmation that the student
    • will work at least 90-100 hours over a fall/summer/winter/spring semester
    • will be part of the working environment
    • will apply/expand/acquire college-level skills
    • will learn about potential career choices
    • have a supervisor/contact person
  • Confirmation that the supervisor/contact person will provide a statement about the student's work performance at the end of the semester to the undergraduate program director. 

Internship report

  • Your report should be a minimum of 2,500 words, excluding figures, maps, or tables. Please submit your internship report as both a Microsoft Word document and a PDF file.
  • Content Guidelines
    • Briefly introduce your internship role and the organization where you interned.
    • Describe what a typical day was like during your internship, including your main tasks and responsibilities.
    • Highlight any unique or interesting experiences you had during the internship that contributed to your professional or personal growth.
    • Discuss what you have learned during your internship, including skills gained and how the experience has influenced your perspective on your future career.
    • Please include one or more photographs related to your work experience if you have any. This could be an action shot of you performing a task or a more casual photo of your workspace.
    • If applicable and permitted by your internship organization, include sample work like figures, maps, or tables to support your report.