How to subsidize my internship?
June 17, 2010 11:23 AM Subscribe
Hi there,
I'm currently a first-year Political Science major with a pre-law focus, and am very involved in my school's Mock Trial and pre-law fraternity.
I've always wanted to work for The Innocence Project, and that's still my goal after graduation. On the internship page, it says, "We encourage using the internship to gain course credit and to seek “work-study” grants with your educational institution, if that is an option."
How do I go about this?
I know schools like UWashington and Harvard use Federal Work Study money to sponsor students to work for non-profits during the summer term.
As of yet, my school doesn't have anything like this, but I'm hoping to draft a proposal that would sponsor my internship with the Innocence Project for the summer of 2011.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Or any other suggestions for offsetting the costs of an unpaid internship?
Thanks so much for the help.
I know schools like UWashington and Harvard use Federal Work Study money to sponsor students to work for non-profits during the summer term.
As of yet, my school doesn't have anything like this, but I'm hoping to draft a proposal that would sponsor my internship with the Innocence Project for the summer of 2011.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Or any other suggestions for offsetting the costs of an unpaid internship?
Thanks so much for the help.
Best answer: If you qualify for a federal work-study job, talk to your financial aid office. Usually you also need to write a paper about your summer so the school can give you course credit, and therefore have you qualify to receive the aid money. You can also usually apply work-study towards work at a nonprofit (instead of an on-campus job) during the school year, but they will have to pay a portion of your paycheck, 10% or 50% depending on certain other factors. But go talk to your financial aid office to find out what your school can do for you.
posted by stopgap at 11:28 AM on June 17, 2010
posted by stopgap at 11:28 AM on June 17, 2010
It's been awhile since I was in law school, but I have three suggestions:
1) Are you friendly with an academic dean? If so, or if someone in the law school administration manages internships or clinical programs or even job placements, I'd make an appointment with said person to discuss what kind of individual program might work.
2) If no one in law school administration would be helpful or is available, how about talking to a criminal law professor about supporting this idea as an academic project for which you could earn credit?
3) You might want to ask the Innocence Project directly for suggestions about fulfilling their recommendations at your law school. And if they know of independent funding sources, too.
Good luck. They do good work. And welcome to law, where public interest work tends to pay the least.
posted by bearwife at 11:31 AM on June 17, 2010
1) Are you friendly with an academic dean? If so, or if someone in the law school administration manages internships or clinical programs or even job placements, I'd make an appointment with said person to discuss what kind of individual program might work.
2) If no one in law school administration would be helpful or is available, how about talking to a criminal law professor about supporting this idea as an academic project for which you could earn credit?
3) You might want to ask the Innocence Project directly for suggestions about fulfilling their recommendations at your law school. And if they know of independent funding sources, too.
Good luck. They do good work. And welcome to law, where public interest work tends to pay the least.
posted by bearwife at 11:31 AM on June 17, 2010
Karminai, I'm sorry I missed that you are actually not yet in law school -- it isn't that you didn't say it clearly. I'd make the same suggestions regarding school administration and professors etc. for your college/university, though.
posted by bearwife at 11:34 AM on June 17, 2010
posted by bearwife at 11:34 AM on June 17, 2010
I would go ahead and apply for the internship - not right now, they're probably not yet thinking about next summer, since their Summer 2010 interns are probably just starting.
Then, I would go to your school's financial aid office and see if there's anyone there interested in working to change this policy. Other places to try might be the career development center, the academic dean, and whatever dean is in charge of community service projects. See if you can find someone who's willing to take this up and make it happen. This will probably be easier at a small school.
If you're at a larger school, or it just looks like it's not going to happen, I would go back to all those folks and see if anyone knows of grant opportunities for students working with nonprofits. I remember from my college days that some of these did exist, but unfortunately it's been a while and I don't remember the specifics. Idealist is also a good place to look.
posted by lunasol at 12:31 PM on June 17, 2010
Then, I would go to your school's financial aid office and see if there's anyone there interested in working to change this policy. Other places to try might be the career development center, the academic dean, and whatever dean is in charge of community service projects. See if you can find someone who's willing to take this up and make it happen. This will probably be easier at a small school.
If you're at a larger school, or it just looks like it's not going to happen, I would go back to all those folks and see if anyone knows of grant opportunities for students working with nonprofits. I remember from my college days that some of these did exist, but unfortunately it's been a while and I don't remember the specifics. Idealist is also a good place to look.
posted by lunasol at 12:31 PM on June 17, 2010
karminai, this isn't precisely on-point, but I think I should point out that there is absolutely no need for you to focus on "pre-law" courses or internships to get into law school. Absolutely none. Anecdotes aren't data, but I was a political science major with a foreign affairs focus, and I ended up going to a top-tier law school. My friends at that school were biology majors, theater majors, former engineers, communications majors, and so on.
You'll learn the law in law school. The important thing in undergrad is to do well in whatever interests you. If there's really nothing you'd rather do than take pre-law classes, then go for it - but understand that they simply won't give you much of an advantage in law school. The way law school teaches law and the way that undergrad teaches law tend to be very different things.
More important, I think there's real value in being a well-rounded human being, and bringing something to law school that *isn't* just a pre-law background. Study art, or science, or marketing, or international development. Knowing a lot about something that *isn't* law will be a tremendous help to you in law school.
As for the Innocence Project - if you're sure that's what you want to do after law school, then by all means go for an undergrad internship now. It's a fine shop, doing work that's well worth doing. But understand that college changes you, and law school changes you more - there's no harm in exploring interests outside of the Innocence Project now. This is especially so since many law schools have non-competitive volunteer programs that let you review convict applications as a law student during the year. You will have many, many opportunities to burnish your resume for The Innocence Project over the next seven (or more) years.
posted by Mr. Excellent at 12:37 PM on June 17, 2010
You'll learn the law in law school. The important thing in undergrad is to do well in whatever interests you. If there's really nothing you'd rather do than take pre-law classes, then go for it - but understand that they simply won't give you much of an advantage in law school. The way law school teaches law and the way that undergrad teaches law tend to be very different things.
More important, I think there's real value in being a well-rounded human being, and bringing something to law school that *isn't* just a pre-law background. Study art, or science, or marketing, or international development. Knowing a lot about something that *isn't* law will be a tremendous help to you in law school.
As for the Innocence Project - if you're sure that's what you want to do after law school, then by all means go for an undergrad internship now. It's a fine shop, doing work that's well worth doing. But understand that college changes you, and law school changes you more - there's no harm in exploring interests outside of the Innocence Project now. This is especially so since many law schools have non-competitive volunteer programs that let you review convict applications as a law student during the year. You will have many, many opportunities to burnish your resume for The Innocence Project over the next seven (or more) years.
posted by Mr. Excellent at 12:37 PM on June 17, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
It is very likely that your school has a career center (called "Career and Community Learning Center" for many schools). They will often have the best leads for internships and other career opportunities. There are many programs that will allow you to gain school credit for various internships, this will not be too big a problem for this office.
posted by Think_Long at 11:28 AM on June 17, 2010