Career services provides help
Internships are seen as a vital part of a college education today. According to the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University, about 50 percent of new full-time jobs are offered to candidates from the intern pool.
Meredith Durden, a senior Risk Management and Insurance major from Montgomery, attended an internship program last summer. Her internship involved underwriting insurance policies in the excess and surplus lines marketplace.
“The internship was one the most personal and professionally rewarding experiences of my life,” said Durden. “I learned effective communication skills, how to network with everyone from CEOs to fellow interns and how to utilize an analytical mindset to provide coverage for unique risks.”
Durden was one of two interns selected from the program to participate in an internship in London this year.
Lauren Cole, coordinator of the career services, said the career services office provides individual sessions to students who need help improving their resumes, in order to apply for internships. Students can sign up for sessions with a career counselor through a scheduling service called Handshake on the career services’ website.
Handshake also has a list of job and internship postings for students. The career services office conducts mock interviews for those in the final stages of their job or internship applications.
Additionally, helpful tips, sample resumes and personal statements can be downloaded from the career services website.
Apart from making students more employable, internships can help them test a career path without serious commitment.
Most of these summer research and internship applications require a personal statement, a resume and a letter of recommendation from a professor or employer. The deadline usually ranges from early February to late March. Most of these internships provide stipends and some even have provisions for providing college credits.
Many departments at Troy also list available internships for students major on their respective departmental webpage.
Internships help obtain jobs
Students in the Science Technology Enginnering and Mathematics (STEM)usually participate in research experiences in universities and research labs similar to the internship programs.
These experiences also help prepare students for graduate school, according to Richard Sizelove, a senior mathematics major from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who participated in a summer research opportunity called REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) at Emory University.
“I have seen directly that my research has helped me with my graduate school application because a lot of graduate schools I applied to have shown interest in the research program I participated in,” Sizelove said.
“In the sciences, students have an opportunity to attend various national labs or research institutions as part of the REU program,” said Govind Menon, director of the School of Science and Technology and chair of the physics and chemistry departments.
Menon said REU programs expose students to advanced instrumentation and research groups that may not be otherwise accessible. Competitive graduate programs in the sciences view these research experiences as a vetting tool to filter through the dedicated and diligent students.
Sizelove’s work was in biostatistics and involved neuroimaging and designing clinical trials.
According to Sizelove, summer research programs are basically intended for students who do not have research opportunities at their home institutions.
A comprehensive list of summer programs funded by the National Science foundation (NSF) can be found in its website listed according to its field.
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