Internships in Political Science
The requirements for the bachelor's degree in political science include 12 credit hours of political science electives above and beyond courses taken to satisfy specific course, distribution and concentration requirements. One excellent way to acquire 3 to 6 of these elective political science credit hours is by arranging to do an internship in an acceptable political science-relevant organization for academic credit. Internships not only provide valuable practical experience in applying some of the "book learning" acquired in your political science course work but also give the student the opportunity to make contacts that may later be valuable after graduation in the search for that first job. Internships are generally done during the junior or senior year (or during the summer in between). How are internships arranged? Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to locating an internship:
- Students often take the initiative themselves to contact elected national, state or local political officials, government administrators, lobbying organizations, non-profit organizations, law firms, political campaign organizations or whatever and ask for an internship position.
- A limited number of internship positions are available each year from organizations that contact our department asking for interns to be assigned to them. Students interested in these positions need to complete an application and return it to Dr. William Kelly at least one month before the beginning of the semester in which the internship is to begin.
Important! You have to be approved in advance by Dr. Kelly and successfully complete an application process before you will be eligible to receive academic credit for either kind of internship. It is absolutely essential that arrangements for academic credit be made with Dr. Kelly at least one month prior to the beginning of the internship. You cannot arrange to get credit after the internship is already begun. You must negotiate with Dr. Kelly in advance to determine both the number of credit-hours to register you for and the specific requirements for the written work to be turned in as the basis for your grade. All internships are graded pass/fail; each intern makes his/her own specific contract with Dr. Kelly but in general the student will be required to produce a paper or papers in which he or she uses the internship to reflect on the relationship between theory and practice — that is, compares and contrasts what has been learned in class with what is experienced or observed on the job in the internship.
Dr. William Kelly kellywe@auburn.edu
Internship Director
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Last updated September 19, 2007