So you are almost there! This is the exciting part! You have finally found the perfect internship and you can't wait to get started so how do you get it set up with school.
If you start to ask other students it becomes pretty clear that many of them will never do an internship so they aren't really sure what you do. Some will start telling you it is a lot of paperwork or that the process takes a long time.
At this point you are starting to feel like maybe you should just give up! It already took so long to find an internship and then making sure it was the right internship for you. You may start to loose hope and think about just let the little voices of doubt take over and have a party. But wait...
Here is a secret and you have to promise to not tell a soul! This is the easy part. Finding the right internship was the hardest part of process. Really! I promise you that I am not lying. I'll give you all the steps involved so you are prepared for the process of getting that great internship approved.
Step 1 - Contact your Academic Adviser
You can actually contact your adviser before you find an internship! You let them know you have potential interest in getting an internship and they will send you the internship packet before you even start looking for an internship. This is a smart way to handle the situation. Why? Because not every internship would qualify as an acceptable internship. I did not personally do it this way because I attended on of our amazing webinars that had taught me what would be an acceptable internship.
Since you have already found what you believe to be an acceptable internship, the first thing you want to do is email or call your adviser to let them know about the internship offer. Your adviser will send you the Photography Internship Packet along with an email of questions that needs to be filled out and sent over to the Photography Internship Coordinator, Effi Karkaidos.
Step 2 - Initial contact Email sent to the Photography Internship Coordinator
After you have read over the PDF Internship Packet you will copy the template email sent over by your adviser and sent it to Effi. It first asks for your contact information as well as that of your adviser. The email has some important questions you must answer about your current status with the school as well as the internship. Here are a few of those important questions.
- Have you completed 75 credits worth of core Photography courses?
This one is a biggie! You need to make sure with your adviser at some point that you are on
track to do this around the time that doing an internship will work for you. There will be more discussion about time in another section.
- Have you discussed your eligibility to enroll in the Internship course with your Academic Adviser?
While Effi is glad to answer questions you do need to work with your adviser to make sure
you are fully able to do your internship before submitting this email.
- Why are you interested in an Internship?
This question actually has 7 different reasons why you want to have an internship you choose
between 1 - 7 on what is the most important reason to you. A few of those topics are as to
earn 3 credits towards my degree, to earn a wage, to build my portfolio. None of this has a
wrong or a right answer so be honest!
There are three important foot notes on this email as well.
1. You must find your own internship. It isn't Effi's place to find one for you.
2. You can't intern for your own business or that of a spouse or close family member.
3. You must gain approval for your internship if you want to receive credit for it!
Not to leave you in suspense but just like I had to wait for my reply email from Effi the rest of the steps to apply for your internship comes next week! (Yes Effi's return email was faster)!
As always I look forward to your questions and comments!!
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