Undergraduate Internships
Internships allow you to gain valuable work experience and apply your knowledge and skills in your potential field and make professional connections with others in your industry; internships also allow you to test-drive an industry to ensure that it is the best fit for you.
As an English major, you are cultivating skills and knowledge that will help you stand out and excel at your career, such as effective communication, research and analysis skills, and independent and creative-complex thinking, and you can enhance these skills through an internship. In general, interning and volunteering show potential employers that you are committed to your future and are actively learning more about your career path, and this gives you more weight in their employment considerations.
EN 3333 (internships and elective credit) at MSU:
Students can complete an internship independent of EN 3333, or they can complete an internship while taking EN 3333 and earn English elective credit and have the internship noted on their transcript. Typically, there are paid and unpaid internships, and both types can receive course credit if the student is enrolled in EN 3333 and if the internship adheres to the course parameters for EN 3333. In order to receive course credit, students must take EN 3333 during their internship term and complete the course guidelines along with their internship. (Please contact the Internship Coordinator for your options if your internship occurs during the summer or fall instead of the spring.)
EN 3333 offers junior and senior English majors and minors with a GPA of 2.8 or higher the opportunity to apply for placement in a semester-long English internship for three (3) academic credit hours (English elective credit). The internship course consists of supervised work experience and realistic job training of at least 120 hours in related English areas and 30 hours of coursework during the semester, with evaluations by both instructor and supervisor. Students must receive the permission of the instructor of EN 3333 in order to add the course to their spring schedule.
The benefits of the course EN 3333 (in addition to the course elective credit) include offering a network of support via a community of interns and instructor along with reflective work that will help hone students’ professional abilities. Our current interns have had varied experiences that have cultivated their professional abilities and taught them invaluable lessons before entering the work force.
Independent Internship Information (without course credit):
English students can, of course, complete internships apart from the Internship course, and these students are still encouraged to discuss their options with the internship coordinator to ensure the best internship experience possible. In addition, students who are interested in internships but are unsure how to proceed are welcome to meet with the internship coordinator in order to get an idea of their options.
Available Funding: The College of Arts and Sciences is currently offering undergraduate grants to help fund internships. Please ask the Internship Coordinator for more information.
For further information, please contact Internship Coordinator L. Abigail Voller at lav9@english.msstate.edu to set up an appointment.
If you are a declared English major, then you can check out the English@Work Canvas page for more information on internships and professional development – the page is available on your Canvas Dashboard.
If you are an English minor or an English Secondary Education major and would like to be able to access the English@Work Canvas page, then please email the Internship Coordinator with your request to be added.
