University of Oregon Internships: Launching Your Career

Internships offer a powerful avenue for University of Oregon students to gain a competitive edge in their future careers. By developing valuable job skills, acquiring practical work experience, and exploring potential career paths within a real-world environment, students can significantly enhance their professional prospects.

Resources for Finding Internships

The University of Oregon provides numerous resources to assist students in their internship search:

The UO Career Center: This center offers comprehensive career and job search assistance, providing strategies for career selection and connecting students with both local and global internship opportunities. Students can also earn academic credit for their internship experiences, potentially earning up to 12 upper-division credits in a 10-week term.
College of Arts and Sciences Hands-on Learning Scholarships: Students within the College of Arts and Sciences have the opportunity to apply for funding to support their participation in experiential learning opportunities, including internships.
GlobalWorks International Internships: Administered by the UO Global Studies Institute (GSI), this program facilitates internship placements in diverse industry sectors and locations worldwide. The program emphasizes customizable opportunities and guarantees placement in the student's preferred sector and location. Global Education Oregon (GEO) also offers computer science internship opportunities in a wide variety of career fields and locations around the world. Internship opportunities are highly customizable, and placement in your preferred career field and location is guaranteed.

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STEM Research and Lab in Saudi Arabia: Through King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), both undergraduate and graduate students from around the world, including those from the University of Oregon, can access funded internships in laboratory research. Interns at KAUST benefit from close faculty mentorship, access to cutting-edge laboratory equipment, and excellent amenities.
Pre-Med Shadowing in Spain and Italy: In partnership with Atlantis, this Clinical Fellowship provides AAMC-compliant physician shadowing in an international setting. Taking place over four weeks in the summer, the fellowship offers pre-health students the opportunity to experience global healthcare by shadowing doctors in a different specialty each week for at least 20 hours per week.
Global Health Internships: With less than half the global population covered by necessary health services, internships in Global Health allow students to experience work in their desired industry. This area of study focuses on prioritizing health and health equity across the globe. Global health challenges may include low rates of immunization, poor sanitation and waste management, unsafe drinking water and chronic, infectious, and vector-borne diseases.
Industry Partnerships: The Computer Science (CS) department seeks collaborations with employers to outline specific criteria for internships and to discover advantageous opportunities including correlations with coursework and student groups/clubs. Remote recruiting sessions are also hosted from 4:00 to 4:50 pm on Mondays during the academic year (September through June). These sessions are well attended by enthusiastic and qualified Computer Science, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Data Science majors.

The Benefits of Internships

Internships offer a multitude of benefits for both students and employers:

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Benefits for Students

Internships provide students with invaluable opportunities to:

Explore Careers in Areas of Interest: Internships allow students to experience work in their desired industry.
Clarify Career Objectives: Exploring a professional setting helps students clarify career objectives.
Apply Academic Learning: Students and companies partner to combine classroom studies with supervised work experience, allowing students to apply their learnings to real-world projects.
Develop Connections: Solidify networks.
Gain Familiarity with Industry-Grade Tools and Practices.
Hone Professional Skills: And potentially earn money.
Scout Potential Employers: And possibly receive subsequent employment offers
Get a Head Start: In actively shaping your career trajectory.
Build Relevant Experience: For their resumes.

Annie Neal, a Marketing and Creative Design Intern at GladRags in 2023, shared: "Throughout my internship, I was engaged in a diverse array of projects, including product photography, in-depth research, campaign leadership and the curation of collections. This has been an unforgettable experience, allowing me to grow both personally and professionally."

Benefits for Employers

Student internships also contribute positive value for businesses of all scales, providing opportunities to:

Scout Prospective Talent: For future hiring.
Gain Unique and Valuable Insights: From students with fresh perspectives.
Complete Tasks: Without disrupting primary workflows.
Try New Ideas/Innovations: In a low-stakes environment.
Access Cost-Effective Training/Onboarding: For new employees.
Help Shape Career Trajectories: Of students that are eager to learn.

GladRags, focused on positively transforming the experience of menstruation through reusable products and relevant education, has hosted Portland Internship Experience students every year since 2021. They were able to grow their small team by offering a job to Annie in 2023.

Research Opportunities with Faculty

Each faculty member provides their own research opportunities to students, especially PhD and master students. The faculty may also provide research projects for undergraduates, partially as a supplement for the undergraduate curriculum. Students involved in undergraduate research work on cutting-edge scientific problems as part of a team comprising faculty, PhD students, master students, and other undergraduates.

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Individual Study Courses in Computer Science

Out-of-classroom learning experiences can greatly enrich the undergraduate major; students are encouraged to explore 40x opportunities and to schedule an appointment to discuss any of them with a CS faculty advisor.

To register for an individual study course, students should fill out an Individualized Study Approval Form and review this with a CS advisor or faculty supervisor. Students must have completed CS 313 to be eligible to register for CS 40x courses. All 40x courses (except for some 407 seminars) require instructor approval. Signed forms should be submitted at the Computer Science office, where proposals will be processed. Courses numbered 400-409 may be taken for a maximum of 4 credits when used to satisfy this requirement. Courses numbered 399, 407, or 410 may be repeated only with different course subtitles.

Opportunities in Planning, Public Policy and Management (PPPM)

For Current PPPM Students: If you are currently enrolled as a degree candidate in the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management and want to learn more about internships and career services, visit the Current Student blog.

Internships offer students opportunities to explore and clarify career goals, apply academic learning, enhance and learn new skills, gain experience, and network with professionals. Completing an internship is an integral component of the Planning, Public Policy and Management curriculum.

Planning is the key to maximizing the benefits of an internship. We encourage students to research a range of potential opportunities and organizations to identify specific internships that best match their career interests. Once an internship is secured, students work in collaboration with PPPM internship faculty and their site supervisor to develop individualized learning goals and outline substantive tasks and responsibilities to support those goals.

Finding Internship Opportunities

Students often find internships by reaching out to their personal networks, as well. Consider your family, friends and their families, coaches, employers, and more. Ask around to see if people know anyone who works in a field you are interested in having experience with. Even "cold contacting" a desired place of work can be a great way to inquire about opportunities.

Career, internship, and summer job fairs occur throughout the academic year. Stop by to discover internship opportunities within your area of interest.

SAIL hosts FREE summer camps for students 8th through 12th grade.

GSS Major Credit

Students may also receive GSS major credit for satisfactory completion of an internship, but this is not guaranteed for all students who register for and complete the internship for credit program. It is also the responsibility of the student to apply for and enroll in the Career Center's UGST 404 before the class reaches capacity or the term begins.

Post-Graduate Fellowships

Some examples of post-graduate fellowships include:

Representative Peter DeFazio (local and Washington, D.C. offices)
San Francisco Fellows
Presidential Management Fellows
William J.

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