The Value of Internships in College

College graduates entering the workforce with a bachelor’s degree have the fresh knowledge and education that employers appreciate, but even entry-level jobs today often require a year or more of experience in the field. How can students earn that experience while studying full-time? Internships!

Internships for college students can be paid or unpaid, but always pay in valuable work experience and often college credit. Through Embry‑Riddle’s Career Services, students can use the Handshake platform to find internships or co-ops that may be right for them.

In an internship, students will gain important mentoring and supervision from their company’s employees, often working in positions shadowing others as trainees or assistants. They can take place over the summer or during a regular school semester, and range in length from a few weeks to a full year.

Our past and present students have held a vast range of internships across all disciplines in a variety of settings:

• Gabriella Reece (’23) completed a summer internship assisting with autopsies for a county medical examiner’s office as a Forensic Biology major. 
• Avery Katz (’21) interned on Capitol Hill with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee while studying Homeland Security.
• Janessa Sloane (’23) held a summer internship with the Society of Physics Students national internship program as a Space Physics student.

Gaining hands-on experience in a toxicology lab or bumping elbows with national legislators can be the gateway to expanding one’s network or step toward landing a job after graduation. Students are sometimes hired into full-time roles by the companies with which they have interned.

We have a fantastic track record with our student interns and dozens of companies bring their recruitment searches to our on-campus job fairs. Opportunity awaits the students at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University.