On Internships and Funding in Philadelphia
/One of my favorite parts about being a Penn student is living in Philadelphia. I love attending gallery openings, trying out new restaurant, and exploring the city. Another benefit for living in the city has also been gaining hands on work experience. The spring of my sophomore year, I received academic credit for an internship at the National Museum of American Jewish History. I was so inspired by my work in the museum that I applied for a summer internship at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Since then, I have worked at many more cultural institutions in the city and have solidified my desire to pursue a career in the art world after graduation. At the PMA and the following summer while interning at the Institute of Contemporary Art, I felt so fortunate to go to an institution like Penn that supports the arts. The museum field is not an industry that typically pays their interns. To compensate, Penn has stepped in and offered many means for students interested in interning in typically unpaid industries to receive generous stipends. These are just a few of the many internship resources and funding opportunities that Penn offers:
- The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowship’s Summer Humanities Internship Program. This is the funding I received two summers in a row! This program offers paid internships to dozens of cultural institutions in Philadelphia. Each host institution guarantees an internship spot for a Penn student, which is such an advantage in a really competitive industry.
- RealArts @ Penn offers 24 internship positions for Penn students. Fields range from museums, journalism, the music industry, television and film, and theater. Positions are open in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Even better, RealArts streamlines the confusing application process by administering a uniform application for all positions and helping arrange on-campus interviews.
- Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program offers research positions across the disciplines in the humanities and sciences. These opportunities are only offered to freshman and sophomores, in order to allow for students to engage in research from the beginning of their Penn experience. The coolest part is being able to work closely with a professor over the course of the summer.
- Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative offers extremely generous funding for students who find their own public policy internships in D.C. I have many friends who interned in the White House and the State Department and were able to live comfortably in D.C. for the summer thanks to PPI’s help!