INTERNSHIP IN POLITICAL SCIENCE
Students with a major or minor in Political Science can earn three academic credits by working at an unpaid internship. It is the student's resonsibility to acquire the internship and submit the information to the undergraduate program director for approval to earn academic credit. If you are unsure where to start, the Department can connect you to internship possibilities in a wide range of political fields, including but not limited to the legal profession (primarily law firms but also county prosecutors and courtrooms), government service (the governor’s office, other executive branch agencies, and the state legislature, as well as local office of federal legislators), nonprofits (advocacy groups in NJ and NY, including at the UN), and political campaign organizations (candidate campaigns, party organizations and consulting firms). Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher and have junior or senior class standing
Fall and Spring semesters, students must devote a minimum of 120 hours to the internship site (with over 140 hours preferred), attend the weekly class, give a presentation to the class on their placement, and write a paper about the internship experience. Placements must be within commuting distance of New Brunswick, and students must clear the placement with the Undergraduate Program Office before the start of the semester.
Summer session students must devote 160 hours to the internship site and write a paper about the internship experience. No regular class is scheduled to accompany the internship experience. The summer internship is graded pass/fail.
STUDENT INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES
- Rachel Toepfer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office in Springfield, Mass. "This Senior Is All About LGBTQ+ Advocacy – and a Little D&D." in the Oct. 2024 edition of Rutgers Today
- Nidhi Manjunath, BA '24, White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. Here, Nidhi tells us about her experience here.
SPECIALTY INTERNSHIPS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Rising Juniors and rising seniors who have at least a 3.0 GPA & 15 cr. in Political Science courses (including 6 in American government-related courses), may choose to pursue an internship in Washington DC.
Students interested in a fall or spring internship are responsible for finding your own positions; having done so, and having had the department approve them for major or minor credit, you are eligible for 3 (for 160 hours on the job) or 6 (320 hours on the job) credits of internship using course code 01:790:488 (graded pass/fail). Talk with the Undergraduate Program Office before embarking on finding your position. Students are responsible for your own housing, though which the Department can provide resources. To maintain full time status, if needed, we will work with students to identify appropriate online courses here in New Brunswick.
Summer: Students interested in a summer internship should apply to one of our DC partners by the application deadline.
The summer offers 9 credits through these partners and their academic schools of record. Students will register for course credit as WII or TWC instructs; credit will transfer back to Rutgers at the end of the semester. The credit will show on your transcript as two 3 credit sections of 01:790:488 and 1 3 credit section of 01:790:349. Students should coordinate with the SAS Transfer Office to ensure transcripts have been submitted and evaluated.
The summer internship program comes with housing, internship placement support, and academic coursework. For more information, please email . Put "Washington Internship" in the subject line of your email. This is the ONLY instance where the department will grant academic credit for internships directed by a non-Rutgers institution.
EAGLETON INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
The Eagleton Institute also offers a number of internship possibilities to students who are not Eagleton Undergraduate Associates but who wish to get involved. Academic credit for these internships comes from the Internship in Political Science course, but supervised by the appropriate Eagleton faculty or staff member.
For information on internships with the Center for Women and Politics and with the Eagleton New Jersey Project, see the program descriptions here. Eagleton’s Youth Political Participation Program also has an internship program, as does Public Leadership Education Network.
