Internships and Volunteering

Paid Internships

All paid Internships will require utilization of pre-completion OPT or CPT. Contact your DSO for more information. 

Unpaid Internships

All unpaid Internships will have to go through OPT or CPT process as well. However, the college provides various means to cover the costs of housing, food and other expenditures during the course of the internship. Students who have secured unpaid internships are eligible for the Whitman Internship Grant.

The Career and Community Engagement Center offers the Whitman Internship Grant, which provides funding for students who submit strong applications to participate in unpaid internship experiences at both for-profit and non-profit organizations.

International students seeking to apply for a Whitman Internship Grant can use the IDSC 125 course or OPT work authorization. Please note that application deadlines for international students vary; check the application deadlines here if you are considering applying.

Volunteering

Visit the Career and Community Engagement Center for various volunteer opportunities that are either student-led or community-led.

It is easy to confuse unpaid internships with volunteering. Internship relates to your course of study or future career prospects. Volunteering is when "you give, but not receive". It is an activity from which you do not directly benefit. Example: Computer Science student volunteers in an animal shelter. However, for a veterinary medicine student the same activity would qualify as unpaid internship. Therefore, the Computer Science student can volunteer with no employment authorization, but the vet student would need either CPT or OPT. By its definition, volunteering is only possible at not-for-profit or charitable institutions.