Interning Abroad

When I applied to Michigan State University, one of the biggest attractions to me was that MSU has one of the best study abroad programs in the nation. I found the perfect program for me not through a traditional study abroad program, but in an intern abroad program – where students intern in cities across the world for academic credit through MSU. Part of James Madison graduation requirements is to complete a Field Experience, which most students fulfill by interning for a semester. This program was an excellent way for me to add an international element to my working experience.

I spent the summer of 2015 interning for the Disability Federation of Ireland. DFI is a non-profit umbrella organization for disability rights advocacy groups. It is funded to act as an intermediary between the government and their member organizations to unify and represent the voices of people with disabilities throughout Ireland.  This is a very difficult task as disability itself is such a broad term. DFI represents organizations of people with physical, intellectual, sensory, learning, and hidden disabilities and they all have extremely different priorities and needs due to the wide variety of their daily struggles.

I went on this trip with several other MSU students, all of which had their own unique international internship. My friends worked in places like international legal offices, Eco-Unesco (an environmental branch of the UN), the various political parties and candidates, economic development firms, and marketing firms. Every Monday - Friday, we would take the bus into the heart of the city and walk the streets of Dublin to reach our internship. Often we would rendezvous after work to go to a local pub in the city for dinner and drinks to wind down from our day before heading back to our apartments.  

Not only did I have an amazing professional experience, I also got to travel extensively throughout Ireland. Almost every weekend, a group of us would travel to go explore a nation so incredibly different from our own. From the foreboding Cliffs of Moher to the quaint local pubs, we traveled the countryside and discovered much about ourselves along the way. 

Mandy 

Senior

PTCD

Where do we go from here?

Following up on my last post about graduation, I thought I would write really quickly about what types of careers my friends have gone on to in their first year out of JMC. I feel like I have a unique perspective as a fifth year senior in Madison. A large majority of students graduate from the college in four years, which means this year I've been able to see how many of my friends have launched their career paths right from my facebook newsfeed. Here's a little sample of what some of my friends have gone on to do in their first year after graduation (I included the person's major at the end of the line):

• Pilot in the US Air Force (IR)
• Staffer for MI Governor Rick Snyder (PTCD)
• Elementary School Teacher with Teach for America in Detroit and Houston (SRP)
• Staff Member at a non-profit in northern Michigan (SRP)
• Campus Coordinator for a Boston non-profit (CCP, IR)
• Student teacher at a mid-Michigan high school (PTCD, Secondary Education)*
• Accounting staff member at Goodyear Tires (SRP, Accounting)
• Community & Volunteer Organizer at a non-profit in Detroit (SRP)
• Economic Analyst for the State of Michigan (IR, Economics)
• Project Manager at a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C. (SRP)
• Graduate School at University of Miami, Ohio (PTCD)
• Cast Member at Walt Disney World (IR)
• Corps Member with City Year Detroit (SRP)
• Tax Associate at a national accounting firm (IR, Finance)
• Staff member at Georgia-Pacific (IR)
• Staffer at the MI Department of Community Health (SRP)

*My friend who is student teaching is fulfilling this requirement for the MSU College of Education

This is just a sample of my friend network (this list is slightly SRP-heavy because I'm friends with many more SRP majors - that's my major as well). As you can see, there's no cookie cutter career path for Madison grads. My friends have gone on to work for campaigns, political offices, lobbying firms, giant corporations, small non-profits, public school, and everything in between. As for myself, I am going to work for a public accounting firm in Detroit. 

In my opinion, the most important part of a Madison education are the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills students gain throughout their time here. Those are skills that are transferrable to any job in any industry. My critical thinking and communication skills helped me the most in my two accounting internships. If you're able to sell yourself and those critical skills in a job interview, you could literally go anywhere in the world! 

For more examples of careers chosen by JMC grads, feel free to check out the Careers section of the JMC Website! This page has awesome graduate reports, collected by our dedicated career consultant, which break down the students who go to on to graduate school, law school, and the work force. It includes many examples of positions held by recent JMC grads as well as salary and geographic information. 

Becky 

Senior

SRP & Accounting

Hunting For Internships

Hello Everyone,

We apologize for our absence from the blogging world over the past few months. We're going to kick off our new series of blogs with a post from Erica, who just returned from interning at the U.S. Department of State during the fall. Here's what she has to say:

Hello blogging community, my name is Erica and I’m a senior double majoring in International Relations and Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy through James Madison College at MSU. It’s hard to believe that I am working my way through my final undergraduate semester. These past 4 years have flown by faster than I thought possible, but I’ve done all I can do to make the most of my Spartan experience. With graduation quickly approaching I've been filling out lots of applications and am trying to figure out what my life will look like post-MSU.

As daunting as this task is I have to say that James Madison College’s required Field Experience has provided me with a great foundation for the career hunt. James Madison College students are required to complete a field experience or study abroad for credit once they reach junior status. These experiences help students take their learning outside the classroom and apply their skills to real world scenarios. I have been fortunate enough to complete multiple study abroad programs and internships and each of them has been an eye-opening experience. However, my most recent experience during the 2013 Fall Semester was the internship I chose to use for my Field Experience.

I made the choice to spend my fall semester off campus in order to complete my program. Many students complete their internships during the summer sessions or stay in the Lansing area, but I relocated to Washington, D.C. and took the opportunity to intern with the U.S. Department of State. The experience was almost surreal, but it couldn’t have been a more perfect fit for my studies and academic interests. I moved down to Washington, D.C. at the end of August, just as many of my peers were beginning their classes at MSU. During my 14 weeks in D.C. I was still enrolled as an MSU student but instead of attending classes I was working 40 hours a week. The shift into the work environment was not unknown to me, having worked as a student employee at MSU, but I’ll admit that is was a little odd not going home and having homework to complete. Instead I stayed busy maintaining my connections with student groups at MSU while also building numerous new friendships and connections in the D.C. area. I explored the city on weekends and tried to soak up all D.C. had to offer…which included a great Spartan network that bonded over MSU Football at the local MSU bar.

At the conclusion of the internship I was required to write a couple of papers reflecting on my experience and what I have learned. While the papers have been helpful in processing all the things I did over the 14 weeks in D.C., I think one of the biggest lessons I learned was the perseverance of applying to internships in the first place. During the spring of my junior year I applied to countless internship programs. I felt like all I did was constantly edit my resume and cover letter and more often than not I would send off my application and never hear back. However, as I return to the application process—now for full-time positions—I appreciate the countless hours I spent on applications last year. Now, not only do I have practice with application and interview skills, but I can discuss the various projects and assignments I have completed during my internships. And better yet I know that while it may take hours upon hours of applications, success is possible. 

Erica
Senior
IR & PTCD