Internships
For many students at UC Davis, the cornerstone of the career development process is an internship. Internships are work-learn experiences in a professional environment outside of the classroom where students can explore career areas, gain practical skills, and make industry contacts.
Internships provide opportunities to not only learn practical skills, but also offer chances to examine a work culture and the different styles that come along with it: how to work in a team or alone, how to dress, or how to work under deadline pressure. A recent study discovered that a quarter of the new hires by prestigious Fortune 500 companies had participated in an internship program while a student. The reward for caring enough about their future careers to spend the time and effort required by an internship was a full-time job after graduation.
Where to start:
- Internship and Career Center
The Internship and Career Center would be your first resource on campus. Register at their website to receive updates about internship listings, upcoming internship/career fairs, and recruitment fairs. You can also schedule an appointment to meet a career counselor to explore your career options or go to a workshop to improve your resume and interviewing skills. Broaden your internship and job search by focusing on the skills and qualifications the companies and organizations are looking for, rather than the specific job titles. - Washington Program
The Washington Program gives UC Davis students from all majors the opportunity to intern at one of hundreds o organizations in our nation’s capital, including internationally recognized research facilities, federal and state agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Some of the places in Washington DC where students with an interest in Statistics could intern include:- Bank Information Center
- Federal Reserve Board
- Jefferson Consulting Group
- Congress Committee on Ways and Means
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Urban Land Institute Trade Information Center
- National Center Bureau of INTERPOL
- Center for Science and Public Interest
- Networking
Network with your peers and professors in the department. Ask a faculty member if (s)he has any resources or advice for you. Even when you have secured an internship, you may ask a faculty mentor to supervise your internship projects so you can get academic credits for your experience.
Talk to other students, especially upper-classmen, what internships they’ve done and how they went about finding one. You would be surprised at the great insights you may gain from these conversations.
