Carleton’s externship program will be taking on a new form this year: externships will be 100% virtual and project-based. After a robust recruiting effort involving over 30 parent and alumni volunteers along with staff, we’re thrilled to share there are over 180 externship opportunities for students!
Externships are short-term, career exposure, and exploratory experiences that take place over Carleton’s winter break. The externship program was created in 2008 to provide an opportunity for Carls to learn more about career paths. At the heart of the program is the desire to support the career development of Carls, undergirded by a strong connection to Carleton.
Unique to this year’s virtual program is a multi-institutional externship opportunity hosted by eight different academic research laboratories across the country. Wes Sundquist ’81 P16 is orchestrating the opportunity for up to 14 Carls to consider graduate-level biomedical research. Externs will attend research presentations, sessions on career paths, and will work in pairs with a research mentor to analyze a research paper and to present the findings to the full group of externs and hosts at the end of the two-week externship.
Carleton is committed to ensuring equitable access to virtual career development experiences for all Carls, with a specific emphasis on supporting historically underrepresented students who self-identify as first-generation, low-income, or students of color. The application deadline for this year’s externship program is Sunday, October 18. Students may apply for up to five opportunities. Externship hosts will review and rank the candidates; some may hold candidate interviews. The Career Center will extend offers to students in the first week of November.
The Career Center has designed an intentional learning and reflection process with externships. Students are encouraged to identify what they are taking away from the externship and how they will use that knowledge to advance their career development process. The world of work is rapidly changing and the Career Center is committed to equipping all Carls with the competencies and skills that will serve them well now and into the future.