Internships and Career Placement

Internships

The internship program offers students the opportunity to gain and sharpen their professional skills under the critical eyes of practitioners, to relate their classroom knowledge to communications professions, and to explore career interests. The Bellisario College of Communications encourages students to complete multiple internships, taking advantage of the many for-credit, paid and volunteer opportunities currently available in the industry.

Students in the Bellisario College are eligible to earn up to six credits of COMM 495 (the internship for-credit course) throughout their undergraduate career. Students may complete individual internships for one, two or three credits, with each level requiring certain minimum guidelines. Beginning Fall 2023, those guidelines are 1 credit = 50 hours, 2 credits = 100 hours, and 3 credits = 150 hours. Students may always complete more hours at their credit level than is required.

How to Apply for a For-Credit Internship

  1. Review our PowerPoint presentation (updated Fall 2024) about internship programs.
  2. Complete the Online For-Credit Internship Application.
  3. If your internship location has not been approved, please complete and Internship Prospect Information Form.
  4. Secured your internship and the internship location is requiring a letter verifying you will receive credit? Complete and return the editable "Letter Verifying You Will Receive Credit" form. The "Letter Verifying You Will Receive Credit" is only required if your internship location has requested documentation from Penn State. Simply replace the content contained within the brackets( << >> ) with your information. The information you provide on the letter will be printed on school letter head and signed by Bob Martin, Assistant Dean, Internships and Career Placement. Please note a "Letter Verifying You Will Receive Credit" will only be completed if you, the student, have an approved "Internship Application" on file with the Internships & Career Placement Office. Please email your completed "Letter Verifying You Will Receive Credit" to rpm163@psu.edu 

Still Looking for an Internship (paid, for-credit or volunteer)?

Schedule a meeting to develop your internship search and get a jump on rewiewing some places that might interest you!

  1. Schedule an internship meeting with Julie Miller, the manager of internships, or Bob Martin, assistant dean of internships and career placement at: Nittany Lion Careers.
  2. We can help! Review our database of more than 4,600 internship opportunities and choose those that interest you.
  3. Please limit your selections to 15 to 20 internship sites along with the category and name of each company with which you would like to pursue an internship.
  4. Have your list of internship sites that interest you on hand during your internship meeting. Julie or Bob will review your list during your meeting, provide you with additional details about the internship locations that interest you and advise you on an effective strategy before you pursue each opportunity.

Questions or Concerns?

Call 814-863-4674