Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ: internships

Hopefully someone can help me out -- I'm quite clueless.

I've got a character that's going to be an intern at the Planet in my NaNo story and I have no idea how these things work. (well, OK, I have SOME idea, but things here often don't work like they do down there.)

Are internships something a student does during the school year - instead of going to class for a semester or part of one, let's say? If so, how long would an internship last? A few weeks? A couple months?

Or is this typically something students do over the summer, or right after they get their degree - and get paid for it -- or not paid... ?

And, um.. what would an intern do at a newspaper? Research? Fact-checking? Gopher-ing? (eg: something like Jimmy, but getting even less respect?)

Thanks!

EEP! I've got one or two in my nano too .

As for internships... When DH was getting his grad degree [Applied Psych] it was something he did during the school year for credit [it was something like 4 credits a semester or something]. It was unpaid. I did some research on it a couple weeks ago and it seemed that some of the newspaper internships were summers or school years and that many of them paid a small stipend of some sort - from 500-750/wk or so is what I found - 2-3000 a month. I think I'm going with 500/wk.

As for how long... My DH had to do a certain number of total hours and a certain number of those had to be 'contact hours' where he actually met with clients. Student teaching - which is similar to an internship - was every school day for 11 weeks. It might be so many hours total or so many hours a week for so many weeks. I think you probably have some leeway.

As for what they'd do *shrug*... I'm guessing early Jimmy [Hey Chief, I got the horn fixed on your golf cart *g*].
Carol

I did two summer internships when I was in college - one on Capitol Hill and one in hospital public relations. I also knew people who did internships during the school year - took a semester off to do them. It kind of depends on the program you're in, though. I don't think the journalism department at my college required an internship, but they were strongly encouraged.

I think (though my memory for these sorts of details is fading) that my congressional internship was paid and the one at the hospital wasn't. Newspapers generally don't pay very well, so I wouldn't expect an intern at the Planet to be paid much, if anything, especially if Metropolis University has a journalism department that would provide a ready supply of eager young journalists who are willing to work for the experience and the opportunity to build their portfolios.

When I did my internship at the hospital, I rotated through the various divisions of the PR department, working with the head of each and learning their function. I helped plan a telethon, scheduled TV appearances, and did lots of writing. I was given real articles/press releases to write, and once I'd proven myself capable, I was given the opportunity to develop story ideas on my own, within reason. My experience with both of my internships - and then later when I managed interns in my real job - is that the regular staffers are delighted to have a capable intern at their disposal and will give them as much to do as they are willing to do. Yes, they do the gofer stuff and the research stuff, but there's also a lot of opportunity to get real work experience.

Hope something here helps

C.

ETA: Someday I'll tell you the very true, very embarrassing story of me fainting dead away while interviewing a plastic surgeon the summer I did my hospital internship. It was while I was lying on the floor of his office that I decided that my future probably wasn't going to be in medical writing.

It depends, too, on whether the intern is a high school student or a college student. High school students don't get paid in our system , although I'm guessing that the odds of a high school student landing a journalism internship with a national newspaper the calibre of the DP would be pretty slim.

As the others have said, it depends on the job area for university students. Student teachers don't get paid. Journalism students, would be very lucky to get paid. Engineering interns, usually do get paid, but they'd better have an independent income

Since the students are getting credits towards their degrees or certificates, the feeling here has been that the training involved is the payment the intern is receiving.

So it seems to vary.

c.

There's a ton of wiggle room depending on what you want to do! Just to illustrate what I've done...

1. I interned at a newspaper during one summer in advertising and news graphics and didn't get paid.

I did gophering at the newspaper, but another of my friends worked there over the summer in the pit, and she actually wrote articles.
2. I interned at a hospital pr firm during the school year and did get paid, but didn't request college credit. I got to do real projects since they were so understaffed.

3. I interned at an organization in D.C., and they didn't pay me, but they knew me and liked me so they housed me, heh. And I was a paper pusher.

I didn't get school credit for any of these, although that certainly could have been an option. Internships weren't required when I was in college, so I didn't bother to hassle with paperwork, which can get extensive depending on what you want to do.

Here in grad school, internships during the school year are like taking a class, so not only would I get class credit, but I'd also be taking 2 other classes. I would have to put in the hours for the internship that I would for the class, which on the quarter system is typically 10-15 hours a week.

It's smart to do it over the summer before you graduate. Statistically, you're more likely to get a job, but that's just numbers talking. But I also know people who've done them right before or after they graduated, and their internship turned into a full-time job, so that's something I always keep in mind as well...And what you do at the internship really depends on who they are and what they need. It's always great to go with someone understaffed, I've learned, because you'll usually get to work on real projects LOL. If they have everyone they need, you turn into a shadow and a paperpusher. Zzzz

Annnd I think that's all of my initial thoughts on interning, heh.
JD

Thank you so much for all the info!! This definitely helps me a lot!!

That's what happened to DH. They actually hired him about 6 weeks before he graduated and 3mos before he was provisionally licensed. He did all the work but until he got his Prov. License another therapist had to sit in [though they didn't actually participate in his sessions] and sign off on everything. After that he was supervised for 2 years.

Anyway - it was nice knowing he had a job before he graduated. About half his class didn't.

Carol [who has found this info useful as well ]

I did two internships in college, and one of them was at a newspaper you can figure is the same size as the Planet. It was a 15-week summer internship; they usually range from 10-15 weeks. I worked on the copy desk, but there were 13 interns in various departments including Features, Metro, Photo, Graphics and Investigative. The interns did the same work the staff members did. We had a huge A1 package run on TSA safety breaches that summer and I remember the I-team intern got to work on it. Talk about a great clip for her portfolio!

It was paid, and I also got credit at school. Some interns are in grad school, and some are doing them after their senior year of college, but most are still working on their degrees. Some colleges require you to do one before you graduate. I mentored our intern this summer and she had finished everything toward her degree except the internship requirement so she wasn't allowed to graduate until the end of the summer. Lame. Fortunately, my school didn't do that.

One other thing: With the way the journalism market is today, it's hard to even get considered for a job anywhere out of college without at least one internship. I was fortunate to have done two, and while four years ago that was the exception, it's fast becoming the rule. We had interns here this summer that had worked at the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Houston Chronicle. Not too shabby for little ol' Seattle, eh?

of course you guys are talking about journo internships,

but here as a part of any engineering degree summer "internships" (We call them work-experience, but the same thing really) are done as a core requisite for graduation


legally the firms are not required to pay these interns, but depending on the firm you work with, they often choose to offer "Pocket-money" to the students as an incentive to work with them...
and engineering interns are really like a 12 week mini-thesis, where the company benefits from your research, and hence you get credit for your course under "Work-experience"