Internships
Real-World Experiences to Enhance Your Resume
Internships not only enrich your academic journey, but also allow you to immerse yourself in the day-to-day life of your field prior to entering the workforce. These short-term work experiences help you identify the careers and industries that best fit your distinctive talents and developing interests, while making you a more competitive applicant for the post-graduate job market. You can even submit an application to earn academic credit for your internship experience.
Finding and Securing Opportunities
You can intern during the academic year or during your winter or summer breaks. Our Center for Career and Professional Development will help you discover and land these positions, guiding you through the internship search, application, and interview processes, and facilitating connections with F&M alumni, parents and friends of the College for potential opportunities. Through F&M, you’ll also have access to the True Blue Network, a career network platform exclusive to the F&M community. Here, you can connect with alumni and parents who have volunteered to support student F&M success beyond the classroom.
Student Spotlight
“I fell in love with helping others through dentistry.”
Pre-dental student Lily Murphy ’26 has always loved working with kids, but she wasn’t
sure what that would look like in dentistry. She found her niche by gaining hands-on
experience in pediatric dentistry. “Most children fear the dentist, so it’s important
to take the time to make sure they are calm and feel safe,” she said. During her internship,
Murphy shadowed dentists while they performed procedures and helped dental assistants
prepare exam rooms and instruments. “It has been such an amazing experience to understand
how a dental practice runs,” she said. Murphy noted that F&M’s pre-dental program
also helped her land a volunteer opportunity with the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic.
“From that opportunity, I fell in love with helping others through dentistry,” she
said.
Read More »Student Spotlight
An Internship in Paris: ‘Night at the Museum’ Could Never Compare
Ruth Axford ’25 never imagined that she would walk to the Arc de Triomphe to take
the metro, intern in the same building complex as the Louvre, or go to the Bastille
area for class. But she did all of that and more when she spent a semester studying
abroad in Paris. Axford interned at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, a museum dedicated
to the exhibition and preservation of the decorative arts. The French and history
double major worked on an exhibit for Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen. “Going
through the finished product on opening night with my colleagues, seeing it all come
to life without Tyvek commercial wrap on the floor was crazy,” Axford said. “When
we came out, the credits on the wall said all our names, including ‘avec la collaboration
de Ruth Axford.’ I may have happily cried walking home along the Champs Elysées, amazed
at everything I accomplished in only four months.”
Read More »Course Spotlight
How Alumni and an F&M Course Connected Students With Government Internships
Thanks to an experiential learning course and numerous alumni connections in Pennsylvania’s
capital city of Harrisburg, several F&M students gained hands-on experience in public
affairs. The F&M in Harrisburg Practicum included coursework on Pennsylvania’s government
and matched students with internship opportunities to provide a deeper understanding
of government bureaucracy. “It’s one thing to understand the academic perspective
and the theories about how the government is supposed to operate, and it’s another
to see it firsthand,” said Stephen Medvic, F&M Honorable and Mrs. John C. Kunkel Professor
of Government. Medvic noted that F&M alumni in Harrisburg helped identify many of
the internship opportunities with which students were matched. “In almost all cases,
we had F&M connections,” he said.
Read More »
Summer Experience Funds
Your advisers can also direct you to generous donor funding that can help offset the financial burden of an unpaid or underpaid summer experience. These funds empower you to seek a wide variety of opportunities, giving you flexibility to choose internships that typically are unpaid or minimally paid.
See How Diplomats Are Exploring Their Passions
November 13, 2024
Sophomore Explores Emergency Medicine
Faisal Niazi ’27, an aspiring surgeon, spent his summer learning to be an EMT with Harrisburg Area Community College and Penn Medicine/Lancaster General Health.
November 8, 2024
Anthropology Major Pursues Passion for Nonprofit Work
For Jonah Fisher ’26, an internship with a local nonprofit led to a job where he is already practicing the skills from his Franklin & Marshall classes. Fisher completed an internship with Homefields, a nonprofit in Millersville, Pa., that engages people with disabilities or other barriers to traditional employment in growing organic produce at their Care Farm.
November 4, 2024
‘I Wanted to Become Better Connected with Lancaster’: Reflections from a Municipal Internship
Ethan Grabowski ’26, a government and history major, spent his summer interning at the Lancaster County Commissioners’ Office. See a day in his life in politics.