English majors and minors may find internships on their own or get support in finding one by contacting the English Internship Coordinator: English_Internships@uml.edu.
The English Department has many established internship placements with trusted community partners. There are on- and off-campus options as well as some remote possibilities.
Students can also find support in finding and applying for internships through UMass Lowell’s Career and Co-Op Center.
Students typically start the placement process by enrolling in the English internship course during the advising season prior to the semester they would like to intern.
Fall or Spring Internships for Credit
Register for Internship I (3 credits)
Students who are interested in a fall or spring semester internship should register for ENGL 4960 Internship I (3 credits). No permission number is needed to enroll, but students do need to have met the prerequisite requirement for the course (i.e., Critical Methods, or English Studies in Digital Environment, or Intro Professional Writing, Intro Creative Writing, or Play Analysis, or Foundations in Liberal Studies, or Intro to Historical Methods).
This class meets once a week for 75 minutes. Students are also expected to do 8-10 hours a week at their internship sites.
Simply sign up for the course and you are guaranteed an internship! If you have a schedule conflict that makes it impossible to enroll in ENGL 4960, email the Internship Coordinator about the ENGL 4970 Practicum option.
Once you are enrolled, email English_Internships@uml.edu about what you are interested in doing, so we can begin to make arrangements.
Summer Internships for Credit
Apply for Placement in Practicum (1-3 credits)
Students who are interested in a summer internship should email the Internship Coordinator to inquire about this possibility.
While summer can be an ideal time for doing an internship, earning course credit for summer internships requires paying summer tuition.
The summer English Internship Course (ENGL 4970 Practicum) is an online, asynchronous course students may enroll in by permission only. Students complete 120 hours of internship work to earn 3 academic credits.
More About the Course
Internships offered through the English Department are part of a three-credit course. This means students should plan for it as they would any academic obligation and count it as part of their regular course load for the term.
The course requires 8-10 hours of English-related work each week at the internship site. This is the typical amount of time a student would spend in class each week in a capstone course. Some students schedule four-hour blocks two days a week for 15 weeks, while others do three-hour blocks three days a week for 13.5 weeks. There are lots of possibilities and most placement sites are flexible about scheduling during business hours.
Course assignments for the internship course (ENGL 4960 and ENGL 4970) are focused on career building and reflection, and there are weekly, 75-minute, face-to-face class meetings (except in summer when we do not meet in person), plus your weekly internship hours. The course is graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory rather than with a standard letter grade.