Frequently Asked Internship Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is there a difference between a summer job and an internship?

Yes. An internship is a job that directly relates to your chosen field of study for which you are enrolled. A summer job is not directly related to your major and does not have roots in applying academic principles.

2. Will this help my Science GPA?

Yes! This is graded MMBIO 399R credit. Most everyone gets an A in this class.

3. Can I do this even if I do not have experience or the best grades?

YES! You have more going for you just being a BYU student, than you probably know. You will probably want to increase the number of internships that you apply for, but we are here to help you. Please contact our office and we will help you to learn how to make your application shine. You really have more to put on it, than you probably think right now.

4. Can I work with the MMBIO Internship office, even if I am not an MMBIO major?

Yes, but we can only give you MMBIO 399R credit. If you are trying to earn Bio credit, it can only be received through the Biology office on the third floor of the WIDB.

We often work with students in different majors, such as Neuroscience and Bioinformatics. This is mostly because the internship program is still growing in the college, so most departments do not yet have their own internship offices. Please contact our office, and we can talk about if your internship goal meets what our office can help you with.

5. Are all internships paid?

Compensation is to be defined by provider and intern prior to employment start date. The employer has no legal obligation to pay the intern. Make sure you clarify any questions or concerns you may have regarding compensation and responsibilities prior to starting employment.

6. Where can I go to find internships?

There are many good search pages out there! Here are a few ideas

• RIT Co-op Links: click on the category that you are interested in learning more about (please note the "Pre-Med" = biomedical research, they are also good for any part of the medical research field), then everything is listed in alphabetical order, with the location right after the name of the institute. Start by looking up places that you would be interested in attending graduate school, or working after graduation, or any good places that you have heard of. Once you have found the place you are interested in learning more about, be sure to click on the "co-op" link, that will bring you directly to the program page.
• The office of BioAg College Life keeps up a great database has many great internship opportunities and is continually being updated, so make sure to regularly check the website for new additions.
• The Main Internship Office has a thousand and one databases
• Google is your friend! You can type in "immunology research" and find the best institutions, who belong to national and international organizations. You can search "Podiatry Schools" to find top notch institutions. You can also add place names such as "Virology research Spain." The possibilities are endless, whatever you want to do, wherever you want to do it!
• USE THE FACULTY! Your professors are educators who have dedicated their lives to researching many topics that many of you are interested in. They want to help students. Look up department web pages, and then look at the faculty and staff pages. Also think of past professors who have discussed topics that you are interested in. E-mail them, go to their office hours, tell them that you are interested in learning more about whatever it is you are interested in learning more about. They love to talk about their research with people who are interested. Ask them where the best places to look would be. Talk to them about your goals and aspirations, and even places you have thought of going. They are EXCELLENT resources that are too seldom left unused.

7. What if I don't know any professors to write letters of recommendations?

Many professors will write you a recommendation as long as you were in their class. Contact them and tell them that you were in one of their classes. Explain that you are now applying for internships and wondered if they would be willing to meet with you about writing a letter of recommendation for them. Often having an academic resume in hand will augment your chances of them helping you out. Please see the Tips section for more information on this.

8. I have an Internship, what do I do now?

Contact our office! Even if you do not want to receive credit, we need to know were you are interning. If you would like to learn more about receiving credit, then we can also help you with that.