Internships for Undergraduates

[shiaben]

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Hi I was wondering how the internship system works for undergraduate psychology majors, not graduate students.

Do you guys know if you have to have a ton of volunteer experience FIRST before applying to any type of paid psychology internships?

I'm specifically thinking about hospitals, as I've heard that the bulk of clinical psychology internships are almost all located in hospitals. Will these places require a ton of volunteer experience before considering hiring applicants to work part time?

 

[psyunknown]

When I was in undergrad, the internship program was for school credit and was organization by a professor in the psychology dept. I have never heard of a psy undergrad being paid for an internship. You should talk to the head of your dept to see what is available in your area. And as the previous poster stated most are crisis hotlines, schools, domestic violence shelters, etc.

 

[shiaben]

I see so most are volunteer/credit types.

Thanks for the feedback and tips guys.

Yeah, in the area I'm living everything seems of that nature (well at least in regards to psychology internships).

The only reason I raised this point up was because some girl I talked to was volunteering in some mentor program which is ran by the mental health association of Orange County and subsequently she said after volunteering for a year or so, she was hoping that she can "intern" with them.

This confused me quite a bit because some sites have assimilated the terms "internships" and "volunteering" as being 1 overall thing while others say internships= money, volunteer= free time.

But as you guys have said, most of the psychology undergraduate internships seem to be volunteer-oriented.

 

[Psychology 76]

I see so most are volunteer/credit types.

Thanks for the feedback and tips guys.

Yeah, in the area I'm living everything seems of that nature (well at least in regards to psychology internships).

The only reason I raised this point up was because some girl I talked to was volunteering in some mentor program which is ran by the mental health association of Orange County and subsequently she said after volunteering for a year or so, she was hoping that she can "intern" with them.

This confused me quite a bit because some sites have assimilated the terms "internships" and "volunteering" as being 1 overall thing while others say internships= money, volunteer= free time.

But as you guys have said, most of the psychology undergraduate internships seem to be volunteer-oriented.

Most internships will be volunteer and/or for school credit. It's all about gaining experience in the field.

However, there ARE paid internships but they seem to mostly be research focused. I did one volunteer internship in a hospital and two paid research internships during my undergrad. The paid positions are VERY competitive unfortunately. I never came across a paid clinical position though.

 

[Shatani]

When I was in undergrad, the internship program was for school credit and was organization by a professor in the psychology dept. I have never heard of a psy undergrad being paid for an internship. You should talk to the head of your dept to see what is available in your area. And as the previous poster stated most are crisis hotlines, schools, domestic violence shelters, etc.

this was pretty much my experience too...except that i think that i set up the internships myself. i was definitely not paid at all.

 

[Pre-Dr. Ross]

b

 

[FionaGoode]

I was paid 1500 for a summer internship (research) program (40 hours per week, 10 weeks) at an ivy league university. PM me if you want details.

 

[psychtrauma]

I was paid 1500 for a summer internship (research) program (40 hours per week, 10 weeks) at an ivy league university. PM me if you want details.

Similar experience with the above poster (although mine was 8 weeks). There are many options for undergraduates to get internship experience. Consider looking up the REU program, these are often for those underrepresented in graduate school, but usually end up accepting students from a variety of backgrounds. Many individual schools offer summer programs, you just need to look. I found the program I went to while researching grad schools during my junior year. There's plenty out there, you just have to have the dedication to look for them.

And to answer the initial question, for these, part of the requirement (at least for REU) is that you DON'T have previous research experience, thus benefiting from the program. These are designed for people whose undergrad institution doesn't have a large research area where they can gain these experiences. With that said, many people actually accepted into these programs do have a fair amount of research under their belt, but I wouldn't say it's a prereq, more of a bonus.

Here's an example of a couple of these programs

http://psychology.okstate.edu/faculty/kennison/osunsfreu.htm
http://psych.wisc.edu/index.php/information/climateanddiversity/prep

Best of luck.

 

[modestmousktr]

I think you'd only find paid undergrad positions in the research realm- not the clinical realm. Maybe you can find a clinical research trial with some clinical component you can assist with, and that would be funded by some sort of outside source like MARC U-STAR, MBRS-RISE, RIMI, McNair, etc, but I don't think there's any paying clinical positions for undergrads. Is your friend who said that she hopes it turns into a paid internship about to graduate? I do know someone who volunteered at a suicide hotline for two years of undergrad, and applied for a paying job there with her B.A., and got the job. IMO, if you're interested in clinical work, the experience is payment in and of itself, because you learn so much and do so much with these hotlines. I always tried to get research funding or work-study (working at campus restaurants, tutoring center, secretarial jobs, etc) at my university because I knew I wouldn't be paid for my "clinical" time, but I wanted it anyway.