Dietrich Internship Opportunity Grants Program
Dietrich College encourages its undergraduate students to find and undertake professionally relevant and meaningful internship opportunities. We understand that many of these opportunities are unpaid or, at best, provide minimal compensation. Yet it is often these very positions that provide students with the most meaningful work experiences in helping them define and move forward toward their career goals.
We have instituted the Dietrich College Internship Opportunity Grants Program to make it more possible for our undergraduate students to take advantage of less remunerative but worthwhile off-campus internship opportunities by providing funds to offset the costs associated with a low or unpaid internship.
Students may apply at any time throughout the year. Completed applications will be reviewed biweekly and decisions made on a rolling basis from July 1 through June 30 until all funds for the current cycle have been distributed.
Eligibility
Who qualifies for the Dietrich College Internship Opportunity Grant?
To qualify for a Dietrich College Internship Opportunity Grant, students must be:
- currently enrolled undergraduates
- registered either as a primary major in one of the Dietrich College major programs or as a BHA student at the time of application
Students seeking grant support for any portion of a time period after they graduate are not eligible.
Preference is given to:
- Current (or rising) juniors and seniors
- Students accepting internships in the public or non-profit sectors
- Students with high financial need
- Students who, as undergraduates, have not had a meaningful internship experience
- Students who have not received prior internship funding from the university
What internships are eligible?
To be eligible for one of these grants, internships must:
- Be off-campus
- (For summer grant requests) Generally last at least six weeks, entail at least 180 hours, and require no more than 40 hours per week
- (For academic-year grant requests) require no more than 20 hours per week
- Demonstrably support students’ academic and career goals and development
- Be supervised by a professional in the field throughout the entire internship
- (For Federal Community Service Work Study grants) Be sponsored by a non-profit organization that qualifies for “Federal Community Service” status.
Application Process
Application Process
- Secure an off-campus internship.
- There are many resources available to help you find eligible internships, starting with the Career & Professional Development Center (CPDC) on its website, at workshops and job fairs, and opportunities listed on Handshake. We also encourage you to meet with your CPDC career consultant, as well as your academic advisor, family and friends, and attend career fairs to assist you in your internship search.
- Complete and submit the application
After the Internship
After the conclusion of the internship, you must
- Complete an internship questionnaire about your internship experience and how it affected your career interests and goals.
- Schedule an appointment with your CPDC career consultant at the beginning of the semester after your internship concludes to discuss your internship experience and how to incorporate relevant facets and takeaways from the experience into your resume.
- Develop and execute a plan for sharing your internship experience with the Dietrich/CMU communities. There are two options for fulfilling this requirement, including:
- a one- to two-page report and presentation about the internship experience
- a poster presentation on Saturday of Family Weekend (in October), as part of the annual Dietrich College Undergraduate Colloquium
Tax Information
Please note that these grant funds are considered a nonqualified scholarship under IRS regulations. As a result, for U.S. tax residents, taxes will not be withheld from the payment; nor will Carnegie Mellon issue a tax statement (W-2 or 1099) to the recipient or the IRS for the payment. It is the student’s responsibility to include information about the grant funds on their personal income tax return. Students should consult their personal tax advisor for additional information or if they have additional questions.
Nonresident aliens (Non-U.S. tax residents) may also be subject to tax withholding and reporting requirements. For non-resident aliens, it is the student’s responsibility to discuss employment authorization with their Office of International Education advisor for any employment opportunity that involves an employer other than Carnegie Mellon University.
FAQs
Are there other internship grant programs that I could or should be considering?
Yes. For summer internships, examples include the Career and Professional Development Center’s Summer Internship Experience Fund (SIEF) or Peter C. Dozzi Internship Initiative.
What is the difference between this grant program and the Pittsburgh Summer Internship Program (PSIP)?
PSIP internships are all Pittsburgh-based and all in summer. The program targets mainly rising sophomores and juniors, and screens both student applicants to the program as well as prospective internship sponsors who want to be part of this “closed” internship market. To contrast, the Dietrich Internship Opportunity Grant Program gives priority to rising juniors and seniors, is not restricted to Pittsburgh-based internships, is not restricted to summer internships, leaves it to students to find and secure internship offers, and requires students to have an internship offer when applying for grant support.
What if I must respond to my internship offer sooner than when I am likely to be notified about my internship grant application?
If your submitted application is complete, your deadline for responding to your internship offer is sooner than when you are likely to receive a decision about your internship grant application, and your ability to accept the offer is contingent on whether or not you receive a grant, we will make every effort to review and respond to your application soon enough for you to meet your response deadline.