Bridge Beyond Carolina
- Eligibility
- Internship Experience
- Available Internships
- Selection Criteria
- Award Amount
- How to Apply
- Deadline
- Application Guidelines
- Contact Us
The Bridge Beyond Carolina program supports students who desire an internship as an opportunity to explore a non-faculty career path. The internship must be in collaboration with an internship mentor within the host organization and should be at least 160 hours in length over the summer.
Eligibility
Doctoral students may apply with an unfunded internship match in hand, or doctoral students may apply to one of the available internships listed below.
You are eligible if:
- You are a full-time, doctoral student in a residential program administered through The Graduate School.
- You are enrolled full-time for Spring 2024 and will be enrolled full-time for Fall 2024.
- You will not hold a TA or RA position during the summer or take summer courses.
- The internship you propose does not fulfill a requirement of your graduate program.
Students awarded internships are expected to:
- Complete professional etiquette pre-modules
- Provide a final report on your internship experience
- Secure a written evaluation of your work from your internship mentor
Available Internships
- Digital Library Editor and Content Curator Internship, The National Humanities Center
- Faculty and Graduate Student Professional Development Internship, The National Humanities Center
- Exploring Large Language Models (LLM) in Game Design Internship, Lost Boys Interactive
- Cannabis Policy and Law Research and Content Creation Internship, Davis Legal, PLLC
- Science and Technology Development Internship, North Carolina Biotechnology Center
- SSES Justice Practice Area Internship, RTI International
Internship Experience
The Bridge Beyond Carolina program supports students who desire an internship as an opportunity to explore a non-faculty career path. The internship must be in collaboration with an internship mentor within the host organization and should be at least 160 hours in length over the summer.
The program cannot be used to advance your research, though some overlap may be inevitable. You must be able to clearly articulate how the internship relates to your career goals and what you hope to gain from this experience, both intellectually and professionally. The Bridge Beyond Carolina program cannot be used to fulfill a graduate program internship requirement or supplement a similar required graduate program experience.
This program is designed to support internship opportunities that would otherwise be unpaid. You should not receive funding for this opportunity from another source simultaneously with this program, though co-funding from the host organization is encouraged. Additionally, the Bridge Beyond Carolina program should not replace other available funding.
The Bridge Beyond Carolina program funding cannot be used to support internships where the primary work tasks involve advocating for a particular political party, candidate, or platform.
Selection Criteria
- Funding is limited.
- We select awardees based on how ready they are to productively use the time of this summer internship. You must have a well-articulated internship plan and definitive career exploration and learning goals.
- Students who have not had opportunities to explore non-faculty careers previously will be given priority.
- Additional considerations may include time to degree, availability of appropriate internship opportunities, and existing access to internships through the applicant's academic program.
- For applicants with a student-initiated match only, additional selection criteria include the applicant's ability to identify an internship mentor and preparations in place regarding a host organization and internship mentor to support your plans.
Award Amount
The award is a one-time $8,000 stipend at the beginning of the summer.
| Stipend | $8,000 |
|---|---|
| Tuition | None |
| Fees | None |
| Health insurance | None |
| Length of support | 160 hours over the summer |
| TA/RA position | No |
Depending on funding, this award may change from year to year.
How to Apply
- Prepare a Career Plan, Curriculum Vitae or Resume, Description of Your Learning Goals, and Internship Plan. Applicants who have already matched with an internship host should also arrange for a Letter of Commitment from your internship mentor. Be sure to follow the application guidelines below.
- Ask your mentor to submit the Letter of Commitment to bridgebeyond@unc.edu with “Internship Mentor's Letter of Commitment” as the subject line.
- View Frequently Asked Questions about the online award application.
- Submit your materials to The Graduate School Award Online Application.
- Deadline for submission: Friday, March 22 at 5:00 PM ET
- We will notify awardees in the middle of April.
Deadline
Deadline for submission: Friday, March 22 at 5:00 PM ET
Application Guidelines
We will not consider your application if you exceed any of the page limits or if you do not follow the proper format.
A complete application includes:
Internship Plan
Length: 500 words
The plan should include:
- the nature of the work to be done and the student's role (if this is a student-initiated match),
- a justification for why this opportunity will provide experience not otherwise available to the applicant via other means (and/or would not duplicate past experience) (for all applicants),
- and a plan for both student and mentor/host organization evaluation of the experience (if this is a student-initiated match).
Career Plan
Length: 250 words
- Describe your non-academic career goals, options you are considering, how your graduate degree aligns with those options, and how they relate to your internship plan.
- Include a projected plan for achieving these career goals, including the skills and professional development, resource access, and professional relationship building necessary.
Learning Goals
Length: 250 words
- Describe three desired learning outcomes for this internship, including any skills you hope to learn, and how they relate to your career trajectory. Learning outcomes should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. For example: “I want to learn French” is not a SMART goal. It is too big, vague, and hard to measure. “I will conjugate a new verb every day until I have it completely memorized” is a SMART goal because you can determine whether or not you have succeeded, and it contributes to the larger goal of learning French.
- Your desired learning outcomes should be focused on achieving your stated career plan, and not on furthering your dissertation research.
Curriculum Vitae or Resume
Length: no limit
- Include recent professional activities, awards, honors, and courses you have taught.
- Other sources of funding awarded or pending
Internship Mentor's Letter of Commitment
An Internship Mentor's Letter of Commitment is required only for applicants who have already matched with an internship host. Your mentor should submit the Letter of Commitment to bridgebeyond@unc.edu with “Internship Mentor's Letter of Commitment” as the subject line.
Instructions for mentors:
Each letter of commitment should be no more than 4,000 characters (spaces included), which is approximately 600 words or one single-spaced page.
Address the letter of recommendation “To the Bridge Beyond Carolina Committee.”
Include:
- A statement of support confirming that the sponsoring organization is in full support of the proposal
- A description of how the student-mentor relationship will be developed and maintained over the course of the program, including a plan of supervision as appropriate
- An assessment of the value of the proposed plan as a learning experience and contribution of the mission of the organization
- A description of possible end products and general time commitment expected
- A description of how the student's work will be evaluated
- A confirmation that to the best of the mentor's knowledge, no other funding is available for this internship opportunity
- A confirmation that a written evaluation of the student's summer internship will be provided no later than September 15th of the same year.