Alejandro Herreria
3 Tips While Applying to Internships
By Alejandro Herreria
Spring 2015
Coming into this program, I had recently switched majors two semesters prior and I really had not had much experience with anything other than a clinical-type internship, so I knew that whatever internship I got into, it would be different than anything I had ever experienced. Not only that, but I was leaving my Boston University home and adapting to a completely new schedule, along with a new city. I’m happy to say that everything turned out okay, as I ended up interning at a mid-sized healthcare nonprofit just north of DC in Silver Spring, Maryland. Chelsea and the rest of the team here at BU Washington, DC will do an excellent job aiding you in finding an internship, but I just wanted to create a quick list of things to remember while applying for internships.
- Know your interest:
Not everybody knows exactly what they want to do for their professional career while in college, and that’s perfectly okay. But it is immensely helpful to make a list or at least consider what type of field you are looking into getting into. For example, rather than saying “I’m looking for something pertaining to healthcare,” try and narrow it down by saying “I really want to work with something pertaining to healthcare policy” or “I really like the idea of working with clinicians and patients.” DC has many opportunities as far as careers, not all of which involve the political realm, and if you at least know what field you want to try out, you will be a step ahead.
- Get organized:
I am definitely not a “type A” person; however I did find it extremely helpful to put together a list in Excel with all the information of internships that I had applied to. More than likely, you are going to apply to many places, and not necessarily through one internship search engine. Keeping all your facts straight is essential, especially since you want to avoid the horror story where you can’t find the internship description because applications are no longer being accepted, and you are getting contacted for an interview for an internship that you don’t remember the job description of (which I have heard of happening).
- Finally, relax:
If you don’t get your dream internship and end up at your second, third, or even fourth choice, don’t freak out. To be honest, unless you land an internship at a rapidly expanding business or a congressman’s office in need of staffers, chances are high that you aren’t going to end up working at the exact place that you intern at. Even if you end up at your last choice, as you are interning, try to come up with good ways to market the internship (without lying of course) so that you can utilize the experience when getting interviewed for whatever position comes next in your professional career.
Exploring DC
Alejandro Herreria is a junior studying Health Sciences with a Public Health minor in Sargent College at Boston University. He is currently interning at Pulmonary Hypertension Association
