Completing the LFS Certificate internship/professional experience requirement

One of the ways to complete the experiential requirement of your public or health policy certificate is to successfully apply for and complete a professional policy internship with an employer. The internship can take place during fall, spring, or summer semesters and must be taken concurrently with PA 327. All La Follette internships taken for credit must be approved by the Career Director.

🔍 STEP ONE: Find an internship

Pre-Approved internships: There are many ways to find a qualifying policy internship. The easiest is to see what is already posted to the Career Hub. Everything listed here has already been pre-approved by the Career Director and you can apply safe in the knowledge that if you get it, it will be accepted for credit.

Finding your own internship: You are also welcome to seek out internship opportunities on your own. There are many job boards linked here on the Hub to get you started, but internships can be found almost anywhere. The key is that they must be policy focused. To get a better idea of what that means, read this page and visit the various career path pages to see which types of employers are most likely to offer policy internships.

  • If you do find an internship on your own, please save yourself time and heartache by getting it approved by the Career Director before you apply. No one else on the La Follette staff can tell you that an internship will qualify – not the professor, not the undergraduate advisors – only the Career Director.
    • Email as many details as possible about the opportunity such as:
      • The link to the job posting
      • A detailed description of your specific tasks and duties in the role
      • Any supplemental information you may have received from the organization
    • You should receive a reply within 1-2 business days
  • Important note: Internships found on the Political Science internship board may be political and at the same time not policy. We cannot approve media/communications, canvassing and outreach positions as policy internships since they are not policy focused

💻 STEP TWO: Apply

This is the nerve wracking part. You should apply for a variety of opportunities, but only as many as you can honestly take the time to tailor a resume and cover letter for. If you are using AI, please do not submit whatever it creates without editing it significantly. AI written cover letters all sound the same and employers have figured this out. AI can be a great help in sourcing keywords for your resume, but again, don’t let it write the document for you. You can find resume and cover letter writing guidance here.

🗣️ STEP THREE: Interview

Congratulations – you got an interview! To make sure you are as successful as possible, review the resources here and consider trying out Big Interview (BI). BI is an AI driven resource where you can choose the questions an interviewer may ask, record yourself answering them, and review the video to improve your score. It’s available 24/7/365 so you can even use it at 3am when you can’t sleep 😴

📄 STEP FOUR: Get approval to take PA 327

  1. Fill out this Google Form
    • After submitting this form, you’ll receive a copy of the completed form via email with your responses
  2. Email the copy of your responses to your internship supervisor and ask them to review and approve it – they do not need to edit the form, simply review what is written
  3. After your supervisor reviews the form, the supervisor should forward the completed form along with their statement of approval (and/or any corrections) noted at the top of the email to careerdev@lafollette.wisc.edu 
    • If your supervisor inadvertently sends the email approval only to you but not to the Career Director, please forward their approval with the form to careerdev@lafollette.wisc.edu 
  4. Once the Career Director receives the approved form from your supervisor, it will be reviewed and if all is in order you will be granted permission to add PA 327

🏁 Happy Interning!

Congratulations you got a qualifying internship, got your paperwork approved, and added the internship course. Have a fantastic experience and if you need any help/guidance/advice during the internship, reach out.

Alternate ways to fulfill the experiential requirement

La Follette regularly offers two workshop courses (one in public and one in health policy) that can also meet the requirement. You can also meet it by doing Wisconsin in Washington. Please see the links below for other ways to fulfill the requirement.

CiPP academics: https://guide.wisc.edu/undergraduate/letters-science/lafollette-school-public-affairs/public-affairs-certificate/#requirementstext

CiHP academics: https://guide.wisc.edu/undergraduate/letters-science/lafollette-school-public-affairs/health-policy-certificate/#requirementstext