Over the past four decades years, Randolph-Macon’s Bassett Internship Program has placed over 4000 students in more than 1000 locations in 28 U.S. states and eighteen foreign countries. Our purpose is to afford selected students academically appropriate experience in a real-world work setting. Our hope is students will contribute to the output of the sponsoring organization while relating their practical experiences to their academic training. Through a screening and interview process, we strive to match student-preparedness and interest with appropriate host sites.
Academic Internship
We have two academic internship tracks, the primary differentiating factor for the site being whether interns are paid. Students doing either a paid or unpaid internship receive 3-hours of academic credit. Both types are listed on their transcripts and fulfill the College’s Experiential requirement, and in some departments may earn major and or Capstone credit as well.
All our academic interns are expected to work approximately 160 hours, with a minimum requirement for academic credit of 130 hours. During our January term we expect them to be full-time workers for the duration of the internship. In this case, they are expected to be on site a minimum of eight hours per day, five days per week for the four weeks spanning our January Term. During our Spring Summer or Fall terms the overall hour requirement is the same, but the hours are spread out over the available period to fit with the schedules of the student and the site.
Student interns complete process reports for their faculty supervisor and meet with that supervisor regularly. Their grade is based on the reports and academic requirements provided to the faculty supervisor, who also considers evaluation and feedback received from their site supervisor. Our general preference for our internships is to be on-site/in-person as much as possible, but we do have options for both hybrid and in some cases virtual internship experiences.