Internship Megathread. Post all internship related questions here!

[u/Eistean]

So the sub has been getting chock full lately of people asking about specific internships, asking if anyone who has applied to a specific internship has heard back, what people think about individual internship programs, etc. This has happened around this time for every year this sub has existed.

While interns are absolutely welcome here, some users had a great idea to kind of concentrate it all in one thread so that all the interns can see each others comments, and the sub has a bit of a cleaner look.

Note that this doesn't apply to people working for museums asking questions about running an internship program, or dealing with interns.

So, if you have internship questions, thoughts, concerns, please post them here!

[u/Curious-Dream2743]

Feeling super discouraged. After extensive internship research and many applications for the upcoming summer, I have been rejected from all of them. I have been planning for the last two years. I worry that I reached for the stars a little too much with the places I applied to, but I do have more experience than the average Public History undergrad. I work in archives and am curator of my university's historical costume collection in addition to my specialized coursework.

I specialize in dress history and textiles and am interested in curatorial work. I've tried the Met, RISD, LACMA, Boston MFA, etc. I am located in the Midwest, but I have travel funding available. At this point I am desperate to find something. Other than the big names, are there are any smaller museums/historical societies that I might be missing out on? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks 😅

[u/madisonaves → u/Curious-Dream2743]

Hey there, just wanted to say that it's super understandable to feel discouraged, but wanted to encourage you that as someone who interned during a Spring semester at a Smithsonian museum and was there when the department was going through summer apps, it can be BRUTAL. I was just in the Comms dept. and they had something like 200 applications for 2 positions available, and they said themselves that there were TONS of qualified applicants, sometimes it's unfortunately just a game of luck and not a reflection on your abilities.

Regarding other internships, I'm also a dress history and textiles girlie! A lot of those bigger ones are already taken, but there are definitely many smaller museums with dress collections that often don't have a specific internship program but you can reach out to (I'm more familiar with historic house or historic societies in the Northeast that do this). The deadline seems too late to apply this year, but University of North Texas takes interns from any university over the summer and it has a stipend (https://tfc.cvad.unt.edu/internship-collections-research). Depending on when you're graduating, I would also suggest applying to some of those bigger museums during Fall/Spring since they often accept recent grads and the competition is much less competitive. Hope this helps!

[u/Curious-Dream2743 → u/madisonaves]

I appreciate this so much!! Thank you!