Does an Internship Have Value for Political Science Graduate Students?

The existing literature about political science internships often focuses on undergraduate internships. This chapter adds to the literature by discussing internships for political science graduate students. The chapter first addresses several tensions related to internships including issues of transferable skills, paid versus unpaid internships, and the need for a signed memorandum of agreement. The chapter next describes benefits of completing an internship as a political science graduate student. The chapter concludes with recommendations and reflection based on my internship experience as a political science doctoral student. This manuscript is part of Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond, a forthcoming volume for those interested in pursuing graduate education in political science (Fall 2022 publication).