Hello. I was wondering if you could give us advice on how to get an Architecture internship for my daughter. She is a sophomore at Wash U and is interested in getting an internship next summer in St. Louis, Seattle or Dallas. Should she just use the resources at Wash U or are their other tools she could use. Thank you so much!
My advice is that she should take advantage of any resources available to her. Internship payment varies widely from a decent (often hourly) salary to a minimal stipend to zero, so she also has to consider the cost of living wherever she ends up.
My son had three summer internships during architecture school. The first was with an architect/building manager in the city where we live. It was unpaid, but terrific experience.
The second was at an overseas office of a large US firm. The manager of the branch office was an alumni of the same school and recruited interns through the architecture department. This job paid a minimal salary and contributed toward living expenses.
The third was at a medium sized US firm. The principals taught a course at my son’s architecture school. He asked them directly if he could intern at their firm. They paid a monthly stipend.
So I think your daughter should try different approaches – see what’s available through WUSTL’s architecture career center, talk to friends at home, solicit visiting architecture instructors, write to firms that she’d be interested in working for.
I also recommend to use the schools resources. See if her school has a job fair. A job fair is a great place to talk to companies about internships. Also, make sure she only takes a paid internship. NCARB will not accept IDP hours from an unpaid architecture internship, unless it is community service. Keep in mind it can be hard to find architecture internships (depending on the city) and they are usually reserved for graduates. So she should look into Construction and Design firms as well just as a backup, because you can get supplemental experience IDP hours from those internships, although I think she should be able to find an architecture internship because she is coming from a good school.
Thank you so much!