Metcalf Internships

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

I’ve heard a lot about the Metcalf Internship program at UChicago. I’m an incoming freshman and want to learn more. I’ve read through the website. Here are some of my questions:

[ul]
[]How many internship spots are available? Website says 2500, but that sounds like a lot? Is this correct?
[]How difficult is it to get these internships? Is there a lot of competition? I’m assuming that upperclassmen are given higher priority?
[]Are there any internships that are open to freshmen?
[]I know that the pay will vary, but what is the typical hourly wage?
[]When does the interview season for the internships start (I’m assuming in Winter quarter)?
[]If I’m not successful in getting a paid internship thru Metcalf, are there other intern opportunities thru Career Services?[/ul]

2

Yeah, 2500 is a lot. It’s also accurate The Metcalf program is Career Advancement’s flagship program, and it’s great.

Some internships may favor third-years or fourth-years, but the vast majority are open to all years. I worked a Metcalf during my first summer at the college (i.e. between 1st and 2nd year). There are lots of positions available that don’t require specific expertise or advanced skills - just common sense, an interest in the field, and ideally some background knowledge and extracurricular involvement to demonstrate your interest in the field, skills, etc. Getting good grades helps, and learning useful skills (e.g. data analysis) early can open up some opportunities. Your year is mostly unimportant.

Bear in mind that lots of students do other stuff during the summer - outside internships, paid research, some form of class/course (not necessarily at a college or for college credit - some do this just out of interest), other UChicago internships, language study abroad, travel, the classic summer job, and so on. So, while I can’t be sure, I would guess that a comfortable majority of students who are specifically interested in a Metcalf end up finding one.

That said, a third-year might have more skills/expertise, leadership experience, extracurricular involvement, etc, which is probably a leg up if they’re applying for the same CNN internship as a first-year.

The pay doesn’t really vary. You get a $4,000 stipend for any US internship, or $5,000 for an internship abroad. Officially, you’re expected to complete ~400 hours of work over the course of your internship - which could mean 40 hours a week for 10 weeks, or a more compressed schedule, or more weeks with shorter hours. In practice, this varies - some offices don’t operate on a 9-to-5 schedule. My current internship, for instance, sometimes needs work after hours, over the weekend, at short notice, etc. - so interns get a weekday off and shortened regular hours. The only way you’ll get reported to Career Advancement for, say, working 380 hours instead of 400 is if you A. flake, disappear suddenly, or otherwise do something grossly unprofessional or B. get your boss to hate you with a passion.

Assume 400 hours over 10 weeks, but know that this may be flexible.

And don’t forget - you’ll need to pay taxes on that internship stipend, so make sure to budget for that. Illinois currently has a 5% income tax regardless of income bracket; that may change in the future, with high earners picking up a larger share of the tab, but you should assume it won’t.

It really depends on the job. State Department or CIA internships, for instance, involve a lengthy security clearance process, so applications are due in the fall. Lots of internships are posted in the winter and early spring. Internships continue to be available (though in smaller numbers) late into spring quarter. Start early if you can, but don’t worry if it takes a while to find the right fit.

Off the top of my head - not all of these are through Career Advancement, but they’re summer projects in a more general sense.

  • IOP internships (also come with a $4,000 stipend)
  • Research opportunities
  • FLAG grants (language study abroad)
  • Various fellowships (some pay you to complete an internship in a specific field, and let you find an employer; others have specific jobs attached)

Not sure what the stipend/grant amounts are for most of the above, and I’m probably missing a bunch of summer programs. You’ll get more info from Career Advancement if you ask.

3

To elaborate on the above - I worked on a campaign through much of the spring, started my job search late this year, and did all my interviewing in mid-to-late May. I found an internship I was very happy with, and a number of jobs that are in all the Metcalf brochures were still taking applications when I was looking. Not all, or even mostly, in my field, but you get the idea.

4

DD had two offers for Metcalf internships between 1st and 2nd year, plus a couple of other positions (non Metcalf). However she was very motivated and had to pay her own way to stay in Chicago over the summer which is what she did. Apply early is the advice I would give- January.

5

How is the $4,000 stipend disbursed on the Metcalf internship? Are you paid at the end of the summer or throughout (say, every two weeks or every month)? And is it a check or e-transfer from UChicago or the employer?

6

If you receive a Metcalf internship, you will pick up the check from a designated office in Harper. It will be for the full $4,000 amount, and you will receive it before the internship begins. I think for my daughter’s Metcalf grant (different than the internship) it was mailed to her.
They disburse it this way so students have the funds to pay their first month’s rent if the student needs to relocate or pay for travel.

7

I want to repeat the point that Metcalf is a great program, but also that there are plenty of other internship opportunities as well. D went with a Metcalf internship her first summer, but found a higher paid internship outside of Metcalf for her second summer.

8

I think that is fairly common since it usually is fairly difficult to get an internship between your 1st and 2nd year. After that you can usually get an internship without using Metcalf unless with an organization that simply cant afford to pay you.

9

The best thing about Metcalfs is letting you work for non-profits, government agencies, etc. that cannot afford interns
It’s a great program

10

@HydeSnark - this is what my kid is interested in: the non-profit stuff. She did non-pay work for a museum this summer while holding down another job for-pay . . . she’d prefer to combine the two next summer (doesn’t have to be a museum). Do non-profits and gov’t agencies actually offer positions through Metcalf or does would you get something like a grant but would need to go find your own non-profit internship independently? Also, do you know offhand how many of these would be in Chicago or should she cast her net wide?

11

The former. There are also various grants for outside internships, some of which follow the “find an internship” model, but with Metcalfs the stipend is tied to the internship (and noted in internship postings). You get the internship, you get the stipend. And, conversely, there’s no way for someone to end up with a Metcalf stipend and no internship.

Don’t know the exact breakdown, but there are lots of opportunities in Chicago. I wouldn’t be surprised if half of Metcalfs were in the Chicagoland area.

12

Is the Metcalf a grant to cover summer housing costs, so students can stack the Metcalf money on top of payment from their internship to better afford NYC, SF, LA, London summer housing? I’m confused. Our daughter already has a paid 10-week internship lined up for next summer. Is Metcalf of any additional benefit to her?

Or is Metcalf only for unpaid work, e.g. campaign volunteer, museum? I don’t see how 2,500 students at such a smart school would be unable to find paid employment in the summer. And I thought unpaid internships were sort of outlawed these days. I guess I’m missing how that’s a flagship program to flaunt. It’s certainly very courteous, yes, but doesn’t it also tease out that upwards of 2,500 U of C students apparently can’t find paid summer work?

13

As I understand it, Metcalf provides fixed-stipend internships at many different types of businesses.
For your D, Metcalf won’t help.

Since many companies don’t hire interns after freshman year, my D found Metcalf to be ideal to get her an internship in her chosen field. The $4000 was enough to cover housing and food, and she had a bit left over as well.

She already has an internship setup for next summer as well, but this one is not related to Metcalf. It also pays considerably more.

14

When we were visiting other elite schools over the past year for my son, it seemed that anytime the institution was able to provide a program similar to Metcalf it was a major selling point during the admissions sessions. I don’t think we met anyone who thought of it as a cover for the unemployable LOL. Rather, it seems to open up a wide variety of opportunities, even some unconventional ones. Not all fields of interest hire interns for pay so anyone wishing to pursue that would need to provide their own funding. Absent some sort of outside stipend, that means cutting back your hours to make time for a part-time job. Partnering with Metcalf allows you to “hire” an intern who can put in more hours (and obtain more experience). That benefits everyone.

My own takeaway is that it can’t be that hard to line something up out of first year at UChicago (the usual caveats would apply of course: take interesting courses, do well in them, etc.). D didn’t look into Metcalf at all, nor was she a “go getter” about pursuing the other stuff offered on Handshake. Still, the two or three applications she sent out did result in at least one hit. Unfortunately, she had already solidified other plans for the summer (including travel) so she turned it down. But from all that I am convinced that it’s possible to be only marginally interested in working for The Man, study a non-sexy, humanities-oriented major and put forth a half-hearted attempt to work within the system - and still procure a paid summer internship! =D>

15

When my wife worked in state government, she created a couple of Metcalf internships in her department. (The state government did not hire paid interns, and did not systematically hire unpaid interns, either.) They were substantive positions. She had a lot of trouble finding people to take them, because our state capital was not an attractive destination for University of Chicago students and, yes, most of them had lots of other options, but the kids who tried it got valuable experience.

My guess is that lots of the Metcalf interships go unfilled because it isn’t that hard to find worthwhile work that pays more than $10/hour, or to get paid $10/hour someplace you want to work that isn’t in the Metcalf program. Especially around Chicago. But Metcalf definitely opens up opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

16

I would agree Metcalfs are valuable in contexts where paid employment is rare or nonexistent. Until this year, neither the U.S. House nor the Senate paid interns. The Senate now has a $5 million budget - i.e. $50,000 per Senate office. Which sounds nice, but won’t go far when spread across four classes of 10+ interns. DC rent ain’t cheap.

So that’s just one example where the choice for most people is A. have family money, B. work two jobs (including very long hours for an unpaid internship), or C. miss out on the internship. Or maybe D, do what any normal person does and ask their vast network of friends in DC if they have a mansion to spare. The Metcalf program makes a big difference for those roles.

Metcalfs unfortunately can’t pay for campaign roles - since the university’s a nonprofit, funding work for partisan political campaigns is a no-no. The legal technicalities can be strange - for instance, while a Metcalf can’t be tied to a campaign, DNC internships are kosher - but that’s one area where the program’s a little weaker.

17

The IOP has a Metcalf-like program that covers Senate/House interns, though. It’s a different process from the “regular” metcalfs but works the same way in practice
http://politics.uchicago.edu/pages/iop-summer-internship-program-faqs
But yeah, there are jobs specifically marked as Metcalfs on Handshake. If you get one of them, you’re told that your funding comes from the Metcalf program and you need to fill out some paperwork. Then you are paid up front for the full amount before the summer begins and it is considered a grant, not income. There is one last round of Metcalf funding at the end of the summer that is NOT tied to jobs (i.e. anyone can apply, up to $2000), and can be used for anything you manage to justify. Unfortunately, the chances of getting additional funding if you already have a Metcalf but need more money (say, you’re trying to find summer housing in NYC last minute on $4000, which is very difficult) is very low because the school likes to brag that x number of people got Metcalf funding and you won’t be increasing their number.
If you are interested in a non-profit that doesn’t have any Metcalfs listed, you could email them letting they know! No non-profit isn’t going to like a program that lets UChicago pay their interns for them.

18

^An excellent point.

At a loss are the real campaign hacks - who work on the political side of things, rather than the government end, in a field where unpaid internships at the entry level are the norm. At that point, the best option is probably to volunteer during the year, learn the ropes, and parlay that into a summer job.

19

This is a little bit off topic, but I don’t know of any field where it’s more valuable (and more necessary) to get your foot in the door with unpaid work than in political campaigning. If that’s the field you want to be in, you have to beg, borrow, or steal a way to do it without pay for a while.

20

Yup. If anyone walks into a campaign office and wants to work for free, they will get a chance. Many chances, actually. I spent seven months as an unpaid “fellow” before moving on to my first paid gig.

But it’s a very flawed model, because the pipeline of campaign staff is dominated by people with the means to work for free. My boss was the only woman of color on a staff of 30+. A majority of the the campaign’s fellows *on the South Side * were white UChicago students.

When the fellows become staffers, and the staffers become senior aides or consultants or candidates in their own right, and a subset of that group ends up running the city, state, and country, the lack of diversity at the entry level has serious consequences.

The Campaign Workers’ Guild is doing some great organizing to ensure interns get paid, and campaigns properly address the seriously flawed working conditions they’ve created. This ranges from run-of-the-mill stuff like 90-hour workweeks to hostile work environments, downright unsafe job duties, and the like. All for the princely sum of $2000-$3000 a month, for 9-10 months a year if you’re lucky.

With the way political involvement by non-profit organizations is regulated (which, to be clear, is generally a good thing), schools can’t solve this issue - no matter how great the Metcalf stipends might be in other fields. And until campaigns start paying their interns, the industry won’t fix much of anything. But the status quo can’t change soon enough.