Some students do not wait for graduation to make their mark -- they work while at SAIS. Internships and other jobs can provide valuable experience and also help pay for rent, pizza and the other costs of living in Bologna or Washington.
We get many questions from candidates about internships. You deserve some answers.
First, as Ann Gagliardi of Career Services in Bologna explains in the video below, some students find work while at the Bologna Center. There is a range of jobs at the Center, and students with the appropriate language skills can manage to find work or volunteer opportunities outside the school. Most students do internships during the summer between their first and second years.
(Career Services provides partial financial assistance to support unpaid full-time summer internships between the first and second year of study. Some academic concentrations also make funds available to students for unpaid summer internships.)
Washington, as many of you know, is a haven for internships. The U.S. government, international organizations, consultancies, think tanks, embassies, corporations: the list of employers is long. Is there another city in the world with as many internship opportunities? Alumni often say that the combination of a strong focus on academics while in Bologna and the professional opportunities available in DC make for the perfect SAIS experience.
Here are some figures on internships that Bologna Center students performed between their first and second years in the summer of 2010 (percentages of reporting students):
private sector | 19% |
non-profit | 28% |
multilateral | 24% |
public | 29% |
public non-US (percentage of all public) | 29% |
public US (percentage of all public) | 71% |
By location
Africa | 11% |
Asia | 12% |
Europe | 27% |
Latin America | 15% |
Middle East | 4% |
United States/Canada | 31% |
Nelson Graves
