No matter your major, getting on-the-job experience can be an invaluable component of preparing to enter your dream career. For Lauren Stewart, internships were a critical aspect of her career path as a public school educator-turned senior internship advisor in CU Denver’s Experiential Learning Center (ELC). “An internship really gives the students the opportunity to figure out what they want to do with their degree,” Stewart said.
Internships can help students see for themselves that they have what it takes to make it in the job market. “It’s a confidence building opportunity for them to say … ‘This isn’t as scary as I thought, the information and the knowledge I’ve been taught through these courses at CU Denver have actually really prepared me,’” Stewart said.
CU Denver News caught up with Stewart to gather some insights into why internships are so worth your time, and tips for navigating the internship process.
1. Getting hands-on experience helps you figure out what you don’t want to do.
For her education degree, Stewart was required to intern in classroom settings. That experience spared her from going too far down a path she wouldn’t have enjoyed. “The first [internship], I was with a third-grade math class,” Stewart said. She realized working with young children wasn’t the right fit.
2. Trust that ruling out what you don’t like can help you discover what you love.
Leaving elementary school behind led Stewart to give teaching high school a try, which is how she realized her passion was with helping older kids. “It really was that opportunity that I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I can do this; I really enjoy this,’” Stewart said. She often sees CU Denver students discover their own passions and talents through internship experiences, as well.
3. Prioritize paid opportunities—if you can.
Paid internships correlate to more job offers and higher salaries, according to a 2023 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) report. Stewart said government and nonprofit internships are more likely to be unpaid, and women, first-generation students, and students of color are more likely to be unpaid interns. Paid internships can help. “They can support the equity gap,” Stewart said.
4. Think through the practicalities.
Internships, especially if they are unpaid, require time and energy beyond the work you put into the job. Stewart advises thinking through things like where the internships is located, whether or not you have the transportation you need to get there (and time for the commute), if they offer a work-from-home option, and if the hours are flexible enough to fit around your work or class schedule. “Are you able to work weekends?” Stewart said. “Can they work with your schedule?”
5. Start the search early.
Companies hire interns on varying schedules, but many with formal summer internship programs start the hiring process as early as February or March. You may also need to be aware of deadlines to submit your internship for credit. For 2025, applications to have summer internships counted for college credit should be submitted by the first week of June, via the Experience form in Handshake. Stewart says this allows time for them to be processed before the June 17 deadline to enroll in the internship course. “We do not grant retroactive credit,” Stewart said. “So it’s important they reach out as soon as they accept an offer.” To do so, email experiential.learning@ucdenver.edu.
6. Call in all the support that’s available to you at CU Denver.
“The process itself of finding an internship can be overwhelming,” Stewart said. For first-generation students, it can be even more so. “You add on the layer of the fact that, ‘Oh, I’ve never done this before. Nobody I know has done this before. What do I do?’ But really, that’s part of the reason why the Experiential Learning Center exists.”
Stewart recommends meeting with the Career Center in LynxConnect, a free resource for all CU Denver students, to get support in thinking through career goals that align with your major, interests, and skills. “They can do a career exploration with you,” Stewart said. “They can talk about: What are your strengths? What works best for you?”
The ELC provides internship advisors for every major who are dedicated specifically to helping students maximize internship experiences while at CU Denver. Often, Stewart says, internship advisors can open up areas of opportunity students had no idea were there. “I met with a criminal justice student last week, and they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t really want to go into law enforcement, but I feel that’s all I can do with my criminal justice degree.’” Stewart said. “And I’m like, ‘You came to the right person.’” She was able to identify other options, from victims’ services to law firms and courts. “It’s really just taking the time to look at what your interests are and what positions align with those interests and your professional goals.”