Internships
Fast-track your career success with an internship.
Writing Internship Course
Writing Internships are beneficial in many ways as they provide professional on-the-job writing experience, establish valuable workplace connections, and help in making career decisions. Writing Internships can also lead to full-time employment. TCU’s Writing Internship course (WRIT 40273) is your chance to gain valuable work experience and explore writing-related careers, while gaining degree credit for your departmental major or minor. English majors and Creative Writing majors are encouraged to enroll in WRIT 40273: Writing Internship. For Writing and Rhetoric majors, WRIT 40273 is a degree requirement. English, Creative Writing, and Writing & Rhetoric minors are also encouraged to enroll.
Eligibility
WRIT 40273 is recommended for:
- English majors
- Creative Writing majors
- English, Creative Writing, and Writing & Rhetoric minors
WRIT 40273 is required for:
- Writing & Rhetoric majors
Requirements
Students with 60 credit hours and a 3.0 GPA in English or 2.8 cumulative GPA may receive workplace experience from companies in publishing, advertising and many other fields. Duties are arranged to fit each student’s schedule, and work opportunities may include research gathering, editing, report writing, or document production. Students must work a minimum of eight hours a week during the semester to receive three hours of credit.
WRIT 40273 provides a space to demonstrate and reflect upon the kinds of written and oral communication done in a professional setting. Requirements include working a minimum of 120 hours in the semester, documenting work in a portfolio, producing a final project, contributing to online postings with others enrolled in the internship, and individual conferences with a supervising faculty member throughout the semester. This course may be repeated once for credit.
Deadlines
The deadline for confirming internships with the coordinator is August 1 for Fall internships and the last day of finals week in December for Spring internships. Please be aware that some internships require applications six to 24 weeks in advance, so students are encouraged to secure positions as early as possible.
Scholarships
Run by TCU's Center for Career & Professional Development, the Intern Scholarship Program is designed to provide assistance to undergraduate students pursuing unpaid or low-paying (less than $1,000 per semester) internships in their major field.
Getting Started
Read through the information about course requirements and agency partners on this website or make an appointment with the Internship Coordinator. You may identify a work site from the list of agency partners or look for an agency on your own (subject to coordinator approval). Contact the coordinator for further information or help determining a suitable agency.
Study the agency website before requesting an interview. You will also need to polish your resumé and understand expectations for a professional interview (see resources available through the Center for Career and Professional Development). You will interview with one or more agencies and, provided an offer, select an agency to work with.
Before you can enroll in WRIT 40273, you must submit a Letter of Agreement signed by you, the agency supervisor and the internship coordinator. Request a letter of from the internship coordinator, have the agency supervisor sign it, and return the signed letter to the coordinator, who will then give you a permission number to register for the course. Do not accept an internship without the coordinator’s approval.
Access the TCU Online course site on the first day of class to obtain the course syllabus and other required forms (Informed Consent and Assumption of Risk, Student Driver Form, Social Media Policy) and to locate the threaded discussion area where you will write weekly responses. You must attend an orientation session with the internship coordinator early in the semester. Check your TCU email daily and respond promptly to coordinator emails.
Benefits
A writing internship can be beneficial in many ways:
- Provides professional writing experience
- Establishes valuable workplace connections
- Helps in making career decisions
- Could lead to full time employment
- Provides on-the-job experience
English and Writing and Rhetoric majors pursue successful careers in communications, law, business, publishing, web design, editing, teaching, technical writing, public relations, management, advertising, medicine and nonprofit work. Our programs prepare students for any career that requires excellent written and oral communication skills, rhetorical sophistication and mastery in the critical analysis of information.
Studies have shown that a liberal arts degree not only trains students for their first job, but also gives them the skills and flexibility to get promoted, to move within a company or to embrace the new opportunities that our evolving economy creates.
Our students have excelled in earning admission to graduate programs in literature, writing and publishing; law schools; divinity schools; and medical schools. They have also earned prestigious post-graduate scholarships such as Fulbright awards.
TCU’s Policy on Internships
TCU offers hundreds of internships in any given semester and does not support political or personal statements associated with any of them. We evaluate each opportunity to ensure academic value as it relates to a course of study. Beyond that, we encourage you to seek the opportunities that best match your interests and to choose how to best fulfill your internship requirements.
