Co-ops, Internships, and Summer Work
Experiential
opportunities such as co-ops, internships, summer work, and study abroad
are becoming more essential to add value to your education and career
development. These work-integrated learning programs provide
opportunities for you to apply classroom theory, advance your technical
skills, learn about diverse work cultures, explore career options, and
gain self-knowledge.
Many schools and companies offer undergraduate and graduate cooperative
chemistry programs that combine industrial work experience with the
academic program, internships in research labs, and study or work abroad
programs. These programs help you learn about various chemistry careers
and give you an opportunity to test and analyze your capabilities. If
you find a career or specialty that really excites you, you can tailor
the remainder of your curriculum to prepare you for this career. You can
also gain useful contacts in industry that can serve as references and
otherwise help you in your job hunting efforts.
To help undergraduates in the chemical sciences find these types of
programs, ACS Experiential Programs in Chemistry (EPiC) publishes the
Directory of Experience Opportunities annually. The directory lists a
wide variety of experiential education programs offered by industry,
academia, and the government for undergraduates in the chemical
sciences. The Directory is available
online.
Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the
American Chemical Society.
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