The Definitive List of Undergraduate Internships in Bioethics Around the Nation
For years students have wondered where they could study bioethics for the summer. If I had a nickel for every time a college student asked me where she could go to do some summer research in the field, I'd have a lot of nickels, or whatever the expression is. Well, Paul Root Wolpe changed all that with his new survey of undergraduate summer internship programs in bioethics for undergraduates, which you can download here as a PDF.Labels: ethics education, internships, undergraduate bioethics
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Many thanks to Paul Root Wolpe for compiling this list (and the AJOB blog and ASBH for publicizing it). When I sought internships not too long ago, I spent just as much time hunting for jobs as applying to them. So on behalf of future internship seekers, I am elated. Also, institutions that are seeking interns will benefit from the publicity as well. (And it sounds like bioethics professors will finally have something to say to their inquiring undergrads.)
I do have one worry: Too many positions are unpaid. Out of 31 internships here, 4 are paid, 5 are unpaid, and 8 offer stipends (usually not enough to come out on top). The other 14 dont specify. I think its sad when hard-working people go unpaid. Many employers could at least scrape up the money to pay living expenses. Many college financial aid office expect that students will earn three thousand dollars a summer and discount that amount from their aid packages. And then theres the good old principle that people ought to be paid for their work.
I know that students are not forced to take these internships, so claiming that interns are exploited is overdoing the charge. Given, though, the pressure to find summer internships and get into grad school, its also inadequate to say simply that students bear all the responsibility.
I understand that some bioethics centers just dont have the money to pay interns, and that many centers establish internships with benevolent intentions and not as a shrewd scheme to acquire unpaid labor. Indeed, if bioethics centers were forced to pay their interns, many internships would disappear. So its okay that some are unpaid. The problem is when unpaid internships become the standard (as they have in the investment banking world, for example), so employers who can afford to pay their interns think, eh, no one else is doing it, so why should we?
Plus, if employers know that having interns is costing them money, they're more likely to use them effectively. Paid interns are less likely to twiddle their thumbs. Everybody wins.
- by Eli B. on Feb 26, 2007 at 12:30 PM | link
Whether the employer or the intern ends up "on top" -- and whether the pay issue is unjust -- depends on what skills and background the intern brings to the job. If the employer/faculty is investing lots of time and energy in teaching and training the intern, esp for work that they could pay to have done more quickly and without the substantial supervisory requirements a good internship requires, then it seems ok for the pay to be less than market rate.
- by sparky on Feb 26, 2007 at 7:25 PM | link
Having just recently come from the undergraduate world, and really wishing Paul'd done this two years ago, I can say, Eli, that it was rare as anything for any department to have paid internships. Instead, you work out a situation where you receive credit for the experience.
Many college financial aid office expect that students will earn three thousand dollars a summer and discount that amount from their aid packages.
Mm, this does not match my...too many years experience with how financial aid works. They look over your prior year's income, anticipate your income for the current year based on that, and then do fancy maths to figure out how much money you'll need. And it's simple to file a revision, if your financial situation has changed from when they analyze it to the present.
And frankly, the hard-working people are not going unpaid. The interns are getting experience on the job, networking, and hopefully doing well enough to get themselves LORs and the ability to leverage their networking to further their own career.
Money is nice, but it's not the only currency.
- by Kelly on Feb 27, 2007 at 3:24 AM | link
The problem with unpaid internships is that it's only children of the rich who can realistically afford to do them. It's just privilege buying more privilege.
- by Kevin on Feb 28, 2007 at 4:07 PM | link
Nice list. You forgot to include the NIEHS internships, which are paid. They are open to undergraduate and graduate students. http://s97929468.onlinehome.us/bioethics_jobs.php?view=725
- by David Resnik on Mar 1, 2007 at 2:13 PM | link