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From College to Career: Students’ Internship Expectations and Experiences

May 17, 2023

 

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​​A wide range of experiences prepare students for success beyond the completion of their college degree. The evidence for the value of interning on students’ future careers is strong. The Harvard Project on Workforce, in a comprehensive review of more than 530 academic papers addressing the transition between college and work, cites internships as one of the few examples where there is a substantial body of supporting research and high implementation and feasibility.1David Deming, Joseph B. Fuller, Rachel Lipson, et al. (April 2023). Delivering on the Degree: The College-to-Jobs Playbook. Published by Harvard Kennedy School.

In our own prior research, we found strong associations between work-based learning generally — and paid internships specifically — and positive individual outcomes in the labor market after graduation. By controlling for differences associated with students’ gender, race and ethnicity, and field of study, we found that a year after graduation those who had completed a paid internship during their undergraduate education were earning $3,000 more than their non-internship participating peers. 2Torpey-Saboe, Nichole, Elaine W. Leigh, and Dave Clayton. “The power of work-based learning.” Strada Education Foundation. (2022). https://stradaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/031522-PV-report.pdf A related examination found that among graduates from the past 20 years, those who “participate[d] in work-based learning, such as an internship or apprenticeship” are significantly more likely to be satisfied with their careers, report higher annual income, believe their education was worth the cost, and believe their education helped them achieve their goals.3Torpey-Saboe, Nichole, Elaine W. Leigh, and Dave Clayton. “The power of work-based learning.” Strada Education Foundation. (2022). https://stradaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/031522-PV-report.pdf

Researchers define internships4Christensen, K. (2009). The Benefits of Internships. Harvard Business Review, 87(2), 120-123. as temporary opportunities that allow students, recent graduates and others to gain practical hands-on skills and work experience and build professional networks. While there are no set timeframes for participating in an internship, participation can vary depending on a number of factors such as supply of internships, student’s course load and future career goals. In an era in which more and more people are questioning the value of a college degree, our previous findings on internships point to the power of work-based learning experiences in promoting successful college-to-career outcomes.

Notably, according to our analysis of the Baccalaureate and Beyond survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, only 1 in 3 bachelor’s degree holders participated in a paid internship. Furthermore, while paid internships are not evenly distributed across fields of study, even when controlling for this factor, women and Black men are significantly less likely to complete one.5Torpey-Saboe, Nichole, Elaine W. Leigh, and Dave Clayton. “The power of work-based learning.” Strada Education Foundation. (2022). https://stradaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/031522-PV-report.pdf

This current study examines how many first-year students expect to complete an internship, compared to how many seniors report having done so. Are the relatively modest levels of internship completion symptomatic of low student interest, or is demand high and supply is scarce? Using data from the 2022 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Career and Workforce Preparation Topical Module6The data collected via the CWP module are associated with the NSSE and Strada partnership. NSSE is an assessment and research project at the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. (n=59,807), we examine first-year and senior students’ interest in and participation in work-based learning, respectively. This includes activities such as internships, co-ops, field experience, student teaching, or clinical placement7The current iteration of the NSSE survey collects details of interest and participation and not remuneration details if participants indicate participation in ‘internships, co-ops, field experience, student teaching, or clinical placement.’. (We refer to these activities as “internships” moving forward.) Specifically, we explore whether first-year students have the intention of participating in internships and whether seniors have participated, examining the alignment between planned and completed activities.

Importantly, these are cross-sectional national data examining two separate student cohorts simultaneously rather than tracking one cohort over time. In addition, this large sample size is not representative of first-year and senior students across the nation. Individual institutions voluntarily elect to invite their students to complete this survey and a list of the 105 who surveyed their students in 2022 is found in an appendix to this report.

Research Questions
  1. Do first-year students intend to participate in internship experiences during college?
  2. By senior year, do students report participating in internships?
  3. Is there a gap between levels of first-year student intent and levels of participation among seniors?
  4. Are there gaps in participation for certain demographic groups, first-generation status or by field of study?

 

Key Findings

1

Seventy percent of first-year students expect to have internship experiences, yet fewer than half of seniors report that they have had one.

2

Interest and participation in internships varies by field of study, yet substantial gaps between interest and participation levels exist across all fields. The largest gap between intent and participation was found in the Social Sciences, Business, Social Service Professions, and Arts and Humanities disciplines.

3

Internship completion varies significantly across racial and ethnic groups. At least two-thirds of first-year Asian, Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, Multiracial and white students expect to participate in an internship. However, Black/African American and Latino/Hispanic seniors are significantly less likely to report having participated in an internship. This pattern holds when controlling for field of study, parental education/first-generation status, and student age.

4

Senior students who participated in internships are more confident in their ability to communicate their skills and experiences to potential employers than those who have not participated in internships.

Internships: Intent and Participation

Most first-year students (70%), expect to participate in internships.15First-year and senior students were asked the following question: Which of the following have you done while in college or do you plan to do before you graduate? [Participate in an internship, co-op, field experience, student teaching, or clinical placement.] The response options were: Done or in progress, Plan to do, Do not plan to do, Have not decided. First-year students who reported that they “plan to do” an internship or that it was “done or in progress” are coded as intending to do an internship. Seniors who reported that they were “done or in progress” were coded as having participated. In this cross-sectional data set however, participation by those who are seniors is much lower. Forty-eight percent of seniors report having participated in (or are in the process of completing) an internship. (See Fig. 1).

Figure 1 — Internships: First-Year Intent vs. By Senior-Year Participation

Gender

By gender16We use the variable ‘genderidcomb’ which is a version of the ‘genderid’ variable that imputes ‘IRsex19’ variable for missing ‘genderid’ responses. Responses are captured as 1= Man/Male, 2= Woman/Female, 3=Another Gender Identity and 9 =I prefer not to respond/Unknown (dropped)., first-year women have the highest (72%) intent to participate in internships when compared to others. Participation by senior year is similar among all reporting groups and highest among those who report as Another Gender Identity (55%). (See Fig. 2). This differs from our previous study finding about participation in paid internships, where men tend to be overrepresented. The more expansive definition of internships in the NSSE survey includes both paid and unpaidinternships, clinicals and practicums — encompassing experiences such as student-teaching and nursing clinicals – fields in which enrollment is higher among women than men.

Figure 2 — Internship Intent vs. Participation by Gender

Race and Ethnicity

While expectations about participating in internships were similar across race and ethnicity, Black or African American students (36%) and Hispanic/Latino students (39%) report the lowest participation in internships (See Fig. 3), consistent with the findings in our prior research where we see participation in paid internships is lower for Black and Latino students compared to white or Asian students.17Torpey-Saboe, Nichole, Elaine W. Leigh, and Dave Clayton. “The power of work-based learning.” Strada Education Foundation. (2022). https://stradaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/031522-PV-report.pdf

Figure 3 — Internships: First-Year Intent vs. By Senior-Year Participation (Race)

Note: All calculations for intent versus participation were made with first-year and senior cohorts from the same year and data are cross-sectional. This view is filtered by groups that have adequate sample size. Given the low responses, American Indian or Alaska Native, Middle Eastern or North African, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander participants were removed from this view.

First-Generation Students

First-generation first-year students report lower (67% vs 72%) intention to participate in internships when compared to first-year students who are not of first-generation status. Similarly, by senior-year participation in internships is lower (41% vs 55%) among first-generation students. The difference between the two groups in participation rates (14%) is nearly three times the difference in interest levels (5%). (See Fig. 4).

Figure 4 — Internships: First-Year Intent vs. By Senior-Year Participation (First-Generation Status)

Field of Study

When disaggregated by field of study, first-year students in the Arts and Humanities report the lowest level of expectation to participate in internships (63%), while Engineering students have the highest expectations of participation (77%). Even though the Arts and Humanities are typically not associated with internships, it is important to note that almost two-thirds of students still expect to participate in internships.

Seniors in the Arts and Humanities (42%), Social Sciences (42%) and Business (42%) have the lowest participation in internships when compared to other fields of study. The field of Education is one exception, where there is high intent to participate (76% for first-year students) and high participation among seniors (71%). However, this observation could be due to the internship participation question including ‘teaching or clinical experience’ as part of the question, as these are routinely requirements for graduation among Education majors. The only other field of study with an interest-participation gap less than 20 percentage points is for Communications, Media, Public Relations (15%). A key takeaway is that while first-year students’ intent to participate in internships remains high regardless of field of study, levels of participation remain far lower than expectations (See Fig. 5). The gap between intent to participate in internships and by senior-year participation is provided in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5 — Internships by Field of Study

Figure 5.1 — Gap in First-Year Intent and By Senior-Year Participation

Is the disparity between first-year intent and by senior-year participation reflective of students who were unable to access experiences that they desired, or is it reflective of growing interest in internships and other forms of work-based learning for 2022 first-year students compared to prior years? Figure 6 shows student responses about internship expectations and participation over the past decade. Notably, there is a slight erosion in both of these over time. This suggests that the gap between intent and participation is not an artifact of rising interest among first-year students that has not yet been reflected in the participation of seniors in the cross-sectional survey.18National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) core survey internship results, 2013-2022, retrieved from nsse.indiana.edu”

2022 numbers in Figure 5 are of all NSSE institutions, rather than only those participating in the Career and Workforce Preparation module and so differ slightly from the population examined in the rest of this report. Historical data on the career and workforce module participants is only available from 2021 and 2022.

Figure 6 — Internship First-Year Intent vs. By Senior-Year Participation

Predicted Probability: Intent and Participation in Internships by Field of Study and Race

Can the demographic differences we see be explained by the differences across fields of study? To simultaneously account for the multiple variables most closely associated with intent to participate in internships and participation in internships, we ran a series of statistical models to control for field of study, race/ethnicity, first-generation status/parent(s) level of education19Our survey asks “What is the highest level of education completed by either of your parents (or those who raised you)?” with options: 1=Did not finish high school; 2=High school diploma/G.E.D; 3=Attended college but did not complete degree; 4=Associate’s degree (A.A., A.S., etc.); 5=Bachelor’s degree (B.A., B.S., etc.);6=Master’s degree (M.A., M.S., etc.) and 7=Doctoral or professional degree (Ph.D., J.D., M.D., etc.). We use this item for parent’s level of education. A student is coded as a first-generation student if their parents’ highest level of education is an associate degree or lower., and age.20As intent to participate and participation are both coded as binary variables, we employ logistic regression models to obtain a predicted probability of intending to participate and a predicted probability of participating. We also use interaction terms for race/ethnicity and field of study, as we hypothesize that the relationship between field of study and internship outcomes may differ by race. Tables 1 through 3 depict the predicted probabilities of intent, participation, and the gap between the two by race and field of study, holding other variables constant. We find that after controlling for these variables, Asian and Black/African American first-year students have higher predicted probabilities of intention to participate in internships when compared with all other first-year students (See Table 121Table 1 provides predicted probabilities from our statistical model that controls for variables field of study, race/ethnicity, first-generation status/parent(s) level of education#, and age), and Black/African American and Hispanic or Latino seniors have the lowest predicted probabilities of participation in internships when compared with all other senior students. This means that seniors who are in either of these racial groups are disproportionately underrepresented with internship participation. (See Table 2).

Table 1 — Internship Intent: Predicted Probability in First-Year Intent by Race and Field of Study
Field of Study Asian Black / African American Hispanic / Latino White Multiracial
Arts & Humanities 77% 76% 59% 62% 64%
Bio, Agric, & Nat Res 74% 73% 71% 72% 64%
Business 74% 70% 66% 70% 72%
Comm, Media, PR 76% 71% 62% 76% 74%
Education 72% 79% 76% 78% 72%
Engineering 69% 81% 78% 78% 72%
Health Professions 75% 76% 71% 77% 72%
Phys Sci, Math, CS 75% 70% 78% 72% 67%
Social Sciences 77% 77% 69% 68% 69%
Social Svc Professions 80% 66% 70% 71% 68%
59% 81%
Table 2 — Internship Participation: Predicted Probability in Senior Participation by Race and Field of Study
Field of Study Asian Black / African American Hispanic / Latino White Multiracial
Arts & Humanities 36% 42% 37% 40% 35%
Bio, Agric, & Nat Res 41% 35% 41% 46% 43%
Business 47% 33% 32% 48% 39%
Comm, Media, PR 60% 64% 47% 58% 53%
Education 46% 67% 74% 80% 65%
Engineering 55% 40% 41% 59% 43%
Health Professions 62% 49% 54% 60% 52%
Phys Sci, Math, CS 44% 48% 33% 48% 35%
Social Sciences 35% 35% 30% 46% 35%
Social Svc Professions 30% 46% 41% 55% 46%
30% 80%

Table 3 describes the difference in predicted probability of first-year students’ intention to participate in internships and participation by senior year. Black/African American students have the biggest gaps between intent and participation in five out of 10 disciplines. Asian students have the largest gaps between intent and participation in four out of 10 disciplines. This means that while there is an overall mismatch between intent to participate and participation by senior year in internships, Black/African American students face disproportionate challenges in accessing internship opportunities in Business, Engineering and Health Professions fields.

Table 3 — Internship Gap: Predicted Probability Difference in First-Year Intent vs. By Senior-Year Participation by Race and Field of Study
Field of Study Asian Black / African American Hispanic / Latino White Multiracial
Arts & Humanities -41% -34% -21% -22% -29%
Bio, Agric, & Nat Res -34% -37% -30% -26% -21%
Business -27% -38% -33% -22% -33%
Comm, Media, PR -16% -7% -15% -19% -22%
Education -26% -12% -3% 1% -10%
Engineering -14% -41% -37% -19% -29%
Health Professions -12% -27% -17% -17% -20%
Phys Sci, Math, CS -31% -23% -45% -24% -32%
Social Sciences -42% -42% -39% -22% -34%
Social Svc Professions -51% -20% -29% -16% -22%
-51% 1%

Senior Students’ Confidence About Communicating with Employers

Prior research has found links between internship participation and stronger post-completion employment outcomes. In this data, we also find that internship participation is associated with students’ stronger feelings of confidence about communicating their knowledge, skills, and experience to potential employers. Overall, 80 percent of seniors who participated in an internship reported their confidence in communicating their knowledge, skills, and experiences to potential employers as “very much” or “quite a bit,” compared with 68 percent of seniors who did not participate in an internship (See Fig. 7).

Figure 7 — Seniors’ Confidence to Communicate with Potential Employers, by Internship Participation

While all seniors who participated in internships report higher confidence to communicate their skills and experiences with potential employers when compared with seniors who have not participated in internships, Asian students see the highest gain in their level of confidence to communicate with potential employers given their participation in internships (See Fig. 8).

Figure 8 — Senior Students’ Internship Participation and Confidence to Communicate with Potential Employers by Race

Note: Participants were asked how confident they are to communicate their skills and experiences with potential employers (with options: 1=Not at all, 2=Very Little, 3 Some, 4=Quite a bit, 5=Very much). This chart compares the percent of those who reported “Quite a bit” and “Very Much” for this question. This view is filtered by race and internship participation for seniors.

Figure 8.1 — Gain in Confidence to Communicate with Potential Employees by Race (If Students Participated in an Internship)

 

Conclusion

We highlight two main findings from this initial exploration. First, a majority of first-year students expect to complete an internship. There is a strong foundation of student interest and motivation to engage in internships, co-ops, field experience, student teaching, or clinical placement experiences. We found that regardless of field of study, race/ethnicity, gender, and first-generation status, first-year students reported high intent to participate in these activities.

Second, there is a gap between first-year students’ intent and seniors’ participation in internships. In the current sample, just less than half of seniors report they have participated in an internship, compared to 70 percent of first-year students expecting they will. Furthermore, consistent with our prior research, Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino students are significantly less likely to have participated in an internship.

Given these findings, we encourage institutions to analyze internship participation data specific to their campus to explore ways to expand access to internships, including placing special attention on addressing gaps in internship access.

From our study, we see wide variation by institution. On average, interest among first-year students is 70 percent and by senior-year participation in internships is 48 percent (difference = 22%). When we analyzed each institution individually, the first-year intent to participate ranges from 46 percent (n=366) to 90 percent (n=41) and by senior-year participation in internships ranges from 10 percent (n=591) to 95 percent (n=60). A total of 17 institutions have a negative gap, where by senior-year participation exceeded first-year intent to participate in internships. A total of 85 institutions have gaps that are below the mean of 22 percent and 23 institutions are above the mean of 22 percent.22Given that institutions are masked, we note here that our study includes a total of 105 US institutions and 2 additional institutions are a part of the larger sample that includes other institutions excluded from the larger analysis of this study per NSSE guidelines.

Prior cross-sectional research from the Center for Research on College Workforce Transitions at the University of Wisconsin found that some of the top reasons students cite for not being able to participate in internships are being unsure how to find an internship, having too heavy a course load to participate, or needing to work at a different job.23Hora, Matthew T., Colston, Jared, Chen, Zhidong, and Alexandra Pasqualone. “National Survey of College Internships (NSCI) 2021 Report: Insights into the prevalence, quality, and equitable access to internships in higher education.” Wisconsin Center for Education Research (2021). This exploratory study from CCWT looked at data from a cohort of participating institutions. Relatedly, Strada research from the NSSE Career and Workforce Preparation module also found evidence of trade-offs between work and internships: first-generation seniors were much more likely than their continuing-generation counterparts to be working more than 20 hours per week and less likely to participate in internships.24Lee, Elaine W. (December 2021). Understanding Undergraduates’ Career Preparation Experiences. Strada Education Foundation. https://stradaeducation.org/report/pv-release-dec-8-2021/#internships. We have initiated research to examine these questions with a nationally representative sample to determine the strategies that are most likely to increase access for students wishing to pursue an internship and understand gaps in participation, particularly in students from underrepresented populations.

Our current and previous findings show that student interest in internships — broadly defined — is high and outcomes for those who participate in paid internships are strong. Further exploration to understand the differences between paid and unpaid experiences is important as are additional insights into the barriers students encounter in securing and completing quality internships. Longitudinal data following students through their undergraduate experiences would clarify who wanted internships and who participated in them, providing insight into both challenges and solutions that support students in their development and preparation for careers.

 

Appendix

Methods

Sample
The Career and Workforce Preparation Topical Module of the National Survey of Student Engagement was administered by NSSE in collaboration with Strada Education Foundation between February and May, 2022. A total of 59,807 college and university students from 105 U.S. institutions responded to the survey. Of those who responded to the survey, 67 percent (39,252) are women, 31 percent (18,655) are men and 1.4 percent (890) are Another Gender Identity.25We use the variable ‘genderidcomb’ which is a version of the ‘genderid’ variable that imputes ‘IRsex19’ variable for missing ‘genderid’ responses. Responses are captured as 1= Man/Male, 2= Woman/Female, 3=Another Gender Identity and 9 =I prefer not to respond/Unknown (dropped). About 2 in 3 (68%) are between the ages of 18-22. By race (See Fig. 9), 61 percent of our sample are white, 19 percent are Hispanic/Latino and 10 percent are Black or African American.

Figure 9 — Sample by Race

Note: We use institution-reported race categories 1=American Indian or Alaska Native (dropped); 2=Asian, 3=Black or African American, 4=Hispanic or Latino, 5=Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (dropped), 6=White, 7=Other, 8=Foreign or Nonresident (dropped), 9=Two or more races/ethnicities, 10=Unknown (dropped). All dropped categories had too small of a sample sample size for the analysis in this report. Foreign or Nonresident participants were dropped given that the research questions for this report examine domestic student experiences.

Our sample includes 14 percent Very Small (fewer than 1,000 students), 40 percent Small (1,000-2,500 students), 18 percent Medium (2,500-4,999 students), 11 percent Large (5,000-9,999 students), and 16 percent Very Large (10,000 or more) institutions. A total of 64 percent private and 36 percent public institutions participated in this survey (See Fig. 10).

Figure 10 — Size of Institutions

Figure 11 — Sample by Field of Study

Figure 12 — Sample by First-Generation Status

Note: Figure 12 includes participants from the sample who responded to the survey question about their parents’ highest level of education, which was used to recode for first-generation status.

List of NSSE 2022 Career and Workforce Preparation Module Participating Institutions:

  1. Alabama State University
  2. Spring Hill College
  3. University of North Alabama
  4. University of Arkansas
  5. University of the Ozarks
  6. Grand Canyon University
  7. Northern Arizona University
  8. Prescott College
  9. California State University-Dominguez Hills
  10. Dominican University of California
  11. Saint Mary’s College of California
  12. University of San Francisco
  13. William Jessup University
  14. Colorado Technical University
  15. Eastern Connecticut State University
  16. Florida International University
  17. The University of West Florida
  18. Agnes Scott College
  19. Berry College
  20. University of North Georgia
  21. Mount Mercy University
  22. Boise State University
  23. Benedictine University
  24. Illinois Institute of Technology
  25. Monmouth College
  26. North Central College
  27. Indiana Institute of Technology
  28. Centre College
  29. Centenary College of Louisiana
  30. Grambling State University
  31. Assumption College
  32. Bay Path University
  33. Dean College
  34. Emerson College
  35. Lasell College
  36. Salem State University
  37. Suffolk University
  38. St. Mary’s College of Maryland
  39. Washington Adventist University
  40. Washington College
  41. Thomas College
  42. Northwood University
  43. Olivet College
  44. University of Michigan-Dearborn
  45. Western Michigan University
  46. Augsburg University
  47. Bethany Lutheran College
  48. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
  49. Missouri State University
  50. Missouri Western State University
  51. Jackson State University
  52. Millsaps College
  53. Montana Technical University
  54. Rocky Mountain College
  55. University of Montana
  56. Barton College
  57. Dickinson State University
  58. North Dakota State University
  59. Hastings College
  60. Peru State College
  61. University of Nebraska at Omaha
  62. Monmouth University
  63. Stevens Institute of Technology
  64. Nevada State College
  65. Sierra Nevada College
  66. Alfred University
  67. CUNY Medgar Evers College
  68. Daemen College
  69. Five Towns College
  70. Ithaca College
  71. Manhattanville College
  72. Nazareth College
  73. The New School
  74. Roberts Wesleyan College
  75. Southwestern Oklahoma State University
  76. University of Tulsa
  77. University of Oregon
  78. Allegheny College
  79. Cedar Crest College
  80. Holy Family University
  81. Lebanon Valley College
  82. Pennsylvania College of Technology
  83. University of Pittsburgh-Bradford
  84. Bryant University
  85. Coker College
  86. University of South Carolina Upstate
  87. Black Hills State University
  88. Freed-Hardeman University
  89. Tennessee State University
  90. Tennessee Wesleyan University
  91. St. Edward’s University
  92. Southern Methodist University
  93. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
  94. University of Utah
  95. Utah Valley University
  96. Averett University
  97. Bridgewater College
  98. Liberty University
  99. Roanoke College
  100. Southern Virginia University
  101. University of Lynchburg
  102. University of Mary Washington
  103. The Evergreen State College
  104. Alverno College
  105. University of Charleston

 

Authors

Sowmya Ghosh

Senior Research Analyst

Nichole Torpey-Saboe

Managing Director, Research

Dave Clayton

Senior Vice President, Research

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