How To Become A Graduate Student Internship: What It Is and Career Path

What is a graduate student internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Graduate students do so much more than just sit in a classroom and take notes. In order to pursue their advanced degrees, they often need practical experience in whatever field they are focused on. Many graduate students obtain this practical experience by getting an internship, either over the summer or during the semester.

The kind of internship a graduate student gets will depend on their field of study. A graduate student studying biology might work in a lab, while a graduate student of social work might work for a nonprofit. No matter where they work, a graduate student intern can be expected to take care of basic administrative tasks, interact with clients, or work directly with senior colleagues on important projects.

Graduate student internships can be paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, depending on the field and on the employer. No matter where a graduate student interns, they can expect to get practical experience in their field of choice and make important connections with mentors in their field to help them get jobs later on.

ScoreGraduate Student InternshipUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,945

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

3.7

Growth rate 21%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.11%

Asian 5.74%

Black or African American 11.85%

Hispanic or Latino 18.74%

Unknown 4.67%

White 57.89%

Gender

female 74.22%

male 25.78%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

3.7

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.0

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a graduate student internship

Explore graduate student internship education requirements

Most common graduate student internship degrees

Bachelor's

71.8 %

Master's

23.9 %

Associate

2.6 %

Start to develop specific graduate student internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	16.94%
Speech-Language Pathologist	13.95%
Data Collection	5.94%
Mental Health	5.54%
Group Therapy Sessions	3.82%

Research graduate student internship duties and responsibilities

Help veterans and their families learn to manage symptoms of PTSD through education, self-awareness, and becoming aware of triggers.
Collaborate with OTR on needs of clients to increase strength, endurance and independence with ADL's upon discharge.
Provide client and caregiver education regarding safety, ADL reeducation, or techniques and strategies that will benefit the client occupationally.
Perform kinetic and mechanistic studies using NMR spectroscopy.

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