Step 1: Prepare Early and Utilize Campus Resources

Please start early and give yourself plenty of time to apply. Priority will be given to students who meet the eligibility criteria (see below) and have done some advance preparation before submitting an application, including:

• meet with a UCSC Career Coach to explore internship and career options, prep for interviews, get resume feedback, etc.
• meet with an EOP counselor or peer advisor to develop a plan for student success and work out a summer budget
• meet with an internship coordinator in your department, major, or field of interest, if available
• identify a faculty mentor who will provide guidance throughout the internship
• arrange a potential full-time summer internship off campus (see below)

Step 2: Find an Internship

You must arrange for an internship before you submit your application. The application will require that students have arranged full-time non-credit summer internship off campus (8-10 weeks in length at least 35-40 hours/week). After consulting with the campus resources below, students should contact organizations they would like to intern for and have the potential internship supervisor submit an internship agreement form indicating their support for having the student as a full-time intern for summer 2024, if the scholarship is awarded.

We strongly recommend not having additional summer jobs or taking summer classes while working at a full-time internship.

Step 3: Submit your Application

Please note: you should have all your materials ready before you start the application. For assistance with writing a resume, take advantage of the Career Center resources. For assistance with your summer budget, please work with an EOP counselor.

The application consists of:

1. Student application form
2. Internship agreement form (submitted separately by your potential internship supervisor)
3. Summer budget with requested scholarship amount (uploaded via the application form)
4. Resume (uploaded via the application form)

UC Santa Cruz and Division of Social Sciences Internship Resources

To be eligible for this scholarship, students must independently arrange a full-time non-credit summer internship off campus (8-10 weeks in length, working 35-40 hours/week).

• Student eligibility
  1. Applicants must be UC Santa Cruz undergraduate students majoring in a social science discipline or program and must be in good academic standing.
  2. Priority will be given to students who have EOP status (i.e first-generation, low income, under-represented/BIPOC, undocumented, former foster youth).
  3. Priority will be given to students who are rising sophomores, juniors and seniors (i.e. returning to UCSC for the academic year following their summer internship). Graduating seniors are eligible if they are on the job market (i.e. not planning on attending graduate school in the fall) and are willing to participate in a fall workshop reflecting on their internship experience.
  4. Students must commit to a full-time non-credit summer internship off campus (8-10 weeks in length at least 35-40 hours/week).
  5. Students should not be enrolled in field study programs at the same time as their internship

• Internship site eligibility
  1. Internship sites must be able to demonstrate the capacity to provide a quality learning and career-advancing experience that is well-supervised, safe, stable, and enriching for the student for 8-10 weeks in the summer. This would be provided in the internship agreement form. 
  2. Internships should primarily be with employers who are unable to provide fully paid internships, such as non-profit organizations, government entities, small businesses or start-ups.
  3. Internships should be off-campus. The location can be anywhere in the world, however international travel is not allowed to countries on the U.S. State Department Travel Advisory Level of 3 or 4. Any students traveling internationally or out of state must register in advance for UC travel insurance. 

• Student responsibilities
  1. Confirmation of a potential internship must be obtained before applying for the scholarship. Students must have arranged a potential internship, and have the internship supervisor submit an internship agreement form indicating their support for having the student as an intern, if the scholarship is awarded.
  2. Priority will be given to students who have established relationships with mentors on campus including UCSC Career Coaches, Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) Advisors, department internship coordinators, and/or faculty mentors. 
  3. The application will require students to articulate how the proposed internship experience will enhance their career and professional growth. Students will also need to upload a resume and a summer budget.
  4. If awarded, students must participate in a pre-internship workshop to help prepare them for their experience, such as building basic skills for workplace success, and in a post-internship meeting presenting their reflections on the internship experience.
  5. Students are expected to provide a short report on their experience at the end of the internship. Guidelines will be provided for this report.

Summer internship scholarship awards will be up to $7,500 maximum, depending on financial need. We expect typical awards to be between $4,500 and $6,500, with awards up to $7,500 for internships in particularly expensive cities or that require air travel to get to. A summer budget and requested scholarship amount should be uploaded with the application – use this budget template.

We anticipate being able to award up to 25 scholarships in 2024. Student applications will be reviewed by a committee of UCSC staff and faculty.

Scholarship awards will be processed by the Institute for Social Transformation and disbursed as a direct payment to the student in summer.

Applications open: February 1, 2024

Expression of Interest Form (optional) due February 15, 2024

Info-Sessions:

• Friday, February 9, 2024 at 2-3PM (Register here)
• Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 12-1PM (Register here)

Student application deadline: extended to May 1, 2024 (11:59PM)

Organization internship agreement form due May 1, 2024

Award notifications: May 2024

Summer internships: June/July through August/September (8-10 weeks)

Required workshops: Selected students will be required to attend a pre-internship workshop in early June and a post-internship workshop in late September