Applications for Summer 2022 are now open. Deadline is May 1, 2022 (11:59PM)

Prepare Early and Find Campus Mentors

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 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

Find an Internship

Our program provides scholarships once students have arranged an internship possibility. We strongly recommend that students reach out to campus partners listed below for help finding an internship.

The application will require that students have arranged a potential internship. Before applying, students should contact organizations they would like to intern for and have the potential internship supervisor submit this internship agreement form indicating their support for having the student as a full-time intern for 10 weeks in summer 2022, if the scholarship application is successful.

Submit your Application

Please note: you should have all your materials ready before you start the application. For assistance 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)

• 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. Summer enrollment is not required.
  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 summer internship (10 weeks in length at least 35-40 hours/week).

• 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 10 weeks in the summer. This would be provided in the internship agreement form. 
  2. Internships should primarily be with employers who are not able 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 this form indicating their support for having the student as an intern, if the scholarship application is successful.  
  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 student 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 $6,000 maximum, depending on financial need. A summer budget and requested scholarship amount should be uploaded with the application – use this budget template.

In the pilot year, we anticipate being able to award 6-10 scholarships. 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.

Student application deadline: May 1, 2022

Organization internship agreement form deadline: May 8, 2022

Award notifications: mid May 2022

Required student pre-internship workshop: end of May/early June

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

Required student post-internship workshop: early Fall 2022