About the program
We match Hamilton Lugar students with organizations that have agreed to host a student each semester: government agencies, think tanks, international companies and non-profits. Placements run in the fall, spring and summer, in Bloomington, Indianapolis, Washington DC, New York City, Chicago, overseas and remote. You apply through us and we make the match, so you are not cold-emailing organizations on your own. The program is built on the NACE Career Readiness Competencies, the framework employers use to read graduates.
Who can apply
You need all three of these. Some placements ask for more, and the listing says so where they do.
- A major or minor at the Hamilton Lugar School, undergraduate or graduate
- At least one completed semester of college before the placement starts
- A grade point average of 3.0
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November 1Apply for a spring placement
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February 1Apply for a summer placement
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April 1Apply for a fall placement
How to apply
One application covers every placement you are interested in, and you apply again for any later semester.
- Browse this term’s placements and note the ones you want. What is open changes every term.
- Write a cover letter and bring your résumé up to date.
- Write a short answer for each placement you are applying to, on your interest in that work and the skills you would bring. Draft these somewhere else and leave time to revise; the Walter Center has guidance on writing them.
What happens after you apply
We read your application against what each partner is looking for, along with the languages you study and the regions you know, then put our strongest candidates forward. Some partners interview before deciding. Others decide from the application alone.What you’ll need to do
Once accepted in the program, you will need to take the following steps:
- Join the HLS Internship Canvas page
- Sign the internship agreement
- Come to the pre-internship orientation
- Take part in all training your host provides
- Follow our AI policy and your host organization’s
- Submit two written reflections over the semester
- Come to the post-internship session
- Submit a site evaluation of the placement
- Have your supervisor submit their evaluation of you
Getting credit for it
Optional, and it works whether we arranged the placement or you found it yourself. SGIS X373 turns the placement into one to three credits. You do not enroll yourself: send the enrollment request form and the instructor enrolls you once the placement is settled, before the priority deadline for your term — February 1 for spring, June 1 for summer, October 1 for fall.
- A journal entry every week, on what you did and what you made of it
- Two interviews with colleagues at your internship site
- A reflection paper at the end that pulls the semester together
- A site evaluation when it finishes, and one from your supervisor about you
More in Internships
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Meet our partner organizations
Who takes our students, what they work on, and what you would be doing there.
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Paying for an unpaid placement
Apply for a scholarship to help cover the term.
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Found your own placement?
Tell us about it. You can still apply for funding, and the credit works exactly the same way.