Externships & Shadowing
The Application for March 2025 Is Now Closed. Thank You.
Externship Program
Spring Break, March 2025
The Externship Program creates short-term job shadow opportunities for Grinnell College students over spring break. Each extern is paired with an industry professional who has a Grinnell College connection—either an alum or parent—with a wide range of career fields, organization types, and work environments available to explore.
Learn More about the Externship Program
An externship experience is designed to help students:
- Explore possibilities for post-graduate life;
- Clarify interests, strengths, and values;
- Create connections and develop a professional network;
- Gain insight into professional work environments and work/life balance;
- Reflect critically on the experience and develop action steps to achieve goals.
Externships take place both virtually or in-person and generally involve shadowing a professional through a normal day’s activities. The experience may also include informational interviews, introductions to other professionals, tours of work sites, sitting in on group meetings, sample projects or research, and a homestay experience. Extern hosts may invite up to two students to their experience; some hosts are curating co-hort experiences in which students shadow several alums in related careers. In-person externship experiences usually include a home stay.
The Externship Program is exploratory in nature and open to first- through third-year students. For in-person experiences, funding is available to students with demonstrated financial need to help defray travel and other expenses. For more information, please read the FAQ section.
The Spring 2025 Externship Program Application will open November 11, 2024.
The online application form will be live November 11, 2024, at 9am. All applications must be complete and submitted by no later than December 4, 2024, at 3pm. Applicants will choose up to three host experiences and write an application letter to each host following the guidelines. Each letter must also include, in the same document, a one-page (that’s one side of one page) résumé in PDF format. When the application form closes, no further applications can be accepted. No late or incomplete applications will be considered.
Please note: While there is no advantage in applying earlier during the application period and we highly encourage you to take your time with the application, do not leave this application for the last minute. The online application form does not save your information prior to submitting and should be completed in one sitting.
- At the end of the online application, you will be asked to upload one application per host experience. The application should be a single PDF for each host consisting of your application letter (see requirements) AND your résumé. Complete your résumé prior to beginning the application.
- Your résumé: one side of one page, professionally written, properly formatted, and carefully edited.
- You are strongly encouraged to attend the CLS résumé events scheduled in November to polish your résumé. If you are not able to attend these events, you can schedule a résumé review appointment with a CLS adviser in Handshake.
Résumé Events
Lights, Camera … Action Verbs! Tuesday, November 12, 7–8pm, HSSC S1325
https://career.grinnell.edu/events/2024/11/12/lights-camera-action-verbs
CLS Pop-Up Open Résumé Reviews, Tuesday, November 19, 11:30am–1pm, HSSC atrium
https://career.grinnell.edu/events/2024/11/19/cls-pop-up-open-resume-reviews
- The Externship Program is a competitive opportunity and résumés will be reviewed by the hosts, so it’s important to submit the highest quality application possible.
- Résumé guides and examples are available on our Résumé & Cover Letter Writing page.
- The list of host externship opportunities will be available no later than 11.1.2024.
- You will have the opportunity to rank up to three externship opportunities in the application. Ranking three opportunities, if there are three you are interested in, is strongly encouraged; placements can be competitive, and ranking fewer opportunities decreases the chances of being matched with an externship experience.
- Both virtual and in-person experiences are available; you can rank only virtual, only in-person, or a mix of both.
- If ranking in-person externship experiences, please keep in mind that funding support to cover travel and related costs by the CLS is not guaranteed and is based on financial need. Only rank externship opportunities you would be able to participate in without full funding by CLS.
- The application opens Monday, November 11 at 9am. The online form must be completed in one sitting; there is no option to save your progress. Partial applications will not be considered.
- Review the requirements here before beginning the online application.
- Remember: While CLS funding is available, it is a fixed amount based on your established financial need. Be certain as you’re considering your externship opportunities that you will be able to address any out-of-pocket expenses required to participate.
Application Requirements—when you click on the application, you will see the following instructions. Best practice: create your application materials first and when everything is ready, fill out the application questionnaire. Here are the application instructions for the materials you will upload.
Welcome to the application for the Spring Break 2025 Externship Program. Please fill out all fields. If you have any questions about the application process, email bourjaily@grinnell.edu. Note the application closes at 3pm on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. No applications will be accepted after that time. Applications missing the required documents will not be considered.
Questions 1–27 are short answer questions for your application. Questions 28–33 require you to rank up to three Externship Opportunities and upload a specific document for each one. You may rank and apply to one, two, or three opportunities. Review the host spread sheet [link] and all related information carefully. Write and upload a separate application for each externship opportunity you are ranking. The hosts will not know how you rank them.
Document Creation and Upload Directions
For each host opportunity, create a two-page document saved as a PDF with the title HostLastNameHostFirstNameStudentLastNameStudentFirstName (example: CareerChrisBourjailyRobin.pdf). The document will contain the following:
- A cover letter of no more than 350 words written carefully by you, and
- Your ONE PAGE (one side of one page ONLY) résumé following the letter.
You may have some repetition in your letters, but be certain each letter is appropriately directed and customized to the host and their specific opportunity.
Letter Details
In your letter, briefly share your story and why you would like to explore this externship opportunity. Be polite, specific, and professional. Please include the following information:
- Your interest in the specific field of work and any experience or related experience you may already have (keep in mind that no experience is needed to apply to or be selected by a specific host);
- Two or three goals you have for the externship; and
- Specific questions you wish to discuss with your host including professional questions about your host’s field, questions about your host’s time at Grinnell, or questions about wisdom your host has gathered along their career path.
You are encouraged to work with a CLS adviser or someone in the Writing Center on your application materials.
Thank you, Robin Bourjaily
- Make sure you have all of your materials ready prior to beginning the application.
- All applications must be completed and submitted, including required PDF uploads, by December 4, 2024, at 3pm. The application form will automatically close and no late applications will be considered.
Important Information 2025 Externship Program
For students who have applied in previous years, please review the new application requirements thoroughly.
For in-person externship experiences only, students may request CLS funds to cover associated travel expenses. Externship funding will be awarded in one of three flat amounts depending on the location of the externship based on demonstrated financial need as established by the Grinnell College Office of Financial Aid. Questions on your financial aid status should be directed to the Office of Financial Aid at 641-269-3250.
Please note: There may be additional out-of-pocket expenses you are expected to cover. Be sure you consider the related costs for each externship opportunity you’re considering.
| Need Level | Regional* | Contiguous U.S. | International/Non-contiguous U.S. |
| Very High/High | $600 | $850 | $1,500 |
| Medium/Low | $350 | $500 | $900 |
| No Need | $150 | $200 | $700 |
*Regional externship locations are within four-hour car or bus ride from Grinnell and include Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Omaha, and Kansas City.
Externship Travel Funding Request – Budget Worksheet There is limited funding available to cover travel expenses such as flight or bus between the externship site and Grinnell; funding does not cover the purchase of a bike or vehicle. Funding is not guaranteed. When submitting the Travel Funding Request form, you will be asked to give permission for CLS to confirm your financial need status from the Office of Financial Aid. Travel funding requests are not seen by the externship hosts and do not affect your chancchances of being offered or participating in an externship.
For questions, contact your CLS adviser or email bourjaily@grinnell.edu.
Please note application requirement changes for the 2025 program.
Externs offered a placement must promptly respond to accept their placement during winter break.
Externs offered funding support must have a direct deposit form on file with the College.
***Failure to complete any of the program requirements by the due dates will result in not being able to participate in future CLS Programs and/or becoming ineligible for future CLS grants and funding.***
There will be two sessions of each orientation.
- If you are unable to attend either of the orientation sessions due to a conflict that cannot be resolved, you will need to schedule a meeting with the CLS adviser assigned to you for the externship program.
- (Coming): Program Waiver
- Direct Deposit (through Accounting Office)
- Photo/Social Media Waiver
- Externs will need to review the Connecting with Hosts and Expectations guide shared during Orientation for more information and a sample outreach email.
- See information provided during Orientation for more information.
- Hosts and students will connect via the MentorGrinnell video platform several times before the externship.
- See information provided during Orientation for more information.
- There will be two sessions of each orientation
- If you are unable to attend either of the orientation sessions due to a conflict that cannot be resolved, you will need to schedule a meeting with the CLS adviser assigned to you for the externship program.
Information will be provided during Orientation.
- You will be emailed the link to the Program Evaluation Survey (online) to be completed after you return from your externship. The survey is due no later than 5pm on Monday, April 3, 2025.
- These evaluations will be kept confidential and will not be shared with your externship host. Your feedback and opinions on your externship experience is valuable to the growth of the program.
- See information provided during Orientation for more information.
- Your reflection essay will be uploaded at the time that you complete your post-externship Program Evaluation Survey.
- Quotes from your post-externship reflection essay may be shared to promote the program to future externship hosts, to demonstrate the value of the program for students who participate.
- This essay must be 500 words minimum and uploaded as a Word document or PDF.
- The goal of this paper is to support and encourage reflection on your externship experience and to set intentional goals for the future.
- This of this as an opportunity to share your experience and reflect on what you learned. You may be creative in your approach. It may be helpful to imagine writing to a future extern or someone who is invested in your career journey to tell them what you learned. Consider:
- What is one valuable insight you gained from the externship experience?
- How did the externship experience affirm or challenge your interests in the career field?
- What are two actions you plan to take to build on as a result of participating in this experience?
- See information provided during Orientation for more information.
While sharing photos from your externship experience is not required, we appreciate getting to see your smiling faces along with a glimpse into your experience! Photos can be emailed to your CLS adviser, and we may share them on our externship webpages and on social media so future externs can get an idea what the experience may be like.
Always ask permission before taking photos of any individual—including your hosts or colleagues—or in a work setting or a host’s home. Some work settings have policies against photos being taken for a variety of reasons.
For in-person experiences, you are expected to make your own travel arrangements. You may apply for funding support; however, please note that funding is a fixed amount based on your established financial need. Be certain you can pay for any additional out-of-pocket costs before you accept an externship placement.
- The form will be linked here once externship placement offers have been made (January 2025).
- Complete the appropriate form, either international or domestic, on the website link above. The campus health & safety committee will monitor locations for health and safety concerns and may update you on any changes to campus policy or any other recommendations or requirements prior to your travel.
- The form will be linked here once externship placement offers have been made (January 2025).
- Communicate your travel details to your host well in advance of your arrival.
- Transportation can be requested for specified dates only.
- See information provided during Orientation for more information.
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