Internships, Practicums, & Clinicals
Here at
Worcester State University, we believe that integrating on-the-job experience—like
internships, practicums, and clinicals—into the academic experience is an
important component of a good education. According to a recent survey conducted
by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, when you participate in
an internship, you have a competitive advantage over those students who do not.
New graduates with paid internship experience reported starting salaries more
than 20% higher than those who did not hold internships during their time in college.
At Worcester
State, internships, practicums, and clinicals are coordinated by the Career Services Offices or by individual academic departments. Here are the
basics:
Internships Our internships
are designed to give you meaningful work experience in your major while at the
same time allowing you to explore an industry, company, or career. WSU
internships are typically a semester long and provide a strategic opportunity
to apply everything you’ve learned in the classroom or laboratory out in the
real world. Internships offer valuable work experience and give you a platform
for developing new, valuable skills—and a more extensive professional network.
As a result, you gain a competitive edge in the job market. In fact,
internships very often lead to job offers at the company hosting the internship.
We partner with
a growing network of businesses and organizations to develop meaningful
internship opportunities. Here is a small sampling of the employers we partner
with:
- Alnylam
Pharmaceuticals
- ArcGIS
- AT&T
- Auburn Public
Schools
- Big Y
- Convention
& Visitors Bureau
- Channel 40 TV,
Springfield
- City of
Worcester
- Commerce Bank
- DCU Center
- EMC Corp.
- Family
Services of Central Mass.
- Fidelity Bank
- Hanover
Insurance
- Hopkinton
Elmwood School
- The Jimmy Fund
|
- Mass. Dept. of
Transportation
- Mass. State
Police
- Mix 104.1 FM
- Pulse Magazine
- RFK Children’s
Action Corps
- Staples
- The Washington
Center
- UMass Memorial
- Unum Group
- Wells Fargo
- Worcester Art
Museum
- Worcester
Business
- Development Corporation
- Worcester
Center for Crafts
- Worcester
Public Schools
- Worcester
Superior Courthouse
|
PracticumsIf you are studying
to become a teacher at Worcester State University, you are required to complete
a semester of student-teaching, referred to as a practicum. You should submit
your application in the semester before you are planning to complete the
student teaching practicum. Check with the Education Department for
application deadlines.
As a student-teacher
in our early childhood and elementary education program, you will begin
with careful observation, transition to working with a host teacher on daily
lessons, and assume full responsibility for a classroom in your final two
weeks. If you are a secondary education teacher candidate, you’ll
progress from being responsible for one class to four classes during a
semester.
Learn more about
the Education
Department’s practicum.
Clinicals
Our health-care
programs at Worcester State University pioneered community-based, hands-on
learning. Guided by their respective accreditation and certification exam
requirements, our nursing, communication sciences and disorders, occupational
therapy, and health sciences programs have developed symbiotic connections with
health-care providers, area schools, and non-profits.
Clinics are your
chance to put your classroom and lab assignments to the test, caring for others
in real-world settings and sharing new ideas, practices, and perspectives with our
partners. The experience will increase your confidence and enable you to
provide a valuable service to the community.