Intern, Study Abroad, Serve
Earn credit toward your degree while getting real-world experience—participate in internships that build on your education, study abroad, and help others in need.
"Western provides unique experiences for students that go beyond the standard education."
Keara KingSammamish, WA, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management
Internships
Internships integrate academic credit with on-the-job experience, allowing you to gain valuable skills while working toward a degree.
Put Your Education to Work
From local to international opportunities, you can easily find internships that match your interests and add to your resume. The Careers Services Center connects students with internship and job opportunities and maintains an online database that includes 4,200+ employers and 800+ internship and employment opportunities. You can also find internships through academic departments, for example:
Anthropology coordinates a number of internships with local museums.
Behavioral Neuroscience offers two internships in neurosurgery every quarter.
Political Science has a legislative internship at the Washington State Legislature during the winter quarter.
Getting Her Dream Job
Before graduating, Kyla Hall had already landed her dream job at REI. As a Supply Chain Sustainability Analyst, she regularly travels internationally and helps REI meet sustainability and fair labor standards. She was able to quickly jump into her position at REI, and attributes the smooth transition to her experience at Western. As a student, Kyla participated in five internships relevant to her majors in Business and Sustainability, and Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management.
Western graduates with internship experience find employment faster and are more likely to be employed in their fields of study – they also reported an average starting salary 13% higher than students without internship experience.
Study Abroad
Get ready to get out of your comfort zone and see the world while immersing yourself in another culture.
Yvonne Worden (Journalism) traveled abroad in Costa Rica's jungles, exploring the Talamanca Mountains and staying with the indigenous Bribri people, all while producing a podcast of her experience and sending reports back to Western's The Planet magazine.
"This opportunity not only gave me the chance to write more about ecotourism, but also to experience it firsthand—the ideal way to do journalism."
Blog Abroad
Western students share their study abroad experiences. See what it's really like living and learning in another part of the world!
Explore the World
Earn credit toward your degree while participating in a quarter, semester, summer, or yearlong study abroad program in any one of 90+ countries across the globe.
Give Back
Fundraising, community collaboration, outreach projects, harvesting vegetables, restoring native habitats—Western students and faculty are committed to doing good.
Defending Rights
In his senior year, Evan Frazier decided to put his political science education to good use. He took an unpaid internship investigating criminal defense cases for Bellingham's Public Defender's Office. Evan wanted to help ensure every person in his community got their constitutional right to a thorough defense, no matter how disadvantaged. He understands that a fair legal process is essential to the welfare of his city
Founding a Nonprofit
Communication Studies major Sukhmanii Kahlon founded the nonprofit organization American Sikhs with the goal of teaching elderly immigrants how to speak English and become U.S. citizens. She is also working toward connecting elderly Sikhs with free medical checkups at a local clinic.
photo by Nick Danielson courtesy of Klipsun Magazine
