UMass Amherst
Links
HFA - College of Humanities & Fine Arts view HFA submenu
Undergraduate

Internship Stories

Internships and other skill-building experiences are a must-do for realizing your abilities and increasing your job prospects after graduation. As a UMass student, you can earn up to eighteen (18) credits doing internships throughout your four years. Doing one or more internships locally during the semester can give you the experience to compete with national or international internships later in your college career.

You can gain additional experience by getting involved in student organizations, community service work, tutoring in the UMass Writing Center, volunteering on campus or off, putting together a literary journal—the possibilities are numerous.

Meet the English Interns

image of Jeffrey MartinJeffrey Martin (BA 2017)
Internship: Amherst Media

Amherst Media brought me on as a production assistant where I instantly felt like I belonged. No day was the exact same as the one that came before and there was always something for the interns to do. On my first day, I learned about the elements necessary to film a high-quality shoot, whether that was in our studio or out on location.

Internship story: https://www.umass.edu/english/english/profile/jeffrey-martin-2017 

Isabelle Kagan ImageIsabelle Kagan (BA 2017)
Internship: Go Nomad
"During the fall of my senior year, I had the opportunity to intern with GoNomad, a website that publishes travel stories from writers all across the world. This internship was so exciting for me because it combined two of my ultimate passions, my love of travel and my love for writing.....This internship provided me with hands-on experience in article-style writing, and I now have a portfolio or travel articles that I am immensely proud of. The skills I learned through this internship will stay with me in not only my professional career, but also my personal future travel plans."

Internship story: https://www.umass.edu/english/english/profile/isabelle-kagan-17
photo of Aradhita SarafAradhita Saraf (BA 2017)
Internship: Penguin Books
"The process of picking out a book with building tension, relatable characters, and high stakes from a pile of other manuscripts that were devoid of intervening subplots or an explosive climax was most enlightening (and a teeny bit scary). Who was I to decide whether a book was good enough or not? As a marketing intern, I also tried to evaluate the feasibility of the book and monetize it: by examining the genre in demand at that given point of time, the success patterns of recently published books with similar plot lines, and the existence of the book’s intended readers in the contemporary society."

Internship story: https://www.umass.edu/english/english/profile/aradhita-saraf-2017
photo of Kevn OConnellKevin O'Connell (BA 2012)
Internship: Dollars and Sense Publisher
"When I began applying for internships, I had hoped to end the summer with a bullet-pointed list of the technical skills and work experience that I had acquired. I’ve got that, of course – and plenty of it – but now that I’m leaving, it hardly seems important at all. There’s so much that I had the opportunity to experience this summer – the groggy-eyed morning commute into the city, the rhythm of working in an office, the chance to actually spend time in a downtown area without a specific purpose, the opportunity to meet people – that I’m more satisfied with the experience as a whole than I am with any particular insight or skill I gleaned."

Internship story: https://www.umass.edu/english/english/profile/kevin-oconnell-2012

photo of Lily Brooks DaltonLily Brooks-Dalton (BA 2012)
Internship: Linda Aronson:
"In the fall of 2010 I was lucky enough to serve as Linda Aronson’s intern, working with her on a project which strives to change the way we look at education. I spent a lot of time looking into alternative educational teaching techniques and curriculums, editing Linda Aronson’s manuscript, which is about the self-guided learning initiative she directed at a public high school in Maine, and thinking about my own education. What started as a nagging distrust of standardized education grew into an exploration of the many ways in which our educational system and our students have grown and continue to grow, of the ways in which the compartmentalization of learning is already beginning to dissolve."
Internship story: https://www.umass.edu/english/english/profile/lily-brooks-dalton-2012

photo of Peter ArsenaultPeter Arsenault (BA 2012)
Internship: Massachusetts Review
 "I found the best unpaid, not-for-credit internship I could have found. The editors show me great works of literature and are thankful for the work that I do for them. I am so happy at The Massachusetts Review that I want to get into the literary scene once I am out of school, even if it pays very little, because there will always be fellowships, grants, and the like."

Internship story: https://www.umass.edu/english/english/profile/peter-arsenault-2012