Washington, D.C., Summer Program

The Externship

The Program Director will work very closely with each student to secure an externship for the summer program. The Externship will be for at least 20 hours per week for at least seven weeks. Each intern will have a supervisor where they work, and the supervisor will be required to commit that at least 80 percent of the intern's time will be substantive work.

How to apply for Externships
Getting a good externship is a joint effort of the student and Professor Swire. In light of the experiences in previous summers, the program has a very good head start on a number of employers who will be willing to consider Moritz applicants.

In your enrollment materials, you will indicate areas of interest as well as any leads you may have for an externship. Professor Swire then often calls individuals directly to try to match you with a possible opening. In past summers, some of these positions were filled in January, while others took until April. In getting the externship, your own efforts are of course important - an employer will generally only agree to hire you after interviewing you directly.

For the 20 students anticipated for the summer of 2009, Professor Swire pledges to work very hard to get a substantive externship for each student. Although there is no guarantee that the job will be in one of the areas of interest that you initially list, every effort is made to create a satisfying experience. Based on the experience in past summers, we anticipate being able to match each student with a substantive externship.

Will the Externship be Paid?
The basic approach for the program is that students receive academic credit, not a salary, for the summer. The unpaid nature of most externships makes it much easier for students to get interesting, substantive positions for the summer.

Students in the Externship Class receive three credits for a mix of academic work (a class presentation and paper) and externship work. As permitted by accreditation standards, the number of hours of class meeting for this three credit course is much lower due to the externship hours worked.

In conformance with ABA standards, students can receive up to $100 per week from their employer, considered a reimbursement for expenses, without that being considered as paid work. In compliance with ABA rules, students are also permitted to receive funding from other sources, such as for public interest fellowships, while receiving credit.

What if I find a job on my own in D.C.?
If you find a job or externship in D.C. based on your efforts, without applying to the program first, you may still wish to participate in the program in either of two ways. First, you can contact the Program Director, explain that you have found a position in D.C., and say you would like to enroll in the program. The likely answer will be yes. Second, you may wish to enroll in one or two of the courses without joining the full program. If so, it will be treated like signing up for any other Moritz course in the summer.

What if I want to back out after enrolling in the Program?
This topic has caused difficulties in past years. The Program Director has sometimes found jobs for students, who then backed out after the offers had been made. This resulted in problems - the Program Director had worked hard to create opportunities for students, and had reached out personally to people he knew to get jobs. Then the students backed out. In some instances the employer would no longer consider Moritz applications for future summers.

To address this problem, the Moritz policy that students are expected to stay in the program once they have applied and been accepted into it. A student who withdraws from the program will forfeit the initial $300 deposit. The student will also be required to pay a $300 fee to the Moritz College that will be due upon enrollment in the next semester of school (usually for the next fall semester). This fee reflects the time and expense for the college in individually placing the student in an externship, and in not having that time available to assist other students in placement.

This approach reflects a good-faith understanding when a student enrolls in the program. Moritz will work hard to place the student in a substantive externship, with good work experience. In return, students understand that they are asking Moritz to go through time and expense on their behalf to find that externship.

In individual circumstances, such as for medical necessity, the $300 fee can be waived either by the Program Director or the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs.