The word "internship" has a special meaning in graduate programs for psychology, but most undergraduates asking about internships are curious about gaining real-world experience related to psychology. Because of the variety of career options available to psychology majors, there isn't just one type of experience (or internship) that majors will want to find. Rather, psychology majors can think about experiences that might involve interacting with particular populations (children, families, individuals seeking mental health treatment) or in particular settings (community clinics, hospitals, schools) or that will involve specific skills (data collection or analysis, interviewing).
Internships
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Experiential learning is often a critical part of an application for a job or graduate school, but depending on the position or graduate program, different types of experiences might be better than others. Please explore our section on careers and graduate school options to learn more.
Currently, we have three formal ways for students to engage in structured experiential learning for course credit, which can count for a psychology major or minor.
Apply for and participate in our field experience in psychology sequence, if you are potentially interested in a future career in therapy or counseling.
Look into our micro-credential program in psychology. In addition to these, you can see if any of the classes we offer have an attribute indicating it is a community engaged class, which tend to have more practical components.
Outside of experiential courses, other students will seek out other experiences related to their interests or future career goals, either during a summer or during the school year alongside regular coursework. For example, our students with interests in pre-health fields often seek out formal internship programs offered by hospitals or in other medical settings. These are often available to college students over the summer, at hospitals in/near Denver or elsewhere. Other students might attend an internship fair, or might work with the Career and Professional Development office to identify opportunities to intern or shadow with a DU alum who has indicated they're willing to take on a current DU student mentee. There is no correct timeline for seeking out these experiences -- students commonly think of the summers after their second and third years in college as a good opportunity to get experience, but some students start even early, and it's possible to start even in your last year. It is extremely rare for psychology students to get course credit for these experiences which occur entirely outside of DU, but you can ask an advisor if you have an opportunity which is only possible if you receive course credit.
Currently, we have three formal ways for students to engage in structured experiential learning for course credit, which can count for a psychology major or minor.
Apply for and participate in our field experience in psychology sequence, if you are potentially interested in a future career in therapy or counseling.
Look into our micro-credential program in psychology. In addition to these, you can see if any of the classes we offer have an attribute indicating it is a community engaged class, which tend to have more practical components.
Explore More in Psychology
Why Study Psychology?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
My time in Field Experiences was SO impactful to my journey at the University of Denver. It was one of the few classes where I really got to explore my career options in psychology and learn about things I will encounter in the field, such as confidentiality and insurance, presentations of mental health, difficulties in patient/client behavior and more!
Microcredentials in Psychology
We have developed a program that provides students with the opportunity to critically engage with one of three topics related to the field of psychology. Students who are accepted into this Micro-Credentials program will complete three courses, work with a professor on an experiential project, and create a shareable portfolio product related to either Diversity and Inclusion, Data-informed Decisions, or Mental Health. For University-wide information on micro-credentials, go here.
The psychology micro-credentials program allows students to build a customized experience that critically engages with the topic of diversity and inclusion, data-informed decisions, or mental health. Along with both required and elective classes on the chosen topic, students develop and complete an experiential project. With the support of a faculty member, students complete a project that ties into their chosen micro-credential as well as being tailored to their academic and career goals. In addition to their micro-credential badge, students will finish the program with a portfolio product that incorporates and showcases what they have learned through their courses and experiential project.
It can sometimes be challenging to articulate the skills gained from a liberal arts education. Students graduate from the University of Denver with a wealth of knowledge and skills, such as being able to analyze data statistically and being able to think critically about complex issues such as diversity or mental health. These kinds of abilities translate well to both graduate school and the workforce. However, being unable to properly articulate and demonstrate these abilities (e.g., to potential employers) can make it difficult to transition from college to whatever comes next. This program is meant to help bridge that gap.
In this program, students will apply for one of the three topics mentioned above (Diversity and Inclusion, Data-informed Decisions, or Mental Health). Each topic lists two required courses meant to provide students with foundational material related to the content area of the chosen certificate. Students seeking a Diversity and Inclusion certificate, for example, will be required to complete Psychology of Diversity as well as Social Psychology. In addition to these two foundational courses, students will select one more specialized course from a menu of several optional courses. For example, a student on the Diversity and Inclusion track might then take Cultural Psychology or Human Sexuality to delve deeper into more specialized topics related to this content area (courses completed prior to applying for this program will count).
Students will then work with a professor to develop an experiential project lasting one quarter. This experience will be related to the chosen program, but tailored to the student. For example, a student seeking a Mental Health micro-credential badge might take Field Experiences or shadow a clinical psychologist for a quarter. A student seeking a Data-informed Decisions badge might analyze a publicly-available dataset using statistical software or work in a professor's psychology lab as a research assistant and write a report describing the research projects they contributed to.
Finally, students will integrate what they learned in their courses and their experiential project into a portfolio product.
Students will leave the program with a deeper appreciation for the chosen content area and an artifact that can be shared to demonstrate the student's knowledge, skills, and experiences in that area.
Interested in applying? First, you'll need to contact Dr. Edward Garrido at Edward.Garrido@du.edu for an informal meeting (e.g., via Zoom) to discuss and plan. Once you've met with Dr. Garrido, you can apply here.
Go to the graduate admission application to submit your information. For information on admission requirements, visit the graduate academic programs page and locate your program of interest.
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