Internships can provide rewarding and meaningful experiences for students, even virtually.

Virtual internships can include situations where the student never works in any type of office setting, or might meet at an office about once a week.

Susan Katz, an associate professor and coordinator of the English department internship program, said she finds virtual internships and offers them to students who are enrolled in the curriculum.

“Maybe 10 percent of my students are doing virtual internships or that some portion of the internship they are in is virtual as of right now,” Katz said.

Some people might have a virtual internship instead of one where they go to an office because they live too far away from the company they work for, according to Katz. Another reason may be that a main office or building for the company does not exist.

Megan Harrison, a junior in communication media, had a virtual internship last summer.

“I found the internship online and applied to it through InternMatch,” Harrison said. “When I applied, however, I didn’t realize it was a virtual internship. It wasn’t until after the interview that they told me if I received the position it would be virtual.”

Harrison said she had to do her work virtually because of where the company’s offices were located.

“The company has two main offices in New York City and Los Angeles,” Harrison said. “They never told me exactly why the internship was virtual, but they told me it essentially wasn’t necessary to have me come to either city.”

Harrison had a writing internship. She was able to write all of her articles on her computer and email them to the editor where they were drafted onto the websites. 

This came with pros and cons, according to Harrison.

“Some pros of having a virtual internship was that I was able to have a pretty flexible schedule,” Harrison said. “Also, I could work in an environment that I found most stimulating and fitting for my learning abilities and habits.”

Basic communication, though, proved challenging.

“Answers weren’t instantaneous, and it was often difficult to have a question answered in a timely manner,” Harrison said. “In addition, because the two main offices are so far apart, I often had a hard time relaying or receiving information from one end to another. For example, expectations or directions I received from one office weren’t always in concordance with the other office. Hence, this made for unneeded confusion and did affect my work’s precision from time to time. 

Harrison did say she would consider another virtual internship in the future, but said she hoped her next internship might be in person instead.

“It was a great experience and I don’t by any means regret my decision,” Harrison said. “However, I feel it is also important to have face-to-face contact and experience as well, which isn’t as readily provided with a virtual internship.”