MHS Internship provides an opportunity for students to gain experience in a broad range of public and private agencies, institutions, and programs devoted to health care, public health, or health-related policy and research. Students may pursue either full-time or part-time options:
(1) Full-time: 12–15 hours total, including 6–9 hours in 293a (Internship Training) and 6 hours in 293b (Internship Research and Readings).
(2) Part-time: 2–9 hours total, including 1–6 hours in 293a (Internship Training) and 1-3 hours in 293b (Internship Research and Readings).
*Students MUST sign up for either 293b to receive credit for 293a.
*All work for an internship must be completed during a single semester or summer.
*293a is variable credit and is taken pass/fall. 293b is a graded, 3-credit course.
Course of Study
* Interested students should apply in the semester prior to the beginning of the internship, but must apply no later than the end of the first week of classes. The application includes a 1-page description of the internship training; a 1-page description of the proposed research or readings project; and a letter of recommendation from the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the project. (For additional details, see the application form.)
* All internship applications must first be approved by the MHS Director or Associate Director. Once approved, the student must make an appointment to see Dean Jones (yollette.jones@vanderbilt.edu) (311 Kirkland). She must sign off on all internships in the College of A&S.
*Internship training (MHS 293a) involves approximately 3 hours of work a week for each hour of credit. Upon completing this course, the student must submit a thorough report to the internship supervisor. The course is graded Pass/Fail.
*For MHS 293b the student writes a substantial research paper or interpretive essay on a topic closely related to the internship training. A research paper usually involves a student’s evaluation of empirical data (such as primary sources, interviews, laboratory research, etc.). An interpretative essay usually involves a critical analysis of secondary sources. This course is graded on a regular basis (A, B, ...)
*The program is intended to be as flexible as possible to accommodate different disciplines and topics. The faculty supervisor and the student should feel free to design an appropriate research or readings project and to choose a format for the paper and the report on the internship training. There is no required length for either the paper or the report.
Requirements for Admission
Applicants must be MHS majors. They should have attained a 2.90 grade point average and 6 hours of prior work in approved MHS courses.
To apply, the student must already have found a faculty member willing to supervise the internship training and research or reading component. A letter of recommendation from this faculty member must accompany the application. If the supervisor of the internship training is different than the faculty member supervising the research or reading component, then two letters are required.
