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Gain experience & clarify your goals

Experience provides you with insights that can lead to better decision-making down the road. Additionally, experience is highly valued by employers as it demonstrates your interests and skill development. Our team partners with you every step of the way to empower you as you take action towards your goals.

Internships

Internships are perhaps the most talked about way to gain experience and skills in a professional setting before graduation. Being an intern also allows you to "test drive" an industry, job function, or company of interest with a short-term commitment.

Most UVA students have completed one or more internships before graduation, and students with internship experiene share that it makes the job search as a Fourth Year easier.

When you're ready to search for your first (or next) internship, review our internship search strategies and resources.

Local area internships or UVA-sponsored programs:

Policy Internship Program

Global Internships

Internship Placement Program

Forge's Launch Academy

Additional resources:

More internship advice from the UVA Career Center

How to master your summer internship

How to end your internship right

Research

Whether you are interested in graduate school or curious about a career in research, there are ample opportunities to get involved in undergraduate research at UVA and beyond.

On Grounds, UVA Engineering is committed to cross-disciplinary work. Faculty and graduate students pursue innovative research in the lab and welcome undergraduates to join their projects and teams.

Where to begin?

1. Search Handshake for UVA research opportunities using the key words: "UVA Engineering Undergraduate Research"

2. Review the Engineering Undergraduate Research webpage

3. Check out Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) across the country on the National Science Foundation's website.

4. Contact faculty to let them know you're interested in their research and to see what opportunities they have available for the upcoming semester. Email wording tips here.

5. USOAR: A UVA program to help 1st year, 2nd year, and transfer students get experience with research. Must be eligible for federal work study. Deadline is usually in July for the upcoming school year.

UVA Undergraduate Research Opportunities
IGEM - A student-run research team and synthetic biology interest group (Fall Deadline)
Summer Research Internship Program - UVA Medical School (Fall Deadline)
Kidney Technology Development Research Education Program (January Deadline)
UVA Biocomplexity Institute Student Opportunities
Joint-University Microelectronics Program Undergraduate Research Initiative (JUMP)
UVA Computer Science Department Research Opportunities

Non UVA Undergrate Research Opportunities
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center College Research Programs
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Amgen Scholars Program
NIH Summer Programs
NIH Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research

Other ways to gain experience
Both UVA and the Charlottesville community offer ample opportunities to try something new. Experiment, hone your skills, and create stories to share with employers!
- Create your own project by continuing a project you started in the classroom or lab, either independently or with a group. Employers tell us they love seeing both course projects and independent projects on your resume.
- Join a student organization. The UVA Engineering Student Council has a page of engineering specific clubs and the CS Department maintains a list of CS related clubs.
- Participate in UVA and regional Hackathons and other competitions (we share upcoming events in Handshake and through our weekly email) or a Major League Hacking (MLH) Hackathon .
- Teach yourself a new skill set through free online training resources like LinkedIn Learning and Coursera (tackle topics in business, design, IT, marketing, web, data, and more).
- Learn new skills and develop your ideas at Forge (formerly HackCville).
- Work part time on on Grounds (filter by "on-campus" in Handshake) or in the community.
- Supplement your STEM education with a business certificate from UVA's McIntire Business Institute.
- Volunteer through Madison House, a University club or organization, or a local organization who's mission you support.

"The career counselors have helped me to discover and take advantage of so many of the resources UVA has to offer. They've given me great advice on everything from networking with alumni, preparing for career fairs, practicing for interviews, and applying to jobs. Through their guidance my job application materials and soft skills necessary for a professional career have improved drastically."
Senthil Kannan, BS Mechanical Engineering, 2017

September 29 BME Seminar - Karmella Haynes, PhD, Emory University
October 3 2023 CSGSG Research Symposium
October 6 Distinguished Speaker: Jian Huang, UIUC
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