From neighborhood nonprofits to global companies throughout the U.S. and around the world, you’ll find UChicago students making an impact in the workforce through the Jeff Metcalf Internship Program year round.
In 2022, UChicago celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Metcalf Program, the University’s flagship career advancement and access program. Established in 1997, it provides funding for substantive internships that help students in the College apply their education to a highly diverse range of careers.
The combination of Metcalf experiences and UChicago’s rigorous curriculum make students strong candidates for highly competitive jobs and top graduate programs. For example, 98% of recent College graduates in the Class of 2022 received offers for employment, graduate school, and other opportunities.
Students have received more than 27,800 Metcalf internships since the program’s inception – during the 2021-2022 academic year alone, students received 4,200-plus Metcalf internships.
With so many potential employers to choose from, it can be an overwhelming process to go through alone, especially as summer internship application season heats up.
That’s where UChicago’s Office of Career Advancement comes in, offering resources and personalized support to help students find fulfilling career opportunities.
Below, read about ways that students in the College have recently utilized these resources to pursue Metcalf internship experiences across a wide variety of fields (and times of year) that align closely to their professional, academic and personal interests.
Working towards a cure for COVID-19
Luke Johnson, a fourth-year neuroscience student, opened a Careers in Healthcare newsletter over the 2021-22 winter break and saw a job posting on UChicago Handshake, Career Advancement’s job board, for a clinical trial. Seeing it was geared towards finding an effective treatment for COVID-19, he was immediately interested.
The ongoing trial, called BEATCOVID, aims to determine the effectiveness and safety of a food-based formula in treating COVID-19 symptoms in individuals over 18 who are not hospitalized.
Under the leadership of Primary Investigator Rama Jager, MD, a clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of Illinois-Chicago Medical Center, student interns like Johnson have played a significant role in helping facilitate this trial since its launch in 2021. Dr. Jager started the project at the very beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
“I was looking for a new job at the time so I was excited about the potential to help with such an important and unique clinical trial,” said Johnson, who worked remotely for the trial for seven total months throughout 2022. “I applied right away.”
Johnson said the Metcalf internship gave him insights into not only what it takes to secure federal funding for a clinical trial, but also how to manage one in keeping with FDA regulations.
Dr. Jager said he hopes that the students’ experiences have prepared them to innovate in their careers, especially if there are more pandemics in the future.
“The UChicago students have had a significant impact on the trial that we’ve been really thrilled with,” said Dr. Jager. “They've had a lot of zeal and energy and enthusiasm, and have really kind of made us think about things in very unique ways.”
For students pursuing internships like his through the Metcalf Program, Johnson said his best advice is to ask as many questions as possible.
“You'll get the most out of any research experience if you don't hesitate to address your confusion or lack of understanding and ask as many questions as you feel the need to ask,” he said.
Screening submissions for an international film festival
A business economics and cinema media studies double major, third-year student Carla Correa has her eye on a career in the film industry.
And what better way to prepare for that career than watching movies every week? Through her Metcalf internship with the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF), the longest running competitive film festival in North America, that’s exactly what she did.
Correa first worked for the CIFF’s youth film component (for filmmakers under 21) after hearing from a UChicago alum at Sony that it would be a good first step into the industry. She then transitioned to a role with the CIFF from last June through September that involved independently screening 10 film submissions for the 2022 festival, held last October, on a weekly basis.
After watching each film, Correa rated them and then wrote brief analyses that helped the festival cull down thousands of submissions into a few hundred while trying to identify a unifying theme.
“It was kind of like finding a shape for the festival and finding a way to fit all the movies we like in together,” Correa said of the fully remote internship.
Since the entertainment industry can be very hard to break into, Correa said, she suggests seeking out someone who currently has a job you might be interested in and reaching out for advice, like she did.
“For me, finding this internship was a result of a lot of networking and digging around for the right opportunities,” she said. “If you follow your passion, something will come out of it.”
This wasn’t Correa’s first time making use of the Metcalf Program’s resources, which she said are particularly helpful in industries that sometimes don’t have the resources to hire paid interns.
Career Advancement helped connect Correa to her first Metcalf internship with the Chicago Black Dance Legacy project.
“Even though most of the internships I’ve had were not paid, I’ve had the support of the Metcalf Program that allows me to pursue work on things I love to do,” she said.
Telling stories of global human rights advancements
Second-year student Sian McAllister is studying history and economics. Not entirely certain of her professional ambitions after her first year in the College, she went to Handshake looking at internships in public policy, human rights and international development.
Eventually she found a Metcalf internship with Human Rights in the Picture, a non-profit based in The Netherlands that advocates for the expansion of global human rights through visual storytelling: documentaries, exhibitions, educational programs and more.
It was a particularly good fit, said McAllister, whose mother is from Southeast Asia, and the non-profit had recently completed a photo exhibition of a rebellion in Myanmar.
“Human Rights in the Picture really stood out to me because they have a big focus on art and journalism,” McAllister, who interned remotely from June to August of last year, said. “Either academically or in my extracurricular activities, I don't really get to do a lot of art, but it is definitely a huge passion of mine.”
The opportunity offered McAllister the chance to get involved on a number of other projects, as well, from working on content for the editorial or documentary teams, to driving fundraising with the development team.
Her other day-to-day responsibilities included crucial administrative work, such as working to secure screening rights, registering for film festivals and even writing articles to support visual media.
The photo exhibition McAllister worked on during her internship was titled “Rohingyatographer / Snaps of life in the world’s biggest refugee camp.” She interviewed three people for the project, two of whom are refugees living in a camp in Bangladesh, which she said was an extremely interesting and eye-opening experience.
Additionally, she worked on the organization's new documentary in production about the political history of Myanmar.
McAllister said that while each student will bring their own expectations and hopes to an internship, she encourages her peers to consider positions that offer glimpses into multiple career paths.
“I know that some people want to gain a certain number of concrete skills, but it's also very important to use these internships as an opportunity to figure out what you want to do after college,” she said. “With this internship, I've gotten to work on so many interdisciplinary projects. You get out of it what you put in, but you only gain something if you are potentially interested in what you're about to do.”
Ready to apply for your own Metcalf internship? Visit the program website to learn more!