The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.
College students often complete internships to gain work experience and explore their career interests.
Research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers indicates that college students with paid internships or co-ops are more likely to be employed upon graduation and generally receive higher entry-level salaries than their peers without such experience.
However, NACE research casts doubt on whether unpaid internships increase employment chances or boost starting salaries, and critics argue that unpaid experiences are a way of exploiting ambitious young people.
[Understand the differences between a co-op and internship.]
In general, proponents of internships say they help students develop technical skills that complement their academic and theoretical knowledge and demonstrate their readiness to join the workforce.
At some colleges, the vast majority of students complete either a paid or unpaid internship before they graduate, while at others, only a minority of students do so. Among the 311 ranked colleges that reported these data to U.S. News in an annual survey, the average proportion of graduating seniors with internship experience was around 42 percent.
At each of the 10 schools where internships were most common among students, more than 95 percent of graduating seniors in 2016 had internship experience.
However, at each of the 10 schools where internships were least popular, less than 5 percent of graduating seniors had internship experience.
[Discover how colleges help liberal arts students find careers.]
There were six ranked colleges where 100 percent of graduating seniors had internships and three colleges where only 1 percent of students did.
Among the 10 ranked schools with the highest internship attainment, six are Regional Universities, which are schools that offer a wide range of undergraduate degrees and some master’s programs but few doctoral programs. The remaining four schools are National Liberal Arts Colleges, which are those that emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.
Below is a list of the 10 colleges where graduating seniors in the class of 2016 were most likely to have internship experience. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School name (state) | Percentage of graduating seniors with internship experience | U.S. News rank and category |
| College of the Atlantic (ME) | 100 | 93 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Delaware Valley University (PA) | 100 | 126 (tie), Regional Universities (North) |
| Elmira College (NY) | 100 | 165 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Endicott College (MA) | 100 | 34 (tie), Regional Universities (North) |
| Lasell College (MA) | 100 | 130 (tie), Regional Universities (North) |
| Wheelock College (MA) | 100 | 97 (tie), Regional Universities (North) |
| Drake University (IA) | 98 | 3, Regional Universities (Midwest) |
| Mount Holyoke College (MA) | 97 | 36 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Bay Path University (MA) | 96 | 102 (tie), Regional Universities (North) |
| Franklin College (IN) | 96 | 147 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges |
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find internship data, complete rankings and much more. Sign up for the U.S. News Extra Help: College Admissions free email newsletter to receive expert advice twice a month.
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2017 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The internship data above are correct as of Jan. 16, 2018.
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10 Colleges Where Students Usually Get Internships originally appeared on usnews.com