Who’s Not Applying for Internships?

While internships are a high-impact practice tied to student completion and job placement after college, not every student is taking advantage of internships.

For some, time is a barrier, with a high academic course load and outside of class activities that put pressure on learners. For others, paying for college means they can’t take time away from their current jobs or need payment to participate in an internship.

Recent data from Handshake shows gaps in application trends among student majors. Students in business, computer science and engineering majors are twice as likely to have applied to an internship by senior year compared to those in social sciences, art and design, general studies, or health professions.

Why not apply? Multiple reasons could account for why students may not apply for internships compared to their peers.

One factor could be how connected the academic program is to careers and the direct line into the workforce students see from their major, says Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer. The notion of an internship and a career can be more part of the vernacular and culture, with faculty and other students talking about these roles more than those in other departments.

There is also a mismatch between supply and demand in the internship market. A September 2024 report from the Business–Higher Education Forum found 8.2 million students wanted to intern in 2023 but 4.6 million didn’t participate. More recent data from Handshake found internship postings were down year over year in January, but internship application submissions among graduating seniors were up, revealing heightened competition for these experiences.

Another explanation could be the word “internship” in the survey and how students view experiential learning. While only 9.7 percent of education majors graduating in 2025 indicated they’ve applied for an internship, most of these learners will participate in student teaching or a similar experience, which provides similar benefits and learning opportunities as internships. In addition, while only 18.7 percent of health science students graduating in 2025 indicated they applied for an internship, some of these majors may include practicums or simulation work.

So what? Some of the strategies colleges and universities can implement to address equity in internship participation could be to:

• Create buzz about internships. Faculty, staff and others working with students should create awareness and exposure around how internships can help launch their careers. This can be particularly impactful for students majoring in less-career-specific areas such as history or philosophy, and it costs zero dollars, Cruzvergara says.
• Highlight alumni pathways. It can be hard for young people to imagine all the possible careers they’re able to participate in as an 18-, 19-, 20-year-old, Cruzvergara says, and illuminating career trajectories of their peers and recent alumni can help create visibility around opportunities and how internships connect to roles.
• Partner to create opportunities. Short-term work-based learning opportunities for students can happen inside the classroom, on campus or in partnership with local employers. Students can get creative to find this work, but career centers can also help bridge the gap between industry and institution.

• Make internships a requirement. One way to close gaps in participation is to bake experiential learning into the curriculum. “In my opinion, that eliminates the discrepancy between students who know and can versus students who don’t know and students who can’t,” Cruzvergara says. It is then incumbent on the school to help identify roles students could fulfill, but digital platforms like Handshake can make it easier to ease that process.
• Provide payment for unpaid or underpaid internships. Gaps in participation can widen among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds when internships are unpaid or underpaid. Handshake’s data found a greater number of internship postings are for paid roles, but providing stipends or other funds to supplement student earnings when needed is key, as well.

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