Externships
Muhlenberg facilitates these short, hands-on opportunities for students to explore future career paths each winter break.
The Muhlenberg Career Center’s winter externship program connects students to one- to five-day excursions over winter break. During externships, current students shadow alumni, parents of Muhlenberg students, or other volunteers. The program goes beyond traditional job shadowing by emphasizing hands-on engagement and meaningful interaction. Students often participate in projects, attend meetings, and engage in discussions with professionals in the field. No student is too new to begin this type of career exploration — even undecided first-year students are encouraged to take advantage of the externship program.
How an Externship Became a Career
After the Career Center facilitated an opportunity to shadow Mitch Hanna ’14, a marketing professional at a local construction management company, Brianna Moyer ’24 landed an internship and then a job there.
Host an Externship
Alumni, parents, and other friends of the college are welcome to host students for these transformational opportunities.
Important Considerations for Potential Hosts
- This program runs once a year, during winter break (mid-December to mid-January).
- There is a chance that you won’t be matched with a student; it depends on our application pool.
- You can allow your student to shadow you for one to five days.
- Students are required to find their own transportation to their externship location.
- While we ask students to do research on the job/industry they will be observing, it is still likely that the student will have limited knowledge about your field of work.
Best Practices for Externships
- Suggest a phone call to discuss general information first (i.e. general career field info, student goals, etc.)
- Discuss your job and career path or professional school experience.
- Introduce the student to your colleagues.
- Arrange for the student to spend some time with your colleagues to gain a broader perspective of your field.
- Try to schedule meetings on the day of the visit so the student can sit in and observe these dynamics in person.
- Allow the student to accompany you in your daily activities: client calls, court trials, classes, appointments procedures, meetings, etc. if possible. (Students can be asked to sign a confidentiality statement if applicable.)
- Bring the student on a tour of your facility or workplace.
- Arrange lunch with coworkers. (We have suggested students bring money and plan to pay for their own lunch. If you would like to treat the student to lunch, please let them know.)
- An externship is observational in nature, but students can be asked to participate in projects, if applicable.
Take the Next Step
Please contact the Career Center at careers@muhlenberg.edu with any questions about participating. You may also sign up to be a host using the form below.
Carlee Davidson ’26
“I have always dreamed of being a pediatrician, so having the opportunity to shadow a pediatrician [Chris Raab, M.D. ’93] was incredible, really. It was exactly what I wanted to do.”Read More About Carlee Davidson
Internships at Muhlenberg
The Career Center also can connect students to internships, which are one way students are able to fulfill the experiential learning requirement in the Muhlenberg curriculum.