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CRC - Wesleyan-Dana Summer Experience Grant - Overview
Nancy Campbell/National
Trust for Historic Preservation Summer Internship Program:
How to Develop A Great Application
Resume |
Faculty Recommendation | Application Essay
Each year, there are a number of applications for the
Nancy Campbell/National Trust for Historic Preservation Summer Internship
but only one person receives funding. It is, then, very important to
develop the best application you can. The following are tips to help you in
your quest for the Nancy Campbell/National Trust for Historic Preservation
Summer Internship.
Resume
It is important to develop a resume that has no
spelling or grammatical errors. If you have previous experiences that
relate to the type of work you would like to do at the National Trust or
relevant coursework, be sure to include that information on your resume.
Bottom line: The Committee prefers that your resume
has no spelling and/or grammatical errors.
Faculty Recommendation
Please begin the process of approaching a faculty
member for a recommendation early – preferably six weeks in advance of
the deadline. When you are asking him or her for a reference, be sure
to provide them with a brief statement describing the Nancy
Campbell/National Trust for Historic Preservation Summer Internship and also
explaining why you are applying for the internship. Provide the faculty
member with a resume and request a pick-up date for the reference – in a
sealed envelope – preferably a few days before the application is due
(Tuesday, February 20 at 4:00 p.m.). Send them a short e-mail a few days
before the arranged pick-up date to remind them of the deadline.
It is very important that the faculty recommendation be
included with your application when you hand it in. If you are abroad and
must e-mail the application, the recommendation must be delivered by the
faculty member to Carol Crosby at the CRC before or on the day of the
application deadline.
Bottom Line: The faculty recommendation must be in
a sealed envelope and included with your application when it is handed into
the CRC.
Application Essay
Although the above components of the
Nancy Campbell/National Trust for Historic Preservation Summer
Internship application are key, perhaps the most important section of
the application is the essay.
In a one to two page statement,
detail your interest in interning at the National Trust and how the
experience fits into your long term goals.
The Committee really wants to know why
this internship is important to you. The best essays generally take a
“past, present and future” approach.
First, tell us what in the past has
inspired you to explore this career (courses, experiences, exploratory
searches, events, courses, and/or internships).
Next, explain to the Committee what
you think you might like to do at the National Trust. Basically, the
Nancy Campbell Internship is a special internship that is provided funds
by an endowment fund at Wesleyan University. Therefore, the National
Trust is committed to placing the Wesleyan recipient in a capacity that
works for him or her. Opportunities can range from policy work to
preservation to public relations. See
http://www.nationaltrust.org/jobs/internships.html for general
information but also explore the entire National Trust site to see where
you think you might like to work at the Trust.
Finally, tell us what contribution
this experience will have toward your future goals and give us a sense
of what you think are your future goals. You do not need to have
specific goals (though some of our applicants do); just give us an idea
of what you think you might like to do some day.
Most applicants write anywhere from a
few paragraphs to two pages. Generally, we have found that one short
paragraph doesn’t give you an opportunity to explain to us who you are
and why we should fund you. Finally, we do expect good, grammatically
correct writing free of spelling errors!
The following is a good example of an
essay for the Nancy Campbell/National Trust for Historic Preservation
Summer Internship. Rebecca Linden ‘06, who wrote this essay,
received the funds to participate in the summer of 2005.
Bottom Line: Your statement must
be compelling; you need to persuade the Committee to fund you to spend
the summer at the Trust. We need to understand why this experience is
important to you as an individual.
Please remember that counseling
staff are available at the CRC to review your entire application.
Questions? Contact
crc@wesleyan.edu
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