TY - JOUR
T1 - Internship Experiences Contribute to Confident Career Decision Making for Doctoral Students in the Life Sciences
AU - Schnoes, Alexandra M.
AU - Caliendo, Anne
AU - Morand, Janice
AU - Dillinger, Teresa
AU - Naffziger-Hirsch, Michelle
AU - Moses, Bruce
AU - Gibeling, Jeffery C.
AU - Yamamoto, Keith R.
AU - Lindstaedt, Bill
AU - McGee, Richard
AU - O'Brien, Theresa C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 A. M. Schnoes et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2018 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - The Graduate Student Internships for Career Exploration (GSICE) program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), offers structured training and hands-on experience through internships for a broad range of PhD-level careers. The GSICE program model was successfully replicated at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Here, we present outcome data for a total of 217 PhD students participating in the UCSF and UC Davis programs from 2010 to 2015 and 2014 to 2015, respectively. The internship programs at the two sites demonstrated comparable participation, internship completion rates, and overall outcomes. Using survey, focus group, and individual interview data, we find that the programs provide students with career development skills, while increasing students' confidence in career exploration and decision making. Internships, in particular, were perceived by students to increase their ability to discern a career area of choice and to increase confidence in pursuing that career. We present data showing that program participation does not change median time to degree and may help some trainees avoid "default postdocs." Our findings suggest important strategies for institutions developing internship programs for PhD students, namely: including a structured training component, allowing postgraduation internships, and providing a central organization point for internship programs.
AB - The Graduate Student Internships for Career Exploration (GSICE) program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), offers structured training and hands-on experience through internships for a broad range of PhD-level careers. The GSICE program model was successfully replicated at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Here, we present outcome data for a total of 217 PhD students participating in the UCSF and UC Davis programs from 2010 to 2015 and 2014 to 2015, respectively. The internship programs at the two sites demonstrated comparable participation, internship completion rates, and overall outcomes. Using survey, focus group, and individual interview data, we find that the programs provide students with career development skills, while increasing students' confidence in career exploration and decision making. Internships, in particular, were perceived by students to increase their ability to discern a career area of choice and to increase confidence in pursuing that career. We present data showing that program participation does not change median time to degree and may help some trainees avoid "default postdocs." Our findings suggest important strategies for institutions developing internship programs for PhD students, namely: including a structured training component, allowing postgraduation internships, and providing a central organization point for internship programs.
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U2 - 10.1187/cbe.17-08-0164
DO - 10.1187/cbe.17-08-0164
M3 - Article
C2 - 29449270
AN - SCOPUS:85066959061
SN - 1931-7913
VL - 17
JO - CBE life sciences education
JF - CBE life sciences education
IS - 1
ER -