The Baker Retailing Center Summer Internship Funding Program is dedicated to funding retail internships, with a special focus on opportunities that embody the concept of “retail with purpose.”
These should be internships that are considered “underfunded” with a low hourly or monthly stipend. While all retail internships are eligible for consideration, we particularly prioritize opportunities that demonstrate innovative approaches to advancing social responsibility and prosocial retail initiatives, contribute to emerging markets, or offer products benefiting underserved communities.
This is for internships taking place between May-August.
The deadline to apply is May 30, 2024.
The center has funds to allow select students to pursue under-funded summer opportunities. Awards are intended to cover travel expenses, living expenses, and/or other expenses related to the summer experience, up to $5000. This is a competitive process, so please pay close attention to the details and instructions below to give your application the best chance of success.
Criteria to Apply:
Funding for the program is limited. Applicants must meet ALL criteria to be considered for an award:
- The student must have an accepted summer internship at the time that they apply. Students must have already officially committed their intent to the work and the employer has formally agreed. The scope of the role and duration of the work should already be determined.
- Be able to provide a copy of the offer letter.
- The accepted summer position must be low-paid. (please check with your respective career offices for average monthly summer internship salaries to assess if low-paid). Please note, funding is limited. Award amounts will depend on the overall number of qualifying applications that are submitted.
- The internship must be full-time, at least 35 hours per week for no less than 8 weeks.
- Employers must be providing some level of compensation.
Eligibility Requirements:
- Be a currently-enrolled, full-time, undergraduate or graduate Penn student returning to Penn for the Fall 2024 semester
- Graduating students and students who are on leave during the spring 2024 semester are not eligible to apply
- Study abroad programs and summer courses, even those with an internship or volunteer component, are not eligible for funding
- Fee-based internship programs are not eligible for funding
- Be willing to write a brief (450 word) summary of your experience at the end of the summer, which will be shared with our donors.
How to Apply:
- Submit, as part of your application, the following components to Susan McMullen (mcmullen@wharton.upenn.edu)
- Resume
- Internship Offer Letter
- Brief company and internship description
- What the funding will be used for
- Provide any other sources of summer income/funding
- Personal Statement – Describe how this experience would be important to you and how it may influence your future academic and professional goals (roughly 450 words)
Additional details:
- All applications will be reviewed following the deadline and late applications will not be considered.
- Students selected to receive an award will be notified in mid-June.
- Award payments cannot be initiated until all necessary payment paperwork is completed.
- At the end of the summer, awardees must provide a (450 word) summary of the work you accomplished that will be shared with our donors.