YDS Internships FAQ

  1. Do I get credit? Yes. A completed internship will give you 6 hours of elective credit.  Each MDiv student is allowed to take up to 15 credit hours of internship during their time here. Most students take one internship and one unit of CPE, and a few use their last three hours to participate in an advanced internship during their final year.
  2. Do I get paid? Yes. A stipend of $5,000 (as of 2021) will be paid to each intern spread out throughout their time in internship. During the academic year, the pay is evenly divided between semesters, deposited into student accounts every two weeks or so.
  3. Can I do an internship during my first year? No. The internships begin after students finish their first year – so the first opportunity to participate in the internship program would be the first summer.
  4. What if I get a job my first year – why can’t that count as my internship? Having a church job during the first year is definitely up to the student, and absolutely fine. However, the internship process is more demanding than just work, and we want students to have one year of academics under their belt before beginning the internship process. There are a few Andover-Newton students who choose to partner with a church from the first year, and they are special situations that are decided case by case.
  5. I heard that you need to have completed the Negotiating Boundaries course (REL3990) before you can participate in the internship program – when does that happen? Negotiating Boundaries is a one-day course required for the MDiv degree, and is a pre-requisite for doing an internship.  It is offered three times per year on a Saturday – one right before classes begin in August, and two in the spring term. The planning for site placements (for both the summer and academic terms)  begins during the spring semester, kicked off with an orientation session at the end of January. Here is a basic time-line:
    • But wait – what happens if I keep the Sabbath on Saturdays? We offer a half-day course in the spring with additional assignments in the spring term just for these students.
  6. So how do I get started and find a site?
    • Last Tuesday in January: orientation
    • February – March: Students contact sites and arrange interviews with potential supervisors
    • April: Sites approved and confirmed by program director (Jenny Davis for church and chaplaincy, Alison Cunningham for non-profit/justice sites).
  7. Where can I see a list of available sites? On our portion of the YDS website –
    • Here for church and chaplaincy sites (scroll to the bottom of the page)
    • Here for non-profit/justice sites (scroll to the bottom of the page)
  8. But what if I would like to find my own site, one not on the list? Totally fine! You would have to meet with the director of the program (Jenny Davis or Alison Cunningham) to make sure that the site you are interested in working with meets the needed criteria.
  9. How many hours per week will I be working at my site? For the summer internships – around 30-40, during the academic year internships – around 11-14. The total hours for each internship is 400 – but that includes the time needed for practicum, theological reflection, and orientation.
  10. What’s practicum? Practicum is the class attached to the internship (REL3986-7 for church and chaplaincy sites, REL3993-4 for non-profit).  You meet with 5-10 other interns to talk about site experiences and learnings with an experienced practicum instructor. It meets once per week – for 2 hours during the summer (the time varies), and 1.5 hours at 4pm on Thursdays during the academic year.  It is a required component of the internship process that grounds your learning.
  11. How much work is done onsite? As of 2020, the internships have been completely remote, or a hybrid model of remote and safely distanced and masked site work. We anticipate that as we move past the pandemic, most internships will have at least some portion of remote work. So the majority of the hours will be onsite, with a couple of hours per week in practicum, and some work from home.
  12. My supervisor does not have a degree in theology. Who would reflect theologically with me? This is not uncommon, particularly in the non-profit sites, and in these cases, students will seek out someone to do this with them – a pastor, a professor, an advisor from YDS. The person who fulfills this particular task can be reimbursed for their time through our office.
  13. Summer tuition???? Yeah, this is a thing. If you choose to do a summer internship, you will have to pay tuition for one course.  (The internship will amount to two courses, 6 hours credit – but you will only pay for one during the summer.) Whatever percentage of aid you receive during the academic year will apply during the summers. The most a student paid who was on financial aid during the summer of 2020 was approximately $680.00.