Internships
Value of Internships
There are many reasons for pursuing an internship as a first step in pursuing an earth science career. Earth science is a somewhat unique academic field in that the education you gain has currency in the job market due to the skills you learned and the need for those skills in society. The job market, however, is usually in a state of fluctuation. It can take a certain amount of patience and persistence to land your first job. The work experience you gain during an internship, along with the contacts you establish (very important in recommendations) and the skills you may learn can give you an advantage in the search for a first job that other students won't possess. In addition to enhancing your background and resume, the experiences you gain during an intership helps you to mature as an earth science worker and this may come across in an interview.
Links to Internship Opportunities
Geological Society of American
This site contains a general list of internships but features the GSA-sponsored National Park Service summer park internships for geoscience majors. I believe that GSA requires that you be a student member of GSA in order to qualify for the competitive NPS interships. This seems like a good idea in any event and the interships look awesome. Check out this site and spend some time exploring.
Student Conservation Association
Internships here are from a handful of basic sources but are worth checking out. They tend to be somewhat interdisciplinary in nature which is OK.
Local Interships
Potential Internship Sponsors:
More to come...