After Campus Preview Day

After Interviews: Important Information

What if I don't receive an internship offer?

Each year we have a very strong applicant pool and some qualified applicants are not placed in an internship prior to accepting admission to U-M. We encourage you to matriculate if you feel CSHPE is the right graduate program for you, even if you are not yet placed in an internship. If this is the case, Dr. Madden will work closely with you during the late spring and summer so that you can be placed in a role that aligns with your interests. Additional internship opportunities will become available after the traditional placement timeline.

Matriculating at U-M (Accepting Your Offer of Admission)

By April 15, 2022, which is the national admissions deadline as determined by the Council for Graduate Schools, please indicate whether you plan to matriculate at U-M. To do this, you should respond to your official Rackham admission offer online via web application status (http://wolverineaccess.umich.edu). It is important that you matriculate to U-M before officially accepting an internship offer.

Important: The decision to matriculate indicates that you are no longer considering other academic programs and have chosen to attend U-M in fall 2022.

The "Two-Day" Rule: What if I receive multiple internship offers?

In some cases, a student may receive multiple internship offers. In order to ensure the internship placement does not pause, if you receive more than one offer, you will have two business days to decline the offers that are not your current most preferred offer. In other words, if you receive more than one internship offer, you must decline all but one, that which you identify as the placement you are most interested in, of all the ones on the table at that moment. At that point in time, you are not required to commit to the single offer you are continuing to consider (that deadline is April 15).

To decline the offer(s) you are no longer considering, please send an email to each of the internship providers who have extended an offer to you, and copy Dr. Madden, to clearly identify which offer(s) are declining and which is your current most preferred offer, which you are continuing to consider. After you communicate which internship offer is not your current preferred offer and decline it, that internship position can then be offered to another candidate, who is likely eagerly waiting to hear. Another way to think about this is that you must decline all but your top offer, but you need not accept an offer until April 15th, per the agreement put forth by the Council for Graduate Schools (see below).

If you know with certainty that your current preferred offer is your most preferred internship site out of all the internship sites, and that you will accept your offer with that specific internship site if you matriculate at U-M, you may communicate that to the internship provider and Dr. Madden. This will prevent you from receiving unnecessary communication from additional internship sites who could extend an offer to you, which you would not be interested in. Conversely, you are not required to express that your current preferred offer is your overall top choice.

Each student in the master's program can pursue only one internship at the start of their program, so you should carefully consider what your priorities are in regard to this experiential component. Please contact Dr. Madden if you have multiple offers and would like to talk through your decision!

Examples of sample text for your email to accept, decline, or continue considering an internship, when the two-day rule is relevant, are here.

Below is a possible example scenario:

Morgan interviews with four internship sites on Campus Visit Day: the Office of New Student Programs (ONSP) with a focus on the Orientation Program, Center for Educational Outreach, Office of Greek Life, and Intergroup Relations. On March 18th, she is excited to receive two internship offers, from Orientation Programs and Intergroup Relations. Morgan understands that she must identify which is her current preferred offer by March 20th because this is two days later. In other words, she can only continue to consider one offer, although she understands that she does not need to accept an offer until April 15th (or sooner, if possible).

Morgan decides to decline the offer from Intergroup Relations and email both internship sites, copying Dr. Madden, thanking both sites for their offers and declining the position with Intergroup Relations. As Morgan continues to think seriously about her options for graduate school, she is leaning heavily toward matriculating at U-M but has not made a final decision yet regarding where she will be enrolling in the fall. A week later, Morgan receives a third offer, from Greek Life, which was her top choice internship! Morgan knows that she has two business days to decline one of the two active offers she currently holds (now, with Orientation Programs and Greek Life), but knows her decision much sooner and sends an email almost immediately to thank both sites and decline the offer from Orientation Programs. Morgan shares that the offer from Greek Life is her overall top choice and that she will accept it if she matriculates at U-M. Because she is no longer interested in considering an internship with Center for Educational Outreach, who she interviewed with but has not heard from, she will no longer be considered by them as a potential applicant, and they can extend an offer to someone else waiting to hear and who may be a better fit for their role.

A few days later, Morgan logs in to wolverineaccess.umich.edu to enthusiastically accept her offer for admission to enter the fall 2020 master's cohort in CSHPE! At the same time, she emails both the Office of Greek Life and Dr. Madden to say she is pleased to accept that internship offer and is thrilled to further her professional experience in Greek Affairs.

*The internship names listed above may be simplified to more clearly illustrate the placement process.