After Your Interviews

After Interviews: Important Information

The "Two-Day" Rule

In some cases, a student may receive multiple internship offers. In order to ensure the internship placement does not pause, students who receive more than one offer will have two business days to decline the offers that are not their current most preferred offer.  In other words, if a student receives more than one internship offer, they must decline all but one of all those on the table at that moment, and retain only that which they identify as the placement they are most interested in--of the positions offered to them .  At that point in time, they are not required to commit to the single offer they are continuing to consider.

To decline the offer(s) students are no longer considering, they should send an email to each internship hiring team who has extended an offer, and copy cshpe.internships@umich.edu, to clearly identify which offer(s) they are declining and which is their current most preferred offer that they are continuing to consider.  After they communicate which internship offer is not their current preferred offer, and decline it, the declined internship position can then be offered to another candidate who is likely eagerly waiting to hear.  Another way to think about this is that students must decline all but their top offer, but they need not accept an offer until April 15, per the agreement put forth by the Council for Graduate Schools (see below). 

If a student knows with certainty that their current preferred offer is their most preferred internship site out of all the internship sites, and that they will accept an offer with that specific internship site if they matriculate at U-M, they may communicate that to the internship provider and cshpe.internships@umich.edu. This will prevent that student from receiving unnecessary communication from additional internship sites that could extend an offer to them, and which they would not be interested in; if the student determines they will not be attending U-M, that internship position can then be offered to another candidate. Students are not required to express that their current preferred offer is their overall top choice, but can choose to do this.

Each student in the master's program can accept only one internship at the start of their program, so should carefully consider their priorities in regard to this experiential learning component of their degree. 

Below is a possible example scenario: 

Morgan interviews with four internship sites on Campus Visit Day: Orientation Programs, Center for Educational Outreach, Engineering Academic Advising, and the Global Scholars Program. On Wednesday, she is excited to receive two internship offers, from Orientation Programs and the Engineering Advising Center. Morgan understands that she must identify which is her current preferred offer by that Friday because that is two days after she receives her offers. 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 15. 

Morgan decides to decline the offer from the Engineering Advising Center. She emails both internship sites, copying CSHPE, thanking both sites for their offers, and declining the position with the Engineering Advising Center. 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 the Global Scholars Program, 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 Global Scholars Program, but knows her decision much sooner and sends an email almost immediately to thank both sites, and declines the offer from Orientation Programs. Morgan shares that the offer from the Global Scholars Program 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, which 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 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 master's cohort in CSHPE! At the same time, she emails both the Global Scholars Program and CSHPE to say she is pleased to accept that internship offer and is thrilled to further her professional experience in this area of student affairs with a focus on global justice.

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. Please remember that when you accept admission (this is called 'matriculating'), you are committing to attend U-M in the fall. 

If you matriculate but don't yet have an internship, 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, 2024, 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 2024.