Program Overview
The Computational Social Science Internship Program at the University of Chicago was created as a means of developing long-term partnerships between the Masters in Computational Social Science program and participating organizations. At the heart of the internship program is the desire to provide graduate students with compelling experiences and career opportunities aligned with our research training while allowing our partners to create a pipeline of talent to fill future full-time positions.
As a leader in higher education with high standards for intellectual rigor, UChicago has a long tradition of training its graduate students for analytical careers in the public and private sectors. The Masters in Computational Social Science program builds a strong foundation in large data analysis, modeling, and computer programming. Our students are trained to apply strong qualitative and quantitative social science research skills to analyze human behavior and big data across multiple industries.
We seek to identify partners that offer opportunities that build on the skills our students are developing in their first year of the program. These summer opportunities include positions in data science, research, and analysis in both academic institutions, research centers, and industry. We aim to identify partners that guarantee funding to support our students during their internships. Any additional monies normally provided to interns by the organizational partner (i.e. higher wages, performance incentives, signing bonuses, per diems, living or temporary relocation stipends) would be supplied by the organization directly to the student intern. A more detailed handout for prospective organizational partners and students is available. Summer internships last 10-12 weeks, depending on the start date, but we anticipate internships running mid-June through mid-September. For more information, please contact our Director of Career Services, Shelly Robinson.
Past Placements
In addition to those internships offered by our organizational partners, students also seek out internships with organizations that meet their unique interests. Some pursue opportunities in industry, while others pursue positions in university-affiliated research centers or institutes. Past internships opportunities have included positions in consulting, finance, and market research with companies such as Aptitive, Compass Lexecon, Crowe & Horwath, Shapiro+Raj, IFF, Mission Measurement, Vroom, CCTrack Solutions, comScore, cTrip International, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), to name a few. Past research placements have included the Center for Spatial Data Science, Knowledge Lab, Urban Labs, Open Source Microeconomics Lab, and BFI.