FAQs

Our internships are hosted at the Carter Center headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. At this time, selected interns must be able to work in person for at least 10 of the 20 hours.

We allow interns and graduate assistants to complete half of their hours remote with permission from their supervisor.

All internships are 20 hours per week, and intern schedules are arranged with their supervisors and include regularly scheduled blocks of time during normal business hours (e.g., four days of five hours each; five days of four hours each).

Our internships follow an academic calendar. Interns are required to make a commitment of 15 weeks during the fall and spring sessions. During the summer session, interns must make a 10-week commitment.

Yes. Interns will receive a stipend:

Spring: $5,100.00 (15 weeks)
Summer: $3,400.00 (10 weeks)
Fall: $5,100.00 (15 weeks)

No, you do not need to be a U.S. citizen to apply. However, you do need to have work authorization to intern in the United States. International students enrolled in U.S.-based colleges or universities are eligible with approval from your host institution. Please email EducationalPrograms@CarterCenter.org to check your eligibility before filling out an application.

Unfortunately, we cannot. The Carter Center internship is 20 hours of work per week, and the U.S. State Department requirement for a visa is 40 hours of work per week. For this reason, The Carter Center cannot assist in obtaining a visa.

Each program provides their own job descriptions that give an overview of the types of tasks that an intern may work on and the minimum qualifications. You can find those job descriptions here. Also, you can check out our latest digital flipbook to see which programs are hiring for the upcoming session. The starred programs are currently taking interns.

No. If a program area is not listed as a preference on the application itself, it means that program is not accepting interns or graduate assistants for that particular session.

Yes, the writing sample submitted can be a portion of a longer academic paper. If this is the case, please include a note at the top of the paper indicating that the paper is a excerpt.

You will be asked to upload an unofficial or official transcript on your application. If selected for the position, an official transcript will be required.

We require transcripts from a current university as well as any university from which an applicant has received a degree.

Yes. Most universities now offer secure, official, electronic copies of transcripts. Transcripts submitted in this way should be sent to the attention of Educational Programs at EducationalPrograms@cartercenter.org.

A recommender should be a former teacher, professor, advisor, supervisor, or colleague. A recommender should not be a family member.

Letters of recommendation are due one calendar week after the application deadline.

Because the emails sent to recommenders are auto-generated by our online application system, they often get filtered into spam folders. You may wish to advise your recommender to check his/her spam. You also may prompt our online application system to resend the email by logging in to your application and clicking the “resend” button next to your recommender’s name.

All candidates will be notified concerning the status of their applications no later than six weeks following the deadline.

Yes, you may reapply as long as you still meet the eligibility requirements. To reapply, a candidate will need to email Educational Programs at EducationalPrograms@cartercenter.org. Applications will be transferred to the session for which they would like to be considered, and revisions can be made prior to submitting the application by the new deadline. Transcripts and letters of recommendation are held on file for up to one year.

Yes. If an applicant’s college or university offers academic credit for internships/graduate assistantships, The Carter Center will work with the school to match academic requirements with the requirements of the intern’s/graduate assistant’s host program. Upon acceptance, necessary forms from the college or university should be submitted to the intern’s/graduate assistant’s program supervisor as well as the Carter Center’s Educational Programs office.

All internships and graduate assistantships are based in Atlanta, Georgia. Occasionally, opportunities arise for interns to travel with staff on Center-related trips (e.g., election-monitoring missions, domestic and international conferences, training workshops). Graduate assistants do not typically travel.

The Carter Center does not provide housing for interns or graduate assistants but will provide information and resources on available housing nearby. Educational Programs staff members are available to provide guidance during your adjustment to Atlanta.

Candidates who have completed at least two years of study, recent graduates (graduated within 24 months of the internship start date), and graduate/professional students are eligible. For example, a qualified candidate within the United States will have a minimum of 60 credit hours earned toward a bachelor’s degree at the start of the internship. There is no age limit. 

Yes. We are building an alumni database to keep in contact with alumni and develop events for alumni to network with each other and the current interns.

Interns are required to work 20 hours per week. This means that it is possible for interns to work part-time jobs in addition to their internships.

In order to be eligible for an assistantship, applicants must be enrolled in a graduate or doctoral program throughout the duration of the assistantship. At the start of the assistantship, qualified applicants must have completed a minimum of two semesters of their academic coursework in a master’s or post-master’s level program.

Yes. Graduate assistants receive a stipend of $18.50/hour for 10-20 hours per week.

The graduate assistantship lasts anywhere from 9-12 months depending on the need of the program and normally begins in August.

Graduate assistants can work between 10-20 hours per week based on the requirements of their graduate program. A graduate assistant’s schedule is arranged with the supervisor when the session begins.

Each program provides their own job descriptions that give an overview of the types of tasks that a GA may work on and the minimum qualifications. You can find those job descriptions here.

Educational Programs
The Carter Center
453 John Lewis Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
EducationalPrograms@cartercenter.org