Students selected to participate in the Rutgers Scarlet Service Internship (RSSI) Program will:

• Complete an in-person internship: Students will intern for a minimum of 150 hours over 10-12 weeks during the Rutgers Summer Session at a public service nonprofit or government office.
• Participate in a three-credit course: Students will enroll and complete a 10-week virtual internship course designed to explore and engage with the topic of public service and civic engagement while building their career readiness and professionalism skills. This course will have mandatory class sessions on Zoom from 11:00am-1:00pm on five Fridays during the Rutgers Summer Session. It is estimated that a total of 5-10 hours of coursework will be required outside of these synchronous sessions over the duration of the summer.
• Attend Scarlet Service events: Students are expected to attend multiple in-person and virtual events during the upcoming Spring and Summer semesters, including one field trip to local government and one event in early Fall. The virtual interview period to determine summer internship placements will take place during February and March.

The application process for this Program is open to Rutgers-Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark current sophomores and juniors* who will have 61-91 credits completed by the upcoming Spring semester. Applicants must have an overall cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher and be in good standing with the university. Applicants must also have the ability to travel to an internship site in New Jersey, New York City, or Philadelphia region, and have a passion for community engagement and/or public service.

Transfer students are eligible to apply without a current Rutgers GPA. GPAs will be checked following the posting of Fall grades to determine eligibility.

*Students who participated in previous RSSI Program cohorts are not eligible to reapply.

• Candidates complete an application form, attach a resume and unofficial transcript, and respond to essay prompts. The application form also asks for the name, title, and contact of one academic or professional reference.
• Student applications will be reviewed by a selection committee and RSSI program administrators. All student applicants will be notified of their status in the program by mid-January.

During the fall semester, interested students can register for RSSI info sessions on Handshake. Any questions can be directed to Heather Escalona Benitez, Senior Assistant Director, at rssi@echo.rutgers.edu.

All internship sites must:

• Be a nonprofit with 501c3 status or government office with no affiliation to Rutgers University
• Have a mission in service to the public and engage in civic engagement activities
• Provide an internship experience that meets one of our five public service pathways
• Provide a primarily in-person (at least 75% in person) immersive, high-impact learning experience)
• Host an intern for a minimum of 150 hours for no less than 10 weeks during the Rutgers Summer Session (averaging 15 hours per week)
• Experiences must incorporate opportunities for the intern to engage directly with the community served by the organization or indirectly through employees who can do so.

Only organizations that are external to Rutgers University are eligible to apply for RSSI. The applying organization cannot be affiliated to Rutgers in the following ways:

• Cannot be a Rutgers Department/Satellite/Extension/Farm/Program/Initiative – only external organizations can apply
• The intern’s full-time supervisor cannot be Rutgers faculty or staff
• The external organization cannot be receiving other sources of Rutgers funding
• The permanent business address and/or office cannot be owned/operated by Rutgers University
• The external organization does not have a reporting structure that includes Rutgers University in any capacity (funding, staff hierarchy, etc.)

• November: Student applications are due.
• December: Employer applications are due. These applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
• Mid-January: Student and employer participants will be notified of their participation status in the program. If selected, employers will provide availability for virtual interviews held in mid-February.   
• February and/or March: Selected employers will participate in virtual interviews with selected students. Following interviews, students and employers will rank their placement preferences and the RSSI Program administrators will use these rankings to assign summer placements.
• April: Internship placements are typically finalized 2-3 weeks after the initial interview, and no later than the end of April.