Gaining Experience

Experience Matters

There’s no substitute for having practical, hands-on experience no matter what career path you want to take. Experience helps you build your resume, strengthen your applications, and learn what you do (or don’t) want to pursue. 

Employers are increasingly interested in key transferable skills that demonstrate a candidate’s career readiness. Most graduate schools, fellowships, and similar programs want candidates who have clear career goals, can speak to the value of the program in achieving those goals, and have experience to demonstrate their ongoing interest. 

There are many ways to gain the practical, hands-on experience that employers look for—from internships and jobs to volunteering and student activities to internships. These experiences are known as experiential learning.

Experiential Learning at BU

With experiential learning, you learn by doing and then by reflecting on your experience. At BU, there are a variety of experiential learning opportunities available such as:

• Internships
• Fellowships
• Research
• On-Campus leadership positions