Ulrich-Stewart Family Funded Internship Award

Application period: January 8th - January 26th, 2025

Tisch Office of Career Development is proud to present the Ulrich-Stewart Family Funded Internship Award, a resource exclusively for Tisch students completing summer internships at nonprofits and other organizations that typically offer unpaid internships.

Ten students will be awarded $3,000 each to assist them in gaining valuable experiential learning and professional development. The awardees will also receive internship application coaching from the TOCD staff, including cover letter/resume writing feedback and interview practice, so that they gain valuable career skills. Coaching will occur via in-person or Zoom, as well as through email.

ELIGIBILITY

In order to be considered for the Ulrich-Stewart Family Funded Internship Award, you must: 

  • Be enrolled full-time in an Undergraduate or Graduate degree-granting program in a department at NYU Tisch School of the Arts during Spring 2025, with the intent to continue enrollment in Fall 2025. December 2024 and May 2025 graduates, as well as visiting students at Tisch and NYU students with Tisch minors are not eligible.
  • Be in good academic standing
  • Plan to obtain an unpaid summer internship at a nonprofit organization or other organization that typically has unpaid interns. Internships must be with US-based organizations or companies and cannot provide compensation equal to minimum wage or more. International internship placement programs, in which third-party organizations connect students with internships occuring outside of the U.S., are also not eligible.
  • Plan to intern for at least 20 hours per week for at least 8 weeks between May 12th and August 30th, 2025. Please be aware that this time commitment makes the award incompatible with summer study abroad programs.
  • Commit to receiving summer academic credit for the internship. (If you are selected for the award, you will also receive a scholarship that pays for one summer credit.)
  • Tisch students with F-1 visas are welcome to apply if they meet all the above criteria. However, they should be aware that they will be taxed at the time of the check disbursement. F-1 visa holders must also be aware of CPT/OPT filing procedures.

Tisch students who are studying remotely during the spring semester are welcome to apply. 

If you've applied for the Ulrich-Stewart Family Funded Internship Award in the past, you are welcome to re-apply. However, if you have already received the Award, you are no longer eligible.

We encourage you to also apply to other internship funds as you make arrangements for your summer. (This includes the Wasserman Center Internship Grant.) However, if you are ultimately selected as a recipient of the 2025 Ulrich-Stewart Family Funded Internship Award, you will not be eligible to also receive the 2025 Summer Wasserman Center Internship Grant; if your internship continues into the fall semester, you are also not eligible for the 2025 Fall Wasserman Center Internship Grant. This restriction exists to ensure there is enough funding for your fellow students and is only limited to the 2025 Wasserman grants - you will remain eligible for the Wasserman grant in subsequent award cycles after that blackout period ends.

NOTE: The Tisch Funded Internship Award is intended for students with financial need and consists of a scholarship that is awarded directly to the recipient. It is considered part of NYU financial aid, so it may potentially impact an awardee's financial aid amount for the 2025-2026 academic year.  (For questions about this, please contact tisch.career@nyu.edu.) 

I don't have a summer internship yet. Can I still apply?
Yes!!! This opportunity is specifically to assist you in getting a summer internship! If you're selected, the TOCD staff will coach you through the internship application process, including helping you with your cover letter, resume, and interview skills.

I can't afford to intern for academic credit this summer. Can I still apply?
Yes!!! If you're selected, the Funded Internship Award includes an additional subsidy to cover the cost of one summer credit. Interning for credit is a mandatory part of the Funded Internship Award.

Need more reasons to apply? Here’s what students have said about the Funded Internship Award experience:
"The staff gave very detailed feedback on my resume and cover letter, giving me exact things to change and why I should change them. They also gave me feedback on even more places to apply to internships in the future!"

"The interview practice was very useful! The staff was very knowledgable about what interviewers look for and being able to have the practice before interviewing eased my nerves a lot!"

"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! This truly changed my summer and I couldn't be more thankful."

I heard that TOCD provides grant application feedback as part of their career counseling services. Can I schedule an appointment to get help on the drafts for my Funded Internship Award application materials?
Although TOCD is normally happy to help with application coaching for awards and grants, we're unable to do it for the Funded Internship Award. As the award administrators, it's a conflict of interest for us. In lieu of coaching, we advise all applicants to read the instructions below carefully and put a lot of thought into their essays, which are the most important part of the application.

DATES AND DEADLINES

  • The application period opens on Wednesday, January 8th, 2025, at 10am ET and closes on Sunday, January 26th at 11:59pm ET. 
  • Got questions? Attend the Funded Internship Info Session on Wednesday, January 15th, 2025, at 6pm ET (Click Here for more info and to join)   
  • Recipients of the award will be notified no later than February 14th, 2025.
  • Awardees will be required to turn in tax paperwork (W-9) to receive funds in a timely manner. 
  • International students will be taxed at time of check disbursement. All other student recipients will receive tax documents from NYU in January of the following year.

Please note that awardees who do not obtain unpaid internships by May 12th, 2025 and register for a Tisch summer internship credit will forfeit their scholarship. (Due to funding restrictions, awardees who accept internships that provide compensation of minimum wage or more must also forfeit the scholarship.) Awardees who do not successfully complete their internships may also forfeit a portion of their scholarship.

HOW TO APPLY

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
NOTE: The application portal is on Tisch College Central (this is different from NYU Handshake). If you do not have a Tisch College Central account yet, please be aware that it may take 1 business day for it to be approved. Exceptions will not be made for applicants who miss the submission deadline because their Tisch College Central account registrations were still pending, so plan ahead!

  • Application Essays (see below)
  • Resume (please see the TOCD Resume Guide if you don't know how to create a resume)
  • Sample cover letter, based on a current internship listing. Please be sure to include the listing for reference by copy/pasting it into a word doc and submitting that with your cover letter sample. Cover letters that are not accompanied by an internship listing will not be considered complete. (Please see the TOCD Cover Letter Guide if you don't know how to create a cover letter.) 
  • Please note that a recommendation letter will not be required, nor will it be considered as part of your application.

The resume and sample cover letter must be uploaded to Google Drive and then shared with both nyu277@nyu.edu and LH77@nyu.edu. The application form will include a place for you to list the share links for these documents. Please do not send the shared links directly to nyu277@nyu.edu and/or LH77@nyu.edu without filling out the application form - if you do, it will not be considered an official submission.

ESSAY QUESTIONS
The essay portion of the application is one of the most important components of the review process. Read the prompts carefully and put a lot of thought into your answers - be compelling and specific! Please note there is a 500 word max for each essay, and each prompt should be answered separately.

  • Please list at least three internships that you plan to apply for, including the company/employer name, specific department/title if applicable (e.g. "Literary Intern at the Public Theater"), and a brief description of the internship. If available, please include links to the internship listing(s). (Note: internships listings should be from three separate employers, not different listings from the same employer). The purpose of this list is to demonstrate that you've already begun to research potential internships and have identified specific opportunities relevant to your career goals. You can list as many internships as you would like but your focus should be on relevance and not quantity. Please note that if you are selected for the Funded Internship Award, this list will serve as the basis for your internship application coaching and can be amended as needed.
    • Tisch College Central and the TOCD Industry Spotlights are great resources to assist with internship research. If you're unable to find relevant summer internships, listings for spring internships are acceptable as a way of demonstrating what type of opportunities interest you. 
  • If you obtain one of the internships that you mentioned above, besides providing general exposure to the industry and networking opportunities, what do you hope to learn from this internship? What does "real world experience" mean to you? Be as specific as possible in articulating how this ties to your post-Tisch career goals.
  • How will internship application coaching benefit you? Be specific as to what help you feel you need.
  • How will the award help your financial need? 
  • What will you do if you're hired as an unpaid intern but don't receive this award?
  • What will you do this summer if you don't get an internship at all?


To apply to the Ulrich-Stewart Family Funded Internship Award, follow these steps:

  • Click on this Tisch College Central link and then log into your Tisch College Central account via the green "Register or sign in now to apply" button in the upper left corner to access the USF listing. At the bottom of the listing in the Contact Info section, click on the Apply Online link to access a Google Form application. (If you do not see a listing with a green button or the listing does not have an Apply Online link, it means that the submission period has ended.)
  • The Google Form will have fields for you to paste in your essay answers, as well as the Google Drive share links for your resume or sample cover letter. (Instructions on how to share files on Google Drive can be found here.)
  • Applications will not be considered complete until we have verified your eligiblity. Once we have finished processing your application, you will receive an acknowledgment from our office in 3-5 business days.

Please contact tisch.career@nyu.edu with any questions regarding the award or application process.

The decisions of the selection committee are final. Neither the selection committee, nor the TOCD staff, will release justification for recipient selections or provide feedback on applications. Incomplete applications or applicants who do not meet eligibility guidelines will not be considered. 

The deadline to apply is Sunday, January 26th, 2025 at 11:59pm ET!

Late applications will not be considered. No Exceptions!!!

All applicants will receive an update on their status by February 14th. Questions? Contact tisch.career@nyu.edu.

NOTE: Applications require a Tisch College Central account (this is different than NYU Handshake!). If you do not have one yet, please create one at www.collegecentral.com/tisch. Account registrations are approved within 1 business day.