Summer 2022 was, in many ways, a turning point. After two-plus years of enduring the challenges of the pandemic, there was a marked increase in the number of in-person summer internship experiences for Harvard Kennedy School students.

Rising second-year MPP, MPA/ID, and MPA students reported working in summer internships—some remarkably in two or more—across sectors, policy areas, and industries, including government, international development, education, finance and financial technology, consulting and advisory, and technology and science. Some received a stipend from the HKS Summer Internship Fund, others from the school’s research centers and initiatives

Our students tackled local and global challenges by taking on relevant, timely, and, perhaps to some, surprising internship opportunities, illustrating the broad applicability of an HKS education.

A number of students' internships focused on advocacy, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, women entrepreneurship, prisoner rights, special immigrant visas (SIVs), autism employment, plant-based foods, adoptees’ rights, and starvation/global food security. Others worked on energy issues, focusing on supply chain, hydrogen, minerals, addressing climate change, and storing carbon dioxide. And for the first time (to the best of our knowledge), an HKS student served at the Vatican. 

We are proud to share some of their stories.

 

If you are a current HKS student, find a complete list of 2022 summer internships here, positions held by students, and their contact details (HarvardKey login required). You are welcome to follow up with them directly with questions about their experiences.

Summer 2022 Internship Highlights

About 76 percent of employers hired only one HKS student summer intern, which reflects the unique career trajectories of our students. Four employers where students interned this past summer (Almond FintechIDinsightSiklus, and Vot-ER) were founded by HKS alumni. 

Read our Summer 2022 internship highlights to learn more about some of our students' experiences.

345
Summer internships reported by 334 HKS students, some of whom held 2+ internships

 

Sector breakdown of summer internship employers

Public 42%, Nonprofit + NGO 29%, and For Profit + Private 28%. Public sector consists of 19% National and Federal Government; 9% Intergovernmental Organization; 8% Regional, State, and Tribal Government; and 6% Local, City, and County Government.

1% of students worked on political campaigns or were unspecified.

 

 

Locations of summer internship employers

Even if intern worked remotely

Inside the United States 66%, versus, outside the United States 34%

 

In-person vs. remote internships

57% in person, 21% remote, and 22% remote for part of the time


 

Paid vs. unpaid internships

Reported by 262 students

41% fully paid, 15% partially paid, and 44% unpaid

 

87% of partially paid/unpaid students received Harvard funding

 

MPP

Master in Public Policy

In the two-year Master in Public Policy (MPP) Program, students learn how to understand complex global and local policy problems and construct concrete solutions.

 

Sector breakdown of MPP summer internship employers 

Public 51%, Nonprofit + NGO 27%, and For Profit + Private 21%. Public sector consists of 24% National and Federal Government; 9% Intergovernmental Organization; 9% Regional, State, and Tribal Government; and 9% Local, City, and County Government.

1% of students worked on political campaigns or were unspecified.

 

Top industry destinations

  1. Government
  2. Education, including interning at Harvard and HKS
  3. International development
  4. Consulting / Advisory
  5. Advocacy / Public interest
  6. Technology / Science

 

Where MPP students interned

Aerospace Corporation 
Airtel Africa
Aleut Community of St. Paul Island
American Bankers Association
Apple 
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Atlantic Council
Audemic
Borgen Project
Boston Consulting Group
Boston Public Schools 
Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC
CARE Social Ventures
Center for European Policy Analysis
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Ceres
City of Boston, MA, Mayor's Office
City of Boston, MA (2)
City of Boston, MA, Mayor's Office of Housing
City of Brownsville, TX
City of Cambridge, MA
City of Chicago, IL 
City of Chicago, IL, Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice
City of Chicago, IL, Mayor's Office
City of Chicago, IL
City of Freetown, Sierra Leone City Council
City of Green Bay, WI
City of Nashville, TN, Mayor's Office
City of New York, NY
City of Revere, MA
City of Tshwane, Gauteng, South Africa
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Commit Partnership
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office of Governor Baker
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office of the State Treasurer and Receiver General
CrossBoundary
EdRedesign Lab
Education Pioneers
Engine No. 1
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Fusion Fund
Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA)
Girls who venture
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI)
Government of Bangladesh, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Government of Israel, Ministry of Environment
Government of Meghalaya, India
Guidehouse
Guild Education
Harvard Medical School
Hudson Institute
IMAGO Global Grassroots
Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (INSEE)
Inter-American Development Bank
International Crisis Group
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International Foundation for Y-Peer Development
International Korean Adoptee Associations (IKAA)
Kaiser Permanente
KawiSafi Ventures
Korean American Sharing Movement
Kwanele
Learn In Inc 
Macro Advisory Partners
MassHealth
Max Rose for Congress
McKinsey & Company (2)
Meati
Meta
Michelle Wu Campaign Committee
MITRE Corporation (2)
National Association of Latino Elected Officials
NeighborWorks America
New York Legal Aid Society Prisoners’ Rights Project
Nuclear Threat Initiative
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Organise
Pacific Community Ventures
Patamar Capital
Peeler Immigration Lab
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Project Alianza
PUBLIC
Pulley
RapidSOS
Redesign Health
Rockefeller Foundation (3)
Salt Lake City Corporation
SEED 
SmartJob, LLC
Soleco Energy 
Stanford University
State of California, Labor and Workforce Development Agency
State of Colorado (3)
State of Hawaii, Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions
State of Michigan, Office of Governor Whitmer
State of Minnesota, Office of Governor Walz
State of New Jersey, Office of Governor Murphy
State of North Carolina, Office of Governor Cooper
State of Ohio, Office of Governor DeWine
State of Wyoming, Office of Governor Gordon
State Street Global Advisors
Steyn Reddy Associates
Thurgood Marshall College Fund
Tiger Global
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Town of Islip, NY
Umlambo Foundation
United Nations (2)
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative
United Nations Executive Office of the Secretary General
United Nations Foundation
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
United Nations, Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) 
U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory
U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FEMA
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs—Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking 
U.S. Department of State (8)
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research—Office of Near Eastern Analysis (INR/NEA)
U.S. Department of State, Embassy in Senegal
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Department of Treasury
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. Federal Emergency Management Administration
U.S. Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. House of Representatives, Office of Congressman Bennie G. Thompson
U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome
U.S. NASA Ames Research Center
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
U.S. White House
U.S. White House Council on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Sustainability Officer
U.S. White House Gender Policy Council
U.S. White House, Executive Office of the President, Council on Environmental Quality
Vamos Ventures
Victory Farms
Village Capital
Watson Living
West Wing Writers
Westside Cares
World Bank (2)
World Food Programme
Zenith Industries LLC
MPA/ID

Master in Public Administration/International Development

In the two-year Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) Program, students are trained to be the next generation of leaders in international development.

 

Sector breakdown of MPA/ID summer internship employers 
 

Nonprofit + NGO 39%, For Profit + Private 32%, and Public 29%. Public sector consists of 13% National and Federal Government; 9% Intergovernmental Organization; and 7% Regional, State, and Tribal Government.

 

Top industry destinations 

  1. Consulting / Advisory
  2. Government
  3. International development
  4. Finance / Financial technology
  5. Education, including interning at Harvard and HKS
  6. Research, including think tanks

 

Where MPA/ID students interned

Almond Fintech
Analysis Group Inc 
Antara Health
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
Bain & Company (2)
Bankaya
Barings Asset Management
Barings LLC
Baybridge Ltd
Better Govs
Beyond Capital
BFA Global
BillionToOne
Botho Emerging Markets Group
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Center for Economic Research in Pakistan
Center for Urban Economic Studies (CEEU), National University of San Martin
Central Bank of the Bahamas
Centro de Estudios Económicos y Urbanos, Universidad San Martín
Centro de Información y Educación para la Prevención del Abuso de Drogas, Perú
China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation
Clarity AI
Clinton Health Access Initiative (4)
CrossBoundary
Ecoanalitica
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Finance for Development Lab
GiveDirectly
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI)
GlobalCAD
Government of Germany, Federal Foreign Office
Government of Indonesia
Government of Kazakhstan
Government of Meghalaya, India (6)
Government of Mongolia, Ministry of Economy and Development (MED)
Government of Mongolia, New Recovery Program Delivery Unit, Prime Minister's Office
Government of Mongolia, Prime Minister's Office
Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan (4)
Growth Lab Namibia Project
Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute 
IDinsight (4)
IMAGO Global Grassroots (3)
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Knife Capital
Marco Financial
Moody's Investors Service
Paulson Institute
Pegasys
Progressive Foundation, India
Rio Tinto
Rockefeller Foundation
Sanergy (2)
Scotiabank
Siklus
Sozo venture
Treinta
United Nations
wagely
World Bank (3)
World Bank Group
MPA

Master in Public Administration

In the two-year Master in Public Administration (MPA) Program, students—who already have significant professional experience—gain the additional skills needed for positions of responsibility in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.

 

Sector breakdown of MPA summer internship employers 
 

For Profit + Private 39%, Public 37%, and Nonprofit + NGO 22%. Public sector consists of 16% National and Federal Government; 11% Intergovernmental Organization; 6% Regional, State, and Tribal Government; and 4% Local, City, and County Government.

 2% of students were unspecified.
 

Top industry destinations

  1. Government 
  2. Technology / Science
  3. Finance / Financial technology
  4. International development
  5. Consulting / Advisory

 

Where MPA students interned

Agoda
Antin Infrastructure Partners
ARGA investment
Barclays
Boston Consulting Group (3)
CARE International, Care Impact Partners
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Checkr, Inc.
City of Boston, MA, Mayor's Office of Early Childhood
City of Chicago,  IL, Mayor's Office—Office of Economic and Neighborhood Development
Coalition of NGOs for Child Protection in Kosovo (KOMF)
CommandBar, FooBar Inc
Community Action Agency of Somerville
Cyber Cube
Emilie Health
Equarius Risk Analytics
Forgepoint Capital
Fundação Lemann
Georgia Resilience & Opportunity Fund
Ginkgo Bioworks
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs, Urban Investment Group
Google
Government of Brazil, National Congress
Government of Germany, Bundestag 
Government of India
Government of Lebanon, Embassy in the United Kingdom
Government of Meghalaya, India (2)
Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Hines
Humu
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)
Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy at the New School
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Korea International Trade Association NY Center (KITA)
Leping Social Entrepreneur Foundation
LIFTE H2 Inc.
Maine Venture Fund
MassHealth
McKinsey & Company (3)
New York City Ballet
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
No One Left Behind
Numinar Analytics
PRAUD
Remitly
RockFix 
Royal Caribbean Group
Sensorum Health 
Snap
Social Finance
State Government
State of Missouri, Office of Governor Michael L. Parson
Stem Inc.
United Nations (4)
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and Melbourne University
U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration via The Project on Workforce at Harvard
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of State, Rangel Fellowship
U.S. Department of State, Cities Forward
U.S. Economic Development Administration
U.S. Navy
U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Vatican
VotER
World Bank (2)
Zillow

 



Summer internship stipends

Many HKS students accept unpaid or minimally paid summer internships in public service or at nonprofits. As a result, limited summer stipends are available through the HKS Summer Internship Fund (SIF) in addition to the school’s research centers and initiatives. If you are a current HKS student, read more about SIF and summer funding programs available through the HKS research centers and initiatives. (HarvardKey login required).
 

Our data collection process

The HKS Office of Career Advancement (OCA) collected data on summer internship experiences of rising second-year MPP, MPA, and MPA/ID students from June to August 2022 using several techniques, including voluntary surveys and individual email inquiries. Numbers in this report have been rounded up/down when necessary to help simplify reporting. 

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