How to Apply

Overview

To apply for the NMAH Internship Program, you must apply via SOLAA. We only consider applications that are (1) submitted by their applicable deadline and (2) "complete," which means they include, at minimum, a resume and learning goals essay describing what skills, content, and/or professional development you're hoping to learn during your internship. We review applications on a semester basis (spring, summer, and fall) after their respective submission deadline. You're highly encouraged to check out our other webpages to learn more about upcoming internship opportunities, the NMAH Internship Program's commitment to equitable access, and FAQs. We also host interns through Smithsonian-wide internship opportunities; those programs have their own application deadlines and requirements, schedules, and program specifics.

The Specifics

• When to Apply
• How to Apply
  • What to Have Prepared: Required Documents for Your Application
  • Registering for a SOLAA Account & Setting Up Your Application
  • Application First Steps: Personal Info, Current Affiliation, & Academic History
  • Selecting Your Internship: Program Choices
  • Uploading Application Materials: Resume, Essay, and Optional Materials
  • Submitting Your References: Recommendation Letters & SOLAA Emails
  • Submitting Your Application: Final Questions
  • After Submitting Your Application
  • Applying for More than One Internship Project

Questions

When to Apply

Each internship semester (spring, summer, and fall) has its own application deadline, date and time. Please note that all required components of an application must be submitted on time for your application to be considered "complete." We do not allow for extensions, so be sure to accommodate enough time to double check your application to ensure that it is correct and complete. 

Want to stay up-to-date about our recruitment for NMAH internships? Sign up with your email here!

How to Apply

What to Have Prepared: Required Documents for Your Application

For your application, you will need to do your research beforehand so you can provide the required materials in order to be considered for an internship.

Before starting your application, first determine which Project Choice(s) or General Application(s) you'll be applying to. Check out what projects and general applications are available for the upcoming semester of the NMAH Internship Program. 

Once you know that, then you can submit the application's two required materials:

1. A learning goals essay. This essay should be between 500-to-1,250 words with a specific paragraph that explains what you hope to learn through the internship. Overall, the essay needs to addressing the following questions:
   • What do you hope to learn through this internship, and how would the internship would relate to your academic and career goals?
     • When applying to a specific Internship Project, be sure to include learning goals for the specific internship experience that you've selected as your Project Choice.
     • When applying through a General Application, please specify which specific division(s) within the larger Offices that you want to intern with. For example, if you're applying to the General Application Pool for Public History: Collections, Curatorial, and Digital Access and Archives, you could specify that you'd like to intern with the Division of Work & Industry or the Conservation team.
   • What about this specific internship project or topic interests you and made you want to apply for this internship?
   • How are you prepared for this internship regarding your past academic history, your present academic endeavors, and/or other relevant experiences outside of academia?
   • If the internship posting says it's open to virtual, in-person, or hybrid internships, please also specify in your learning goals essay if you would like to be considered for a virtual, in-person, and/or hybrid (part in-person, part virtual) internship experience!
2. A current CV or resume

Additionally, you may choose to also include these OPTIONAL documents as part of your application as well.

• An unofficial transcript or class list of some kind--from all academic institutions you have listed on your application. If transcripts or other materials are not in English, the applicant should provide translations. We will be flexible about the format of these materials due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Information for 2 references, who will submit their own recommendation letters--be sure to click the envelope icon to trigger SOLAA to email your references to upload their recommendation letter.
• Please note that our Exhibition and Graphic Design internships also require a portfolio to be submitted.

When uploading these materials, please keep in mind that SOLAA supported file extensions include: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .tif & .tiff Also, please note that your application may be considered deficient if you do not include all of the documents requested. (If necessary, you may make other arrangements with the program coordinator to submit specific materials outside the system.)

Additionally, to keep unneeded personally identifiable information (PII) out of the application we request that you remove any unrequested PII, such as your social security number, from any of your application materials. We do not require official academic transcripts and if your transcript includes your social security number and/or date of birth we request that you redact this information before uploading it to the SOLAA system.

Registering for a SOLAA Account & Setting Up Your Application

1. First, register for an account in SOLAA.

*We only review completed applications that are submitted to the National Museum of American History (NMAH) Internship Program via SOLAA. To be considered complete, the application must at minimum include a resume and learning goals essay and be submitted by the deadline.*

2. Then, after logging in to your new account in SOLAA, you will need to Start Your Application.

3. Once you Start Your Application, the screen below will appear. Click the Program Type dropdown menu and select Internship.

4. After you’re selected Internship as your Program Type, you will go to the Office/Museum/Research Center dropdown menu and select National Museum of American History.

5. After selecting National Museum of American History, you will see the following screen. *Please find the internship that says National Museum of American History (NMAH) Internship Program.* If the NMAH Internship Program is currently accepting applications, you'll be able to click the green button that says Apply Now.

6. Once you click Apply Now, the following screen will pop up, and you select Continue Application.

7. You'll then follow all of the instructions below to add your personal info, academic background, and required materials before submitting your application. 

Application First Steps: Personal Info, Current Affiliation, & Academic History

After selecting Continue Application, be sure to check your Applicant & Program Information to make sure your profile is accurate. Then, please read the Special Instructions to ensure that you are on track to a successful application submission before beginning to fill out the requested information, including Personal Info, Current Affiliation, and Academic History. You can keep track of your progress and save your application as you go by using the progress bar at the top of the screen.

Selecting Your Internship: Program Choices

Once you get to Program Choices, select the internship project for which you are applying. Remember that you can submit multiple applications, each with a different project choice.

Please also double check that you're submitting an application for the correct semester (i.e., Spring 2023). We only review applications submitted for the next upcoming semester.

Uploading Application Materials: Resume, Essay, Transcripts, Etc.

For Application Materials, you are required to upload:

• A learning goals essay, between 500-to-1,250 words, addressing the following three questions:
  1. What do you hope to learn through this internship, and how would the internship would relate to your academic and career goals?
     • When applying to an Upcoming Internship Opportunity, be sure to include learning goals for the specific internship experience that you've selected as your Project Choice.
     • When applying to a General Application Pool, please specify which specific division(s) within the larger Offices that you want to intern with. For example, if you're applying to the General Application Pool for Public History: Collections, Curatorial, and Digital Access and Archives, you could specify that you'd like to intern with the Division of Work & Industry or the Conservation team.
  2. What about this specific internship project or topic interests you and made you want to apply for this internship?
  3. How are you prepared for this internship regarding your past academic history, your present academic endeavors, and/or other relevant experiences outside of academia?
  4. If the internship posting says it's open to virtual, in-person, or hybrid internships, please also specify in your learning goals essay if you would like to be considered for a virtual, in-person, and/or hybrid (part in-person, part virtual) internship experience!
• A current CV or resume

Optional materials include:

• Your portfolio for our Graphic Design and Exhibition Design internships--this is required for those internships only and should be uploaded under "resume." If the file is too big, include a link to a website, Dropbox, Google Drive folder, etc. for your portfolio.
• An unofficial transcript or class list of some kind--from all academic institutions you have listed on your application. If transcripts or other materials are not in English, the applicant should provide translations. We will be flexible about the format of these materials due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it can also include a screenshot of your class lists from your academic institutions. An unofficial or official transcript can be uploaded by first scanning the document and saving it as a .pdf or .jpeg. Please do not mail the transcript separately.
• Information for 2 references, who will submit their own recommendation letters--be sure to click the envelope icon to trigger SOLAA to email your references to upload their recommendation letter.

When you get to the References section, you can choose to submit the reference details for up to two references, including their last name, first name, and email address. Once this information is submitted, please click the envelope icon for each reference in order to trigger SOLAA to send an email to your reference. You can keep track of whether your reference has been submitted yet by checking the "Completed" section of the reference form. 

Please note that recommendation letters are an optional part of your application--as long as you have submitted your resume and learning goals essay, your application will still be considered "complete." However, if you do choose to solicit reference letters via SOLAA, please make sure that you accommodate enough time for your references to submit their recommendation letters before the application deadline. References can technically submit their recommendation letters after the deadline, but it is unlikely that they will be considered as part of the initial round of application review. If your application is selected for final review and your recommendation letters are missing, mentors may reach out to your references to ask for their letter.

Also, again, be sure to click the “send email” envelope icon as this triggers the system to email your references with instructions for uploading their reference letter. Please let your reference to look out for this email from SOLAA as it may be in their spam or junk folder!

If you submit multiple applications with references, at this time, all of the emails to your references will look the same without individual project choices listed. References are totally fine to use the same recommendation letter for all of your applications, but if they choose to write individual letters for each internship, they can email those as a Word or PDF document to the NMAH Internship Office, and the Interns and Fellows Program Manager will ensure that each letter goes to the right place.

Document Format: When uploading these materials, please keep in mind that SOLAA supported file extensions include: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .tif & .tiff. Additionally, to keep unneeded personally identifiable information (PII) out of the application we request that you remove any unrequested PII, such as your social security number, from any of your application materials. We do not require official academic transcripts and if your transcript includes your social security number and/or date of birth we request that you redact this information before uploading it to SOLAA .

Submitting Your Application: Final Questions

Next, you’ll be asked to answer Additional Questions before finally Submitting Your Application--but wait! Before you submit, be sure to go back through your application and double check that all of your information is correct, including: 

• cycle and year of application (i.e., Fall 2023)
• internship project choice (i.e., Exhibition Design Internship)
• essay, resume/CV
• optional: portfolio (required for Exhibition and Graphic Design internships), transcripts, references' email addresses 

Once you've double checked that every component of your application is correct, you can submit your application. Once submitted, you cannot upload or change anything within the application. If you need any help, please email the NMAH Interns & Fellows Program Manager. If you are asking for assistance within one week of the application deadline, please note that there may be a delay in response because of an influx of applicant inquiries, so plan ahead!

After Submitting Your Application

Within a week of the application deadline, you should receive a confirmation email that your application has been received. Please note that mentors do not review applications until after the application submission deadline in order to ensure a fair review of all applicants, and decisions are expected to be made within four-six weeks after the application deadline. For this reason, it's good to make sure you're checking your email frequently after the application submission deadline just in case a potential mentor reaches out to you to schedule a phone interview. 

If you are waiting to hear back about your selection status to decide on other internship offers elsewhere AND if it's after our application deadline, please feel free to email the NMAH Interns & Fellows Program Manager with your name, your SOLAA application ID, and the deadline for your decision, and the program manager will try to coordinate your application review before your decision deadline. However, this is entirely dependent on mentors' schedules for application review. If you have decided to take another position before our selections are made and are selected for an internship with us, it may be possible to "defer" your internship acceptance with us to a future semester.

If you've requested recommendation letters as an optional part of your application, it's good to keep track of whether your recommendation letters have been submitted to SOLAA. To do this, log in to SOLAA, and from your applicant dashboard, click to "View" your application., and scroll down to the References section. There, you can see if your reference has been completed.

Please let your reference know that sometimes the SOLAA email gets sent to spam or junk folders, so it's good to let them know the date that you triggered the email to be sent. Recommendation letters must be submitted by the application submission deadline to be included in your application for review.

Applying for More than One Internship Project

If you are interested in more than one internship choice, that's great! You are encouraged to apply for any project choice that interests you, and SOLAA makes that process easy. In order to apply to multiple internship projects, you can “copy” your initial application in SOLAA and change the relevant information, including your project choice and your learning goals essay, before submitting again.

Each application should be focused on one internship project choice!

Also, each application will require you to submit contact information for two references. You may list different references for each internship if you'd like, or you may list the same references for each internship.

If you list the same references on multiple internship applications, please note that the email triggered in each application lists the application, National Museum of American History (NMAH) Internship, but not the individual project choice. Your reference can also submit the same letter of recommendation to all of your internship applications, or if your references would like assistance with submitting specific letters of recommendation for individual internships, please have them contact the NMAH Interns & Fellows Program Manager using this link.

Questions

If you have any questions about the application process, please email us via our contact form. If you have questions concerning the SOLAA application, please revisit this webpage on How to Apply to the NMAH Internship Program or go to the Help section on the SOLAA website.