Professional Development FAQs

No, students who have used the International Study Award (ISA) or Summer Experience Award (SEA) in a previous summer are not eligible for the Summer Experience Grant (SEG).

Email the SEG Team immediately if your position has been canceled or modified. Use the subject line “Updating [or Withdrawing] SEG Application”. Do not submit a second application until communicating with the Office of Career Strategy.

No, students may not use the SEG for both a study abroad program and a professional development experience. The SEG can only be used once. Eligible students must choose between an eligible Yale study abroad program or professional development experience.

No; the Professional Development Option of the SEG is for current sophomores and juniors. Seniors graduating in December may be eligible for the SEG. Please email the SEG Team to discuss your eligibility. Visit the Fellowships Office website for more information on post-graduate fellowship opportunities.

No. The SEG is only available for eligible domestic professional development experiences. However, fellowships and other funding opportunities may exist that can help fund your international experience. Visit the Yale Office of Fellowships to browse available funding.

If you are an international student engaging in a completely unpaid summer opportunity in the U.S. AND that opportunity has been approved for the SEG, you may still need to use your OPT for that summer. Please visit the Office of International Students & Scholars for more details, and schedule an appointment with your OISS advisor.

No; the proposal must be inclusive of one experience only.

Due to the restrictions set out through the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, unpaid or underfunded opportunities with for-profit employers in the U.S. are not eligible. If you’re looking to explore a certain area, such as Entertainment, that is for-profit in the U.S., please meet with an OCS advisor to explore possibilities.

Yes; the SEG can be used for opportunities with a tribal nation located within the U.S., and all U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

No; students cannot use the SEG to fund an unpaid student job at Yale University including those with Yale centers or student organizations. However, the SEG can be used to fund Science, Laboratory & Other Research with a Yale faculty or research staff member. An acceptable research opportunity requires the student to confirm that the faculty or research staff member is willing to take on a formal and direct mentoring role in supervision of the student’s summer experience.

If your volunteer opportunity fits the eligibility requirements of the SEG, the Committee will consider it for the SEG. Also, political campaigns are not eligible.

Unpaid or underfunded internship opportunities with public and nonprofit Pre-K-12 educational institutions qualify for the SEG. Science, Laboratory & Other Research opportunities at public and nonprofit higher education institutions, including Yale University, also qualify for SEG funding. Students can verify that the educational institution is a U.S. nonprofit using Candid (formerly Guidestar). Classes, including Yale Summer Session courses, do not qualify for the Professional Development Option of the SEG but may qualify for the Study Abroad Option of the SEG. 

No; classes, including Yale Summer Session courses, do not qualify for the SEG Professional Development option. If you would like to study abroad with the SEG, you can apply for the SEG Study Abroad funding option.

Yes, there are opportunities at non-profits or government organizations, and some international internships, posted in Yale Career Link, which may be eligible for SEG funding. Students are encouraged to search for employers tagged as ‘Preferred Yale Partners’ in the Yale Career Link, as well as other opportunities, as they consider where to use their SEG award.

No; you cannot use the SEG for a political campaign.

No, students must be fully enrolled in Fall 2027 to be eligible for the SEG.

Yes, the experience can be more than 8 weeks. It must be with the same organization and full-time. The award does not increase for an experience of more than 8 weeks.

Yes, students returning from a Leave of Absence (including Medical Leaves of Absence) are eligible as long as they are returning in Fall 2027 or Spring 2028, meet all other SEG eligibility requirements, and are able to show proof of financial aid eligibility.

Yes; the deadline for 2027 is May 3, 1pm ET, 2027. Students who have secured an opportunity with the federal government but are waiting for security clearance, should see ‘FAQ: How does the SEG work for students who are waiting on their security clearance?’

April 1, 1pm ET, 2027, is the priority deadline. Applicants who submit a complete application by April 1 will receive their funds by late May. Students applying for an international experience are strongly encouraged to submit by the priority deadline.

If you have any questions about your eligibility or your application, please be in touch with the Office of Career Strategy SEG administrator well in advance of the deadline.

Incomplete or incorrect applications will not be considered after the deadline.

If a student is offered an opportunity with the U.S. government but the offer is pending due to security clearance, the student may submit the SEG application, but a check will not be issued until the clearance is final. Students in this situation can select one of the following options:

• Option 1: For students who want an alternative option, if the security clearance has not been approved by May 3 please inform OCS. For this option (Option 1), the student must relinquish the opportunity requiring security clearance. Then, the student may be given until May 15 to apply for a new, different eligible SEG opportunity.
• Option 2: If a student chooses to wait for the security clearance beyond May 3, SEG funds will not be disbursed until documentation is received showing final clearance, which must be received before May 15. If the clearance does not come through, the student will not have the option to submit an alternative proposal for that summer. The student can withdraw the SEG application entirely and save their SEG for a future summer.

Yes; through your Yale Career Link account, you can make an appointment with any OCS advisor to discuss your SEG application.

No; in order to complete an application for your SEG, you must have a secured opportunity at the time of application. If you need support in determining whether or not an anticipated opportunity would qualify for the SEG, please meet with an OCS career advisor to discuss your intended plans.

Travel, Health & Safety Agreements

It is important to be prepared with travel information and resources before you arrive. Read the information and agreements below and visit the links provided. All responses apply to your intended activity (“Program”), which may be funded by Yale University (“Yale”) or sponsored by Yale.

International SOS

Yale University COVID Vaccination Policy

Additional Agreements for all SEG recipients:

1. Watch/read the online pre-departure information below and any other information sent to you
2. Complete the OCS summer activities survey at the end of the summer
3. Return any SEG funding received in the event your plans change, making the opportunity no longer eligible
4. Return a prorated amount of the SEG funding for any time less than eight weeks, if you withdraw or fail to complete the summer experience as approved, and
5. Complete a mid-summer and end-of-summer check-in with your supervisor.

Important Pre-departure Information/Videos:

How to  Make the Most of Your Summer Experience

Health & Safety Resources

SEG proposals take a few weeks from submitted application to approval or rejection. Complete and accurate applications are processed quicker. Students will be contacted if there are questions or if additional time is needed. In some circumstances, you may not receive funding before your experience begins. Please plan accordingly.

• Students are strongly encouraged to apply for fellowships before applying for the SEG. If a student receives a fellowship for the full amount of their proposed budget, they will not need to apply for the SEG and can save it for another summer.
• Students receive fellowship award notifications in mid-April. If a student is not awarded a fellowship or is awarded less than the proposed budget, the SEG may be used. Students will have until May 1 to apply for the SEG.
• The SEG application asks: “Have you applied for additional fellowships? If yes, please list the fellowship name and the fellowship award amount, and your status.” If by using the SEG, the student is funded beyond their proposed fellowship budget, either the fellowship award or the SEG will be reduced to prevent over funding. SEG-eligible students are encouraged to meet with an OCS advisor to discuss how to navigate these opportunities.

A student’s first step should be to apply for fellowships before the SEG. If the student would like to propose that they need funding from both the SEG and additional fellowships, the student should indicate this in their budget for their non-SEG fellowship proposal. The fellowship committee will review the budget proposal and determine what they are able to fund. A student will not receive a total amount more than the budget set forth in their fellowship proposal. When combining your SEG with another Fellowship please be sure your project titles are consistent on all applications. Varied titles can result in a delay in payments being issued.

No, opportunities that involve classwork including senior thesis related work are not eligible.

For an experience to qualify as an Arts Apprenticeship, a practicing artist will need to commit to taking on a mentoring role in the supervision of the student’s overall summer experience. It is allowable for students to engage in supporting activities, such as research and assisting, but the artist must be consistently available to contextualize the experience and extend the student’s professional and creative development. The 8-week, 30-hours/week minimum summer duration also applies to the Arts Apprenticeship.

Any creator of professional work within an artistic field can be considered a candidate for establishing an Arts Apprenticeship. Examples include architects, creative writers, designers, visual artists, filmmakers, theater creatives, dancers and performance artists, musicians, and composers. Please speak with a member of the Common Good & Creative Careers team to discuss potential eligibility.

Yes, search within the Yale Career Link Job Board for the Yale-coordinated “CGCC Arts Apprenticeship Program” to see approved apprenticeships that can be applied for through the Yale Career Link.

Yale faculty members with an arts practice, willing to take on the necessary mentoring engagement, are acceptable candidates for the Arts Apprenticeship model. It is also possible that Yale arts faculty would be eligible for the research-based version of the SEG. Please meet with a member of the Common Good & Creative Careers team to discuss.

The SEG Arts Apprenticeship category is reserved for students planning a mentoring relationship with a practicing artist in the U.S. In order for it to be used to fund a summer engagement associated with a for-profit company in the U.S., the employer would need to be arts-related, and the supervisor of record would need to be willing to establish a clear mentoring relationship as a component of the experience: an appropriate apprenticeship experience needs to be supervised by an Arts Practitioner, and built around the individual mentoring relationship with that creative.

For an arts apprenticeship to be considered for SEG funding, financial compensation cannot be provided to the artist. In general, a tuition component is not allowed as part of an apprenticeship program; exceptions will need to be discussed with the OCS Creative Careers advisor, derek.webster@yale.edu.

Funds will be disbursed through Zelle. Yale University has implemented Zelle as a digital payment method to transfer money with fast results. This is available to Yale students meeting the following requirements; you must have a U.S. bank account, and that account must use your Yale email address. You may have difficulty accessing your SEG funds if your account is not tied to your Yale email address. Visit zellepay.com or click get started to register.

Students who do not have Zelle can contact OCS at seg-profdev@yale.edu to set up direct deposit of their award. If neither Zelle nor direct deposit it available at the time your award is disbursed, a paper check will be mailed to your address on file in Workday. To avoid delay of payment be sure your address on file in Workday is up to date.

Students who submit completed applications by the priority deadline of April 1 and are approved will receive their awards by the end of May. All other students who are approved will be paid in the order in which they applied, on a rolling basis from May through June. Please plan your travel and expenses accordingly, as your experience may begin before your funds are disbursed.

Students applying for a SEG who are also applying for additional fellowship funding must include this information in their SEG application.

If the opportunity is underfunded, then it can be considered for SEG funding. The Committee defines underfunded as $3000 USD or less for an 8-week summer opportunity. International Students pursuing an opportunity in the U.S. must consult with the Office of International Students and Scholars.

Yes. Students who receive a SEG are required to use the money for the purposes for which it was granted. Students who withdraw from the approved, funded programs and activities will be required to repay Yale the amount of their award. This includes travel to an area not disclosed in the approved application.

If a student leaves an organization early, the student must notify the Office of Career Strategy and is required to return the prorated amount of the award to Yale.

Fully remote positions of any kind are not eligible for SEG funding. Hybrid positions are eligible if the SEG recipient is on-site 50% of the time.

For domestic experiences: Under federal tax law, a scholarship or fellowship provided to a student in a degree-granting program is generally taxable. If you are a candidate for a degree, however, you can exclude from taxable income that part of the award used to pay the costs of tuition, required fees, books, equipment, and supplies (required fees, books, equipment and supplies are limited to those specifically required of all students in a course). You cannot exclude from taxable income any part of the grant used for other purposes, such as room and board. Please refer to IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Higher Education, Section 1, Scholarship, Fellowships, Grants and Tuition Reductions and the IRS tax guide for students, Taxable Income for Students. While OCS cannot offer tax advice, the IRS Tax Office on Court Street does offer free tax advice to students.

Find tips on budgeting, taxes, and other financial considerations: Financial Literacy: Managing Your Money at Yale.

Yes, international students must complete certain forms at the International Tax Office before receiving the SEG. If you have not already done so, please make an appointment at Yale’s International Tax Office.

A research supervisor must be a Faculty member or full-time research staff (Faculty Principal Investigator). Although Ph.D. students and/or postdocs may supervise some of the work, the official supervisor can not be a student or postdoc. Faculty members for this purpose include Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, Research Associates, Lecturers, Lectors, Instructors, Visiting Professors, Adjunct Professors, Clinical Professors, Museum Curators, Athletic Coaches, University Librarians, and Yale Summer Session Faculty across Yale College and Yale Graduate & Professional Schools. Research supervised solely by a postdoctoral scholar or Ph.D. student will not qualify.

The following opportunities are examples of research at Yale University that would be eligible for SEG funding.

• Working with a faculty member in a Yale Laboratory.
• Assisting a faculty member with research for an upcoming book or other publication.
• Working with a Yale Museum or Yale Gallery Curator in the research necessary for an upcoming exhibit.
• Assisting a faculty member in the research necessary for an upcoming Yale theater production.
• Assisting a faculty member with field research conducted within the United States.

The student must establish a formal mentoring relationship with a faculty or research staff member* who has agreed to take on a direct mentoring role in the supervision of the student’s summer research. Research with a faculty or research staff member must be full-time, with direct supervision by that faculty or staff member, and be in furtherance of a research agenda and not towards the faculty member’s teaching-related tasks. The supervising faculty or research staff member must complete the Host Organization Verification form as part of the SEG application. The student cannot gain course credit for the summer experience. The student cannot use the SEG to fund their senior thesis. The 8-week, 30-hours/week minimum summer duration applies to all SEG experiences, including research. The position cannot be fully remote. Hybrid site positions are eligible if the SEG recipient is on-site 50% of the time.

*PhD students and Postdocs cannot be their direct supervisor

In order to be considered for SEG funding, there can be no tuition component required from the student or financial compensation expected by the supervisor. Experiences offered through a third-party provider are not eligible.