This article was originally reported in September 2025.
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) highlighted its Chancellor’s Career Fellows Program in September 2025, a Center for Career Engagement initiative that helps lower-income sophomores build professional skills, find a summer internship tied to their career goals and pay for it with a stipend of up to $5,000 (The Source, September 4, 2025).
How the program works
- Who: WashU sophomores whose family income is under $75,000.
- What: professional skill-building, help securing a career-aligned summer internship, and a stipend of up to $5,000. Many fellows also receive mentoring from industry and community leaders through the Taylor Family Center for Student Success, which supports first-generation and limited-income students.
- Background: the program was founded in 2021 by Chancellor Andrew D. Martin and is partly funded by the Center for Career Engagement’s Professional Opportunities Fund.
Tyler Gahrs, manager of strategy and impact at the Center for Career Engagement, said the program “gives our students the professional skills that they’re going to use throughout their whole career.”
One fellow’s internship
Kiersten Anderson, a junior majoring in philosophy-neuroscience-psychology in Arts & Sciences, used the fellowship to work remotely as a research and therapy intern at Memory Keepers, a St. Louis nonprofit that provides cognitive care. She observed caregiver support groups, learned therapy strategies and co-hosted weekly therapy sessions. Anderson plans to earn a Ph.D. in developmental psychology and is interested in pediatrics; she said the internship sparked an interest in clinical care and that “getting some one-on-one time with the people you care for is crucial” (The Source).
Other WashU internship funding
The Career Fellows program is one of several ways WashU pays students during summer internships. The Center for Career Engagement also runs a Summer Internship Fund for students in unpaid or low-paid roles (see our report on WashU internship stipends), and the Gephardt Institute’s St. Louis Fellows program pays students to intern at local nonprofits (see our report on the St. Louis Fellows program).
Notes for international students
- Eligibility is not stated: the WashU article does not say whether international students can be Career Fellows or how family income is verified. Ask the Center for Career Engagement before planning around the stipend.
- Work authorization comes first: a summer internship at an outside organization counts as employment for F-1 students even when the money comes as a university stipend, and usually requires Curricular Practical Training (CPT). Since August 2026, SEVP has told schools to approve CPT only when the training is a required part of the curriculum (SEVP Broadcast 2608-01), so talk to WashU’s Office for International Students and Scholars early.
- Aid must be requested at application: international first-year applicants can receive need-based aid from WashU only if they request it on the application and submit the CSS Profile by the deadline (WashU Admissions).
- Admission and size: according to IPEDS, WashU admitted about 12% of 32,754 first-year applicants for fall 2025. Of 16,357 students that fall, 4,512 were international (774 undergraduates).
- Ranking: WashU is No. 16 among national universities in the 2027 U.S. News ranking (Forward Pathway, U.S. college rankings). See our WashU profile for more data.