Get Marketable with a CMU Practicum!

Getting hired for a job really boils down to three things:

1. Is the job available?
2. Do you want it?
3. Can you do it?

Through our practicum program, we at CMU can give you the tools and experience you need to answer all three of these questions for yourself.

Two kinds of practica are available at CMU: a school year practicum, 60 h/semester, 5 h/week, gives students the chance to work locally in jobs directly or practically related to their fields of study. An intensive practicum is more long term—running 12 weeks to one year—and provides an in-depth, cross-cultural immersion experience.

CMU has placed practicum students on every continent, in hundreds of fields including social work, church ministry, agriculture, journalism, international development, news media, and even aviation.

Practicum students at CMU have the rare opportunity to discern early on whether Plan A is right for them, and use that information to rethink or redouble their efforts. As Practicum Coordinator Werner Kliewer points out: “The practicum that shows you the career you'd planned to pursue until now doesn't really thrill you, or isn't a good fit, can often be more helpful than the practicum that confirms what you already suspected about your future.”

Conversely, students whose placements confirm their passions benefit directly in hands-on experience—which makes them more appealing to employers after graduation and distinguishes them from their peers—and professional connections. Practicum students also learn to see the wide variety of potential practical applications for their unique skills.

In the end, University is like everything else: you get out what you put in. And a practicum placement at CMU can help you determine what you need to put into your degree program to make yourself as savvy, relevant and capable as you can be!