Students applying for the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award must:

• Be a currently enrolled, full-time, CAS undergraduate Penn student returning to Penn as a full-time undergraduate for the Fall 2026 semester
  • Graduating students and students who are on leave during the spring 2026 semester are not eligible to apply
  • Graduate students in need of funding support, please visit our graduate funding page for more details!
• Have an offer for a summer opportunity related to human rights
  • Opportunities must be at least 8 weeks in length and at least 30 hours per week
  • You must attach the offer letter/email with your application to be considered (see ‘Offer Letter Requirements’ section below for more details)
  • Study abroad programs and summer courses, even those with an internship or volunteer component, are not eligible for funding
  • Fee-based internship programs are not eligible for funding
• For international experiences, register your travel with Penn before departing (more details will be provided to applicants receiving funding)
• Write a brief (450 word) summary of your experience at the end of the summer, which will be shared with our donors and posted on our blog

Please Do NOT Apply for Summer Funding from Career Services if:

• You are seeking funding for a summer course, even if that course has an internship or volunteer component
• You are already receiving funds that cover the cost of living and travel expenses for this opportunity
• You are participating in a fee-based internship program
• Your summer experience is shorter than 8 weeks
• Your summer experience requires fewer than 30 hours of work per week
• You will graduate in May 2026 or August 2026
• You have already received $5,000 or more from other Penn summer funding programs for Summer 2026
• You are pursuing summer opportunities through GRIP or PURM

The application for the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award will open on February 15, 2026. Click here to complete your application for the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award. The following components are required as part of your application.

• Resume – please see our How to Write a Resume Guide for assistance
• Internship Offer Letter – this can be a formal letter or a screenshot of the email extending you the offer (see ‘Offer Letter Requirements’ section below for more details)
• Detailed Budget – complete the Excel budget template and upload to your application as a PDF file. Preference will be given to students who submit a modest budget that demonstrates an ability to live economically.
  • Expenses you can include in your budget
    • Rent/housing in your internship location (Find summer housing resources here.)
    • Utilities (gas, electricity, etc.)
    • Food
    • Transportation to and from your internship location
    • Local transportation for daily commute
    • Immunizations
    • Travel visas
    • Other expenses directly related to the work experience
  • Expenses that you may not include in your budget
    • Any expenses or savings for the 2026-2027 academic year
    • Philadelphia rent costs (if you are interning outside of Philadelphia)
    • Security deposits for housing
    • Summer courses
• Personal Statement – in roughly 450 words, please address the following:
  • Human rights work is defined as actively furthering human rights causes in the U.S. and around the globe. Previous human rights opportunities that have been funded include work with Solitary Watch, University Network for Human Rights, and the International Rescue Committee. Please explain in 450 words or less how this opportunity is related to human rights.

Looking for guidance?

Personal statements can be reviewed by the Peer Career Advising staff.  Please upload your document to the Document Request Form and select the Personal Statement category upon submission.  Please keep in mind that Peer Career Advisors aim to review all documents within one week of submission and plan accordingly.

Have general questions?

If you have a general question about the application/program, please contact Barbara Hewitt, Executive Director at hewittb@upenn.edu.

You must attach an offer letter to your application in order to be considered for funding. Please note the following:

• Offer letters, ideally, are on official employer letterhead
• If offer is extended over email, the email must be from the employer’s official email address (no gmail or other personal accounts)
• Offer letter must include the start date and end date (or state the length of the internship in weeks/months)
• Offer letter must include the expected hours per week and internship location (if in person)
• If you plan to work for a current employer over the summer, your offer letter/email must include your expected summer hours, summer start date, and summer end date
• If you were provided a formal offer letter with these details through an online portal or docusign link, please upload this document as part of your application for consideration
• Do not omit any details on bonuses, housing or relocation assistance, and/or scholarships provided by the employer

We will not accept any other general email correspondence regarding the offer without the specific requirements listed above.  If you have questions on what may be sufficient for an offer letter/email, please contact: Ella Studdiford at ellastud@upenn.edu.

A committee will review all applications and will select those who will receive support. Funding is limited and Career Services expects to be able to support 2 – 3 students for Summer 2026. *Please note that the below date of award disbursement is estimated; while Career Services will make all efforts to pay selected students by the designated date, delays may occur.

Application Deadline: Tuesday, March 31st at 5pm EST

Decisions Emailed: Friday, April 10th by 12pm EST

Deadline to Accept Award: Friday, April 17th by 5pm EST

*Estimated Award Disbursement: Friday, May 1st by 5pm EST

*The award will be treated as taxable income, which the recipient will be responsible to report for the tax year in which it was received. Please note that funding awarded to international students will be pre-taxed at a 30% rate, unless there are tax treaties in place with the origin country, per Penn’s policy. Funding awarded to domestic students will be treated as taxable income, post-award.*

Yes, you may still apply for the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award if you are also applying for other sources of funding. However, so that we may fund as many applicants as possible, we require that applicants disclose where else they are applying for funding, and if applicants receive alternate sources of funding before the decision about Career Services funding is made, they are required to send an update to Ella Studdiford at ellastud@upenn.edu with that information as soon as possible. We also require applicants who have already received awards to partially fund their summer experience to disclose the amount in their Career Services application.  If you have received $5,000 or more from other Penn summer funding programs for summer 2026, you are not eligible for summer funding from Career Services.  

Yes, applicants who have previously received funding from Career Services can re-apply and will be considered but preference will be given to those who have not yet received funding from our office.  Students may only receive funding from Career Services twice during their time at Penn.

No.

Unfortunately, no. Summer funding is awarded only to support costs associated with summer experiences.

Yes.

Yes, summer funding is designed to offset costs associated with your summer experience. You will be asked to account for a budget of expenses as well as to share your summer stipend/salary.

Yes; if you are accepted you will be required to register your trip with Penn in order to best receive support should you need it while abroad.

Summer experiences must be a minimum of eight weeks in length and a minimum of 30 hours per week.

Students must have confirmation of an offer of their summer experience in order to apply for Career Services Summer Funding. This confirmation can be a formal offer letter or an email confirmation of the summer experience from your direct supervisor or human resources department. Documentation confirming your offer of this opportunity must be included in the PDF that you submit with your application. Please review the offer letter requirements in the above ‘Getting Started’ section.

Please email Ella Studdiford at ellastud@upenn.edu to inform Career Services of your change in status regarding your application request.

All applications will be reviewed in early April after the Friday, March 31st application deadline.

Refer to the Deadlines section above for information about the timeline of decisions and award disbursements.

The application process is competitive. Funding is limited and we expect to be able to award 2-3 students. Highly aided students should apply directly through the SRFS process and not through the Career Services process.

Award amounts will vary per awardee up to a maximum of $5,000.

No. Career Services views each application cycle separately.

Peer Career Advisors are available on a limited basis to offer general feedback on your summer funding application materials – be sure to submit your request as far in advance before the application deadline for the round you plan to apply. We will do our best to review requests submitted in a timely manner before the application deadline, but cannot guarantee review of last-minute requests a week prior to the deadline date.  If you have a general question about the application/program, please contact Barbara Hewitt, Executive Director, at hewittb@upenn.edu.

At this time, there is no formal appeals process for funding decisions or award amounts. All applications are reviewed using established eligibility criteria and available funding, and decisions are considered final.

Individual feedback is generally not provided due to the volume of applications received. In limited cases, applicants may be notified if an application was deemed incomplete or ineligible. All funding decisions are made based on established criteria and available funding.