Last week, the Center for Engaged Learning released the topline results for our latest national survey of recent university graduates, exploring their experiences during college with the key practices for fostering engaged learning, high-impact practices (e.g., internships, undergraduate research, study away), and mentoring. In this post, I offer a closer look at what recent graduates shared about their career readiness, focusing specifically on the subset of participants who completed internships or undergraduate research. 

Who We Surveyed 

The Center conducted an online survey of US residents who were 18-34 years old and graduated with their first degree from a two- or four-year higher education institution in 2018 to 2025 (n=810). The majority of participants had earned a Bachelor’s degree as their highest degree earned, but in this year’s survey we also intentionally sampled to more closely approximate the percentage of US citizens whose highest degree earned is an associate’s degree. 

Participants represented both public institutions (77.8%) and private schools (21.9%), as well as a variety of majors: 

More than half of all participants (53.1%) had completed an internship during college, and 45.8% had participated in undergraduate research. 

Internships and Career-Readiness 

Among all survey participants, recent graduates who had completed internships were significantly more likely than participants who hadn’t completed an internship to agree or strongly agree that their college experience prepared them well for the work they have done since graduating (59.2% vs. 32.4%, p=<.001). Among participants who completed an internship, 88.3% somewhat or strongly agreed that they developed skills and competencies in their internship that would benefit them in their future careers. 

Those findings aren’t surprising when we drill down on the specific skills these recent graduates developed in college. Participants who had completed an internship were significantly more likely to indicate that they had developed the following skills in college: 

• Applying your existing skills to a new problem* 
• Assessing your strengths and weaknesses** 
• Connecting with people from different cultures* 
• Making decisions on behalf of a team or organization* 
• Networking to build relationships with others* 

(*p=<.001, **p=<.005) 

Undergraduate Research and Career-Readiness 

Among all survey participants, recent graduates who took part in undergraduate research experiences were significantly more likely than participants who hadn’t to agree or strongly agree that their college experience prepared them well for the work they have done since graduating (60.0% vs. 35.3%, p=<001). Moreover, 60% of participants who took part in undergraduate research during college agreed or strongly agreed that their undergraduate research experience, specifically, prepared them well for the work or graduate studies they have done since earning their first degree. 

Again, looking at correlations with skills developed during college offers some insight into why undergraduate research experiences might matter. Participants who had taken part in undergraduate research were significantly more likely to indicate that they had developed the following skills in college: 

• Applying your existing skills to a new problem* 
• Assessing your strengths and weaknesses* 
• Connecting with people from different cultures* 
• Making decisions on behalf of a team or organization* 
• Making ethical choices* 
• Networking to build relationships with others* 
• Responding to needs based upon an understanding of situational context* 
• Speaking persuasively* 
• Using and/or interpreting data* 

(*p=<.001) 

Do high-impact, career-ready experiences matter? 

Several of these skills overlap with the skills employers are seeking. In The Imperative Initiative, Ashley Finley (2025) reports on AAC&U’s employer research report, a survey of 1030 US-based employers. Teamwork, Oral Communication, and Ethical Judgment and Decision-making all appear among employers’ sought-after skills. 

Equally important, however, in the Center for Engaged Learning survey, college graduates who had these experiences are significantly more likely to consider college “worth it,” considering both the costs and benefits. 59% of recent graduates who had completed internships considered college “definitely ‘worth it,’” compared to 40.9% of their peers who hadn’t completed this high-impact educational experience (p = <.001). Among recent graduates who had taken part in research, 61.4% indicated college was “definitely ‘worth it,’” compared to 41.3% of their peers who had not pursued research (p= <.001). 

In other words, high-impact, career-ready experiences matter not only for the development of career competencies but also for how graduates assess the value of their college journey. 

Stay tuned for more snapshots of our survey results; we’ll share additional analysis at CenterForEngagedLearning.org/surveys/2025-survey.

About the Author

Jessie L. Moore is Director of the Center for Engaged Learning and Professor of English: Professional Writing & Rhetoric at Elon University. She is the author of Key Practices for Fostering Engaged Learning: A Guide for Faculty and Staff (Stylus Publishing 2023) and co-editor of five edited collections on engaged learning topics. As CEL’s Director, Jessie leads planning, implementation, and assessment of the Center’s research seminars, which support multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary inquiry on high-impact pedagogies and other focused engaged learning topics. Jessie also co-edit’s Teaching & Learning Inquiry, the flagship publication of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

How to Cite This Post

Moore, Jessie L. 2026. “High-Impact, Career-Ready Internships and Research Experiences. ” Center for Engaged Learning (blog). January 23, 2026. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/high-impact-career-ready-internships-and-research-experiences.