"May you live in interesting times." It's allegedly a translation of a Chinese proverb, but Wikipedia can't even figure out who actually said it first. Regardless, an internship at the Federal Reserve Board should be extremely "interesting" over the next year (at the very least). With Bear Stearns almost falling into bankruptcy, and a lot of other investment banks in trouble, an internship in finance doesn't look nearly as attractive as it did last semester. Still, if you're interested in economics, finance, or a related field, a job at the Federal Reserve Board is a great alternative. Although connected to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board is a different entity. If you don't already know, the Fed, which is led by Chairman Ben Bernanke, is responsible for crafting the monetary policy that supports the American economy.

Most internships at the Federal Reserve Board are in Economic Research. Project Internships are paid and targeted to undergraduates with a background in economics, finance, statistics, mathematics, or computer science. These are for the summer only, and the application deadline is April 1st. There are unpaid internships at the Fed year round. The deadlines for these are April 1st for the summer, July 31st for the fall, and November 15th for the spring. The Fed also offers IT internships and internships for graduate students (for both Summer and Fall internships apply by April 1st). The links below should help you get started on your research while we enjoy the sunshine.

Article by Willy Franzen and courtesy of One Day, One Internship | A blog about internships for college students.