Owl Edge Summer Experience Fund

About the Owl Edge Summer Experience Fund

The Owl Edge Summer Experience Fund (OESEF) is a collection of summer funding awards that provide financial support for students pursuing unpaid or minimally paid career-related experiences. The OESEF supports students with living expenses, transportation, and travel so that these essential experiences are available to all of our students who may otherwise not be able to afford them. The selection process is competitive as we receive many high-quality applications for limited funding. We place a high priority on supporting students with financial need. Multiple CCD staff and other staff across the university make up our review committee which administers and coordinates each award.

Note that this funding should NOT be considered salary or meant as compensation. In addition, awardees of this fund will participate in online career development modules and thank their supporters.

Available Funding Options

The OESEF application connects students to various summer funding opportunities available to all undergraduate students and funding opportunities based on their primary college or other qualifications. See the details below about funding opportunities available to students.

Funding Available to Undergraduate Students

• The Alison Weaver Summer Fund for the Arts: A fund to support students working in the arts.
• The Charles D. Hackney Public Service Internship: A fund to support students working in public service for governmental or non-profit organizations that are apolitical.
• The Darrell M. Whitley Summer Work Abroad Scholarship: a fund to support students pursuing summer work abroad.
• The Irwin M. “Buddy” Herz Community Outreach, Leadership and Engagement Fund: A fund to (in part) support an internship program that will allow Rice students to serve the community in positions beyond the hedges.
• The Klein Family Fellowship
• The Nicholson Family Experiential Learning Endowment
• The Oka and Makihara Internship Opportunities Fund: A fund to support students pursuing summer internships where their financial status is a factor in awarding the support.
• The Owl Edge Summer Experience Fund

Funding Available to students in the School of Humanities

• The Joseph E. Kruppa Endowed Internship Award: This award provides summer internship funding to undergraduate students in the Rice School of Humanities, with a preference for students majoring in English. HEDGE applicants are automatically considered for this award.
• The Reginald Moore Internship Award: This award will support a student who pursues work honoring Reginald Moore's legacy of historical scholarship and pursuit of social justice and activism. Reginald Moore founded the Convict Leasing and Labor Project and is a longtime Houston-area activist. HEDGE applicants are automatically considered for this award.
• The Julie and David Itz Research Fund in Humanities: Provides undergraduate research support to School of Humanities majors, including, but not limited to, expenses related to summer internships, with a preference for students engaging in historical research.

Eligibility Criteria

Please review the eligibility criteria below. If you still have questions about your eligibility for this program after reviewing our criteria, then please email summerfund@rice.edu or schedule a drop-in appointment with a career counselor via rice.12twenty.com

Students Must Meet the Following Eligibility Criteria to be Eligible:

Currently enrolled matriculated undergraduate students for the spring semester must be enrolled in a degree-granting program at Rice University and in Good academic standing.

• Students who transfer to another institution in the fall and leave Rice are not eligible for funding and/or may have funding rescinded.
• You are returning to complete at least one full-time semester of coursework toward your bachelor's degree at Rice University following your summer experience.
• Have a written invitation to interview or offer for an unpaid or low-paid* career-related summer experience with at least 240 hours of work time. Typically, experiences are 20+ hours a week. The offer does NOT yet need to be accepted.
• You must report all other funding opportunities you are pursuing or the compensation you expect to receive in the budget portion of your application.

Examples of low-paid experiences include a minimum wage experience, a lunch allowance, a small stipend, or an honorarium. Stipends and any other compensation should be included in the budget portion of the application, which will be deducted from the requested amount and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If you are awarded funding and find out later that you will receive compensation, the amount will be deducted from the original award. Generally, a low-paid summer experience is one where living expenses for the summer exceed your income.

NOTE: Late or incomplete applications will NOT be accepted. Priority will go to rising juniors and seniors without prior work/research experience. Students pursuing new opportunities and not just continuing an experience pursued during the academic year will be given priority.

Criteria for an experience to be defined as an internship

To ensure that an experience, whether it is a traditional internship or one conducted remotely or virtually, is educational, and thus eligible to be considered a legitimate internship by the NACE definition, all the following criteria must be met:

1. The experience must be an extension of the classroom: a learning experience that provides for applying the knowledge gained in the classroom. It must not be simply to advance the operations of the employer or be the work that a regular employee would routinely perform.
2. The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings.
3. The experience has a defined beginning and end, and a job description with desired qualifications.
4. There are clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student’s academic coursework.
5. There is supervision by a professional with expertise and educational and/or professional background in the field of the experience.
6. There is routine feedback by the experienced supervisor.
7. There are resources, equipment, and facilities provided by the host employer that support learning objectives/goals.

Eligible Experience Include:

• A traditional internship supervised by a staff member with clear learning/professional goals
• Research assistantship, supervised by a principal investigator (PI), post-doc, staff, or faculty member who is not affiliated with Rice University

If you believe your experience should qualify, please email summerfund@rice.edu to discuss.

Non-Eligible Experiences Include:

• Any Rice University program.
• Fee-based programs - any program that charges tuition or a fee.
• Research that a graduate student supervises. A Principal Investigator or faculty member should supervise research experiences.
• Personal research projects, individual projects, research projects attached to academic credit, or personal entrepreneurial ventures.
• Pipeline or insight programs which are meant to expose a student to a company, but where the student does not produce a work product.
• Student or student-run entrepreneurial ventures.
• Student organization-related projects.
• Summer courses at Rice or any other institution.
• Any experience supervised by another student.
• Work at an organization owned by a personal family member or where a family member directly supervises you. A family member may include, but is not limited to, a parent, sibling, spouse, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or cousin.

Eligible Expenses:

• Living expenses (e.g., rent, utilities, food)
• Moving to and from experience location (e.g., bus, plane, or train ticket)
• Daily transportation to experience site (e.g., public transport fare, mileage)
• Equipment and software necessary for the experience
• Supplies required for field work or postion/industry specific needs
• Lab attire or other attire is needed to complete the experience. We will refer students who need professional clothing to our partners at Dress for Success or Career Gear.

Non-Eligible Expenses

• Clothing other than a required uniform, insurance (car renters, health), personal travel, entertainment, gym memberships, purchase of a vehicle or personal transportation device, and tuition.

Selection Details

The selection committee will evaluate applications based on financial need, time to graduation, experience level, and overall quality of your application materials. We encourage all students to apply. However, students with financial need will have preference. If you have extenuating circumstances contributing to your need, please note them in your application materials. After the selection committee reviews your budget, they may make edits to the proposed budget, which may alter the requested funding.

Owl Edge Summer Experience Fund Timeline:

The OESEF uses multiple deadlines to ensure quick disbursement of awards to students. Throughout April, May, and June, funding will be distributed to students approved to receive an award. See our FAQs for more information about the payment process.

• January 12: Applications open on 12twenty
• February 11: Owl Edge Summer Experience Fund Information Session
• February 28: Deadline #1
• By March 14: Notifications for Deadline 1 Applicants
• March 31: Deadline #2
• By April 11: Notifications for Deadline 2 Applicants
• April 30: Deadline #3
• By May 14: Notifications for Deadline 3 Applicants

The selection committee reviews each application diligently and coordinates details with multiple offices across campus.

Application Details

Application Form

In this form, you will share details about the summer experience you plan to participate in. This form includes the organization name, your position, start and end dates, hours expected to work, and information about your supervisor.

Financial Aid Information

Our office coordinates with the Office of Financial Aid to determine each applicant's level of need. You will still be considered for the OESEF if you do not receive financial aid.

Budget

The CCD provides a downloadable budget document for applicants. Please download and submit this budget document with your application on rice.12twenty.com.

1. Expenses
   1. Airfare, travel, and commuting expenses
   2. Housing expenses
   3. Personal expenses
2. Income
   1. Expected stipend, wage, or in-kind support from the organization at your internship site this summer (paycheck, award, per-diem, or housing)
   2. Other awards or in-kind funding provided by Rice University for this summer experience.

Essay

This essay should be 250-500 words. Your essay should answer the following questions.

1. What are your career goals and how will this experience help you achieve those goals? Describe how this experience could shape your career journey.
2. Why do you want to participate in this experience? Explain how this experience ties your career goals and academic work together.
3. What do you hope to learn during this experience? Tell us about the specific NACE career competencies you wish to develop, the insights you hope to gain in your career or academic field, etc. Give clear examples in your own words of your responsibilities for this experience that will develop those career competencies (mention three NACE competencies). Feel free to use the job description but please explain in your own words.
4. Briefly explain if you can pursue this experience in the academic year. If you cannot, then explain why not.

Resume

The Center for Career Development recommends all students have their resume reviewed either by a career counselor or peer career advisor or use our online guides before submitting any application but especially to the OESEF. Upload the most recent version of your resume in PDF format. We grade every resume on the following points.

• Length: 1 page
• Formatting: Only one font is used, and consistent formatting (e.g., font, bullet sizes, heading styles, bold and caps), headings and bullets are evenly spaced, dates are aligned, and consistent style of and space between dashes.
• Name/Contact Info: Your name at the tip of the page in an easy-to-read font, and your address, phone number, city & state, email, and Linkedin are easy to read.
• Education/Relevant Coursework/Skills: present first after your contact information, which includes the official degree and anticipated date of graduation, no name of high school (unless freshman), and no course numbers, just names and hard skills, not soft skills.
• Experiences: Clear headings and are in reverse chronological order within each section.
• Bullet Points: Approximately 2-4 statements per position, and does every bullet point include action verbs + core content and variation of verbs.
• Bullet Points: Every bullet point includes a result/purpose/impact.
• Verb Tense: Present tense for current positions and past tense for previous positions.

Confirm your experience

Share your summer experience confirmation with us in PDF or JPEG format. The minimum requirement for this section is evidence that you have received and accepted an invitation to interview for the summer experience. It can be a screenshot of an email or application portal. At a minimum, this is required for your application to be considered. If you only provide evidence of an interview, we will proceed with your application. You do not need to have accepted the internship to be eligible for the OESEF. If you are selected to be awarded, then we will ask for confirmation that you are pursuing the experience you applied for on your application.

12twenty allows you to amend your application until the final application deadline; please update this portion of your application when you have accepted the summer experience or contact summerfund@rice.edu to update this portion of the application package.

Additional Information

Please explain any other information that may be helpful to the review. Examples include:

• Additional work/volunteer/academic/other experiences you will be involved in this summer.
• Extenuating circumstances
• Additional information about your funding needs
• Additional information you would like us to know when considering your application (i.e. doing a combined 240 hours of work in two different labs or organizations)

To learn more and apply, search "2025 Owl Edge Summer Experience Fund" (starting early 2025) in 12twenty.

What Prior Recipients Have Said about the Fund:

"The Owl Edge Fund has allowed me to enjoy and learn from my internship experience without worrying about the financial constraint caused by participating in an unpaid, yet extremely valuable, internship." - Jeffrey B.

"I am thrilled about the research and inquiry-based learning that I have been able to engage in so far this summer. To me, observing and discovering the world through an interdisciplinary lens has been an exciting gift." -Katherine H.

“Living alone, in a big city, out of the country, traveling on my own, and working from 9-5 are all new experiences for me. I have grown in so many subtle ways that I never would have considered had I not been pushed to challenge myself. I look forward to returning to Rice with an invigorated sense of self-sufficiency and perspective.” - Katie L.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of opportunities has this fund been distributed towards in the past?

This is just a small sample of organizations that students have interned with across the United States and abroad:

Alley Theatre	Baylor College of Medicine
Breakthrough Collaborative	Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
Commercial Spaceflight Federation	Department of Homeland Security
Harris County Sports Authority	Institute of Spirituality & Health
Legacy Community Health	MD Anderson Cancer Center
Menil Collection	Texas Children's Hospital
Save the Children	Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
Texas State Legislature	U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Airforce Academy	UT Health Center
U.S. Patent Office	Universities across the world

How many times can students receive funding?

Per eligibility above, prior recipients who have received less than $5,500 remain eligible until the maximum cumulative amount has been awarded. Total awards per recipient will not exceed $5,500 (cumulative). For example, if a student receives $2,000 from this fund in their Sophomore year, they could receive $3,500 their Junior year (if selected).

What if a student receives funding here AND receives funding from another Rice-related fund?

Students can receive up to $5,500 if selected. If a student receives $2500 from another department at Rice, the student can receive up to $3,000 from this fund (if selected).

What other resources exist to help students with unpaid internships?

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but one to help students get started. Schedule an appointment with a CCD team member to determine whether an unpaid internship is the best option for you.

https://ccl.rice.edu/students/fellowships/rice-nominated-fellowships/
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~clack/alphalisting.html
http://www.computerscience.org/scholarships/
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search
https://www.fastweb.com/registration/step_1/
http://www.gocollege.com/
http://www.grants.gov/
https://www.petersons.com/college-search/scholarship-search.aspx
http://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice
http://www.ssrc.org/fellowships/

Also, see this document for more information.

If a student receives funding, what is required of them?

When students receive funding, they commit to completing several asynchronous learning modules in Canvas, an evaluation by a supervisor, submitting a reflection or poster, and participating in stewardship post-summer experience. A signed letter of agreement, managed by the CCD, is required. Students must also be in good judicial standing.

Why should students apply to the Summer Experience Fund?

To be clear, this is a competitive process. However, we want students to have access to experiential opportunities during their time at Rice. If students meet the eligibility criteria, we encourage them to apply and continue talking to us and mentors about how to pursue alternative funding resources and/or other paid opportunities.