About The Experience

With the full resources of the Morehead-Cain community (including staff, alumni, and partners), rising junior and senior scholars design their Professional Experience summer with access to countless opportunities in the fields and industries of their choice.

Why Professional Experience?

The Professional Experience summer captures an intangible aspect of higher learning often missed in the classroom and textbooks: the value of hands-on experience. While this can be conveyed with class projects and case studies, nothing quite compares to the experience of being immersed in a fast-paced work environment.

What Have Scholars Done?

For eight to ten weeks, scholars work in some of the world’s leading organizations and gain on-the-job experience and personal mentoring from top executives. As an alternative, and in response to the thriving entrepreneurship community at Carolina, some scholars work on their own business ventures during the summer. Whether they discover their career interests, they emerge from the summer ready to contemplate life after graduation. Examples of previous Professional Experience placements include:

  • American Chamber of Commerce in Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Berenson-Allen Center, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts
  • Goldman Sachs in New York, New York
  • Microsoft in Redmond, Washington
  • NASA in Mountain View, California
  • NBC Universal/CNBC Select in New York, New York
  • Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.

 

Note: the timing of the third and fourth summers can be switched if the scholar prefers.

“My time with Quay Street Productions on the Playdate set was an incredibly enriching journey

that has left a profound impact on both my personal and professional growth. My direct supervisor, James Dean ’89, was attentive, giving wise advice, helping me catalyze connections, and modeling decisive and effective, yet flexible leadership.”

Uredo Agada ’26

Professional Experience Senior Class

Senior Class of 2023

The Morehead-Cain Class of 2023 are off to pursue their passions and leave their mark. Read more about their plans post-graduation.