Fellowship Vs Internship: What are the Differences?

Fellowship vs internship is a common topic of interest among students. Well, if you have just given your 12th or if you have completed your bachelor’s, these two topics are going to be a part of your life for some time. Both of these are important levels of entering the corporate world irrespective of the career you are choosing.

Both of these things can be considered as the initial ladder and each of these holds an immeasurable value in a student’s career graph. Both internships and fellowships help you in your personal and professional development. They get you ready for the final corporate world.

 

Fellowship Vs Internship

Internships and fellowships are professional programmes that help you to gain knowledge and experience in a particular professional industry. This is where fellowship vs internship is a topic of interest among students. These need not necessarily be of your field but any field for that matter. However, it is recommended that students take up these programmes specifically in the niche in which they want to set up their career in.

For example, if you are a medical student and want to be a doctor, you should take internships in the medical field itself. Another example can be, let’s say you are a commerce student but you want to be a writer, so you can take internships related to writing because that will give you an extra benefit to pursuing your writing career even if you are not from that field.

But, there are a lot of debates as to how a fellowship is different from an internship, which is a better option, what to take up for what job, etc. So, we decided to help our readers by clarifying this wide topic. Read this blog to find out fellowship vs internship and what will be a better choice for your career.

Also, read this blog about how one IIT Madras professor gets great distinguished fellowship. 

Fellowship vs Internship

Before talking about the fellowship vs internship, let us tell you about these two programmes in detail.

Internship – An internship is a work programme that is designed for students who are not yet working and do not have a full-time job or a corporate career. It is designed for the students only. In an internship program, students need to work for any company on a part-time basis while completing their studies.

Students can take up internships during their UG, PG, or even doctoral levels. They can also take up an internship right after their standard 12th or in their gap year as well. In an internship, students are given a small amount of money for their work called a stipend. Some internships are also unpaid.

The benefits of doing an internship are understanding the corporate culture, getting experience, learning how to work in a job, learning new skills, earning side income, and also getting a certificate/recognition along with a letter of recommendation that could help them in future. This is the reason students take up internships to be better in their fields.

A student who does an internship is called an intern. An intern is not a professional but a learner who gets to learn on the go during his internship. Anyone can be an intern in any company. Students have to reach out to companies and ask for internships. This is all about internships in this blog of fellowship vs internship.

Also, read about the IIT Madras establishes great Venkataramani Fellowship. 

Why do companies hire interns?

So, the interns are not professionals but learners of either the same field or the same interest for which they have applied. This means companies do not need to give them a full-time salary or a full-time job position with enough formalities. They can get the basic work done on a relatively smaller amount invested through interns. Also, interns might not be professionals but can be a great help to companies as they are eager to learn, eager to earn, eager to fit in the corporate world, eager to get certified, and also eager to start their careers by gaining experience. The companies can teach the interns in a small period and can get the best work done through them. Most companies hire interns.

Let us move to fellowship vs internship by explaining what is a fellowship.

Fellowship – Let us also explain to you what is a fellowship before we compare fellowship vs internship and which one should you take up.

A fellowship is a professional programme that helps students to develop their professional front. These programmes are sponsored by different groups, organizations, or institutions and provide support for talented and integral candidates. Students are selected for fellowship based on their merit. In a fellowship programme, students are taught and their study is sponsored by the group for which they have been hired as a fellow. Students who do fellowship are called fellows.

Fellowship is more like a training programme in which students have to perform research and develop skills. These programmes are offered to graduate or post-graduate students who are from the fields of data analytics, history, literature, medicine or science.

Now, that you know what fellowship and internship are, let us deep dive into the main topic which is fellowship vs internship.

Duration – The duration of an internship could be anywhere from 1 month to 6 months and sometimes even a year, but that is very rare. The duration of a fellowship is around 6 months to a year or even more than that. Fellowship is for a longer period than an internship.

Eligibility – Students can join an internship programme right after their 12th and can do it as long as they have not joined a full-time corporate job. Students are only eligible for fellowship programmes if they are from graduate and post-graduate levels.

Compensation – Interns are provided with a stipend which is usually very less and sometimes internships are also unpaid and only for exposure and learning. The stipend given to fellows is more and also they earn through allowances. The pay scale of an intern is much lower than a fellow.

Application – For applying as an intern, students can directly mail the company in which they want to do an internship, if there will be an opening or a requirement, the company will respond to them. Students can also search for internships from popular internship platforms online.

For fellowship also, students need to send an email or apply if a requirement is posted somewhere but they need to submit their resumes, recommendation letters, transcripts, as well as samples of work done. The application process between fellowship vs internship is also different.

Level of Ease – It is easier to be selected as an intern than a fellow. The work in an internship is also easier as compared to the work provided in a fellowship.

Working Hours – The working hours of an intern is different for different companies. For some people, it is during the entire office hours, for some it is 3 to 4 hours a day, for some it is just during the weekend, and so on. Fellows have to dedicate around 6 to 8 hours of their day in the fellowship programme. Interns work for lesser hours as compared to fellows.

Job Profiles – Internships are helping students by getting them ready for the professional world in the same niche as they have applied for an internship. For example, an internship as a writer will help you get experience and recommendations to become a better writer and work for a better organisation.

Fellowships help students to focus on their development by studying in a specific field.

They are offered training for research, graduate studies, developing community-based organizations, providing opportunities for exploring a field of work, and more. This is the main fellowship vs internship debate solution.

Conclusion

So, now you know the real fellowship vs internship difference right here. Depending on your level of education and requirement, you can now choose what will be better for your career and why. You can do both of these at different levels of your career.

However, in the start, you can apply for internships, work as an intern, gain experience, gain side income, learn skills, and once you are qualified for a fellowship and are eligible, you can even try for that. Let us know in the comments if you have more points related to fellowship vs internship. Also, read about RBCDSAI of IIT Madras: Launching a great fellowship.