Science Job Budget Breakdown: Seal Rescue Volunteer

Ahh, internships. A scientist’s right of passage, a way to gain all of those skills your professors talk to you about. But how the hell are you supposed to do it? You have bills and unfortunately, you can’t pay them all with monopoly money. In order to fulfill your prophecy, you must save.

But, how much money would you have to save to do one of these internships? A once in a lifetime opportunity might seem like a pipe dream so I broke down the facts and created a budget just for you to help. 

Income will be empty (hello, unpaid!) but we still need to figure out exactly what expenses we have so we can save adequately. This kind of budget template isn’t just to be used when dealing with loose seals (Arrested Development anyone?). This template could be used for any potential internship opportunity.

How To Start

I found a position as a seal rescue volunteer off of the Conservation Job Board that you can see in the video above. The Conservation Job Board is a great resource to find both paid and unpaid internships as well as other opportunities. For this project, we will choose an unpaid one as most internships will be.

The Cold Hard Facts

By reading through the listing, we can get a short summary about what will be offered if you are to accept this internship. Besides becoming best friends with wildlife, some internships will offer room and board while some have no compensation whatsoever.

These details will be included in the listing so it’s important to know what you are getting yourself into. Unexpected expenses are the biggest budget buster there is. Additional details may be found on the organization’s actual website so it’s important to check there too.

Fill In The Blanks

Once you have the information of what your internship provides, you can fill in the portion of the expenses of your budget template. For categories that are covered, you can put a placeholder in. For other bills, such as a cell phone, you can look into alternative options such as a sim card, if your provider allows.

Don’t forget to research things like health insurance if you are no longer on your parents’ plan or even a school one. Health insurance is definitely something you shouldn’t go without, especially in this day and age, and especially overseas. I would also consider putting an amount towards your student loans (if any) and stashing some money aside for travel. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity so you’ll want to see the sights.

Unpaid internships don’t have to be scary. By taking time to prepare with your new mock budget and setting adequate savings aside (hello side hustles!), you can gain real-world experience that will help propel your career to new heights (no bird pun intended 😉 ).

Let me know if you’ve had to take an internship before. Anything else I’m missing? Anything you’d care to share?