Your Cengage instructor has partnered with Extern to give you hands-on professional experience through your curriculum
Complete real projects and get live feedback from company brands you recognize as part of your Cengage coursework. Whether it’s for your capstone or career exploration—start building resume-ready experience now.
Why this matters
The entry-level job market has changed. Employers expect experience, but opportunities to gain it are shrinking. Cengage and Extern are working together to solve this problem by embedding professional experience directly into coursework so students don't have to wait just for summer or until after graduation to build the skills that matter.
No matter what background, GPA, or current experience, Extern is here to give anyone the opportunity to get professional experience in their fields of interest.
How these projects are designed
These virtual, fully remote projects are designed to fit your schedule and can be completed from anywhere. The experience includes guided online modules aligned with the project work, along with live sessions hosted by participating companies throughout the externship.
Projects are available across multiple industries and career areas, allowing students to build both soft and hard skills relevant to current workforce needs. Example projects include sustainability consulting engagements, venture capital investment memos, and game design.
Externships are typically 8–12 weeks in length and involve an estimated 5–10 hours of work per week. Participation is open to students in select courses regardless of GPA, major, or prior experience.
I'm using a Cengage course. How do I get access?
If your Instructor has enabled Extern, you'll see a direct link to explore available externships that align with your Cengage course.
What’s Waiting For You
Put the experience on your resume with big brand names you can point to and experience you can speak to in an interview.
Meet industry professionals and collaborate with peers from all around the world.
Learn through application the most in-demand tools and skills employers are looking for.
Showcase your project deliverables so you can show your peers and recruiters the experience you now have.
Extern will verify your experience if you meet the requirements of completion and act as a reference for recruiters.
Gain confidence as you learn about what actual projects look like in the real world and be more sure of the career you want to pursue.
Extern by the Numbers
Backed by data, powered by mentorship, loved by students.
Students Served — and growing fast
of externs get hired within 12 months
universities where students are externs
Build a data-driven sponsorship strategy for a real NASCAR team. You'll scrape race results, pull social engagement from Reddit and YouTube, and create a visibility scoring model that ranks sponsors by ROI. Then, present your recommendations to NY Racing leadership.
Build, hack, and defend real IoT infrastructure, then hand your security playbook to an actual company. You’ll launch realistic cyberattacks - from spoofing and replay to unauthorized shutoffs, and implement defenses like TLS and mTLS.
Learn content strategy from TikTok’s Head of Agency. Design viral-ready posts, build brand voice and visuals, and pitch a full campaign - all while building a standout portfolio.
Dive into the fundamentals of equity research and financial modeling. Analyze a real public tech company, assess risk and competitive position, build valuation models, and present a full investment memo and pitch to an industry panel.
Analyze real e‑commerce data from Google Analytics, Meta Ads, and Shopify to uncover what drives clicks and sales. Learn to spot funnel drop‑offs, optimize marketing spend, and craft strategies that boost conversions and revenue.
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Learn how VCs spot the next big tech startup. In this externship, you’ll discover how to find and evaluate early-stage companies, analyze markets, and create compelling investment memos. Perfect for those curious about startups or investing.
Work with Amazon to analyze employee feedback, uncover patterns with Python + sentiment analysis, and deliver insights that drive ops strategy. Big-name experience. Real-world skills. Built for future analysts, consultants & strategists.
Work with the Consumer Insights team at Beats by Dre to uncover how top brands understand their audience. Learn to map customer journeys, run surveys, and use AI to turn data into powerful stories, all while building in-demand marketing skills.
Build AI-powered document intelligence with Pfizer, automating healthcare and clinical supply documents using OCR, LLMs, and RAG.
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What if the real drivers of health have nothing to do with doctors or medicine? Define a research question, analyze public data with Python, and share your insights using AI. A résumé-popping mix of health, data, and strategy.
Build AI agents (no coding needed), and stand out in the job market. This externship gives you hands-on experience with real data, automation, and in-demand tools like n8n. Finish with a live AI dashboard and a portfolio-ready project.
14 hours. Evaluate any company like an insider. Walk out with the portfolio to prove it + an endorsement from Eric Ries.
Analyze video ads, uncover what works, and build a strategy. Then, turn your insights into a creative concept you can showcase in your portfolio - and present to the Global Consumer Insights team.
Think like a venture capitalist, faster with AI. Use AI-driven tools, databases, and market maps to spot and analyze energy, industrial, and sustainability startups, then craft investor-ready reports to pitch them like a pro.
Turn data into insight. Explore the world of consumer analytics through hands-on projects in survey analysis, sentiment mining, and AI-powered data storytelling. Learn how to decode customer feedback, clean and analyze real-world data, and create dashboards and presentations that drive decisions.
Build AI agents (no coding needed), and stand out in the job market. This externship gives you hands-on experience with real data, automation, and in-demand tools like n8n. Finish with a live AI dashboard and a portfolio-ready project.
Redesign mental health care from the inside out. Map workflows, spot risks, and build tools to make patient care safer, smarter, and more human.
Scout Vertical AI startups for a SoftBank-pedigreed VC fund — sourcing deals, analyzing founders, writing investment memos.
Design + prototype the next big social app feature Gen Z actually wants. Build real UI/UX and product management experience with Canva, analyzing user insights, and pitching your final feature concept—all with BeReal.
