Intern Offer and Conversion Rates Fall, Acceptances Rise

Offers to interns for full-time positions fell along with overall conversion rates even as acceptance rates rose, according to NACE’s latest internship benchmarks.

On average, employers extended offers of full-time employment to 62% of their 2024 intern class; in comparison, they extended offers to two-thirds of their 2023 interns. In fact, the current offer rate is the lowest in five years, according to NACE’s 2025 Internship & Co-op Report. (See Figure 1.)

Although there are likely multiple factors, results suggest that the modality of the internship may have played a role in the overall lower offer rate. The average offer rate was 72% among employers with in-person internships; those with internships that mixed remote and in-person work averaged about 56%. Among responding employers, about twice as many reported that their internship program were hybrid as those with in-person programs. 

While there were fewer offers and conversions, acceptances among interns were up: This is in line with results from NACE’s forthcoming Recruiting Benchmarks Report, which shows an increase in the overall acceptance rate among 2024 graduates. 

NACE gathers benchmarks on internship and co-op programs for its employer members on an annual basis. The survey that served as the basis for the 2025 report was conducted October 16, 2024, to January 2, 2025. Overall, 247 organizations took part, including 208 NACE member organizations, representing 24.8% of eligible member organizations, and 39 nonmember companies. For details on how to participate, contact NACE Research. NACE’s 2025 Internship & Co-op Report is available on NACEWeb. It is free to all survey participants in MyNACE.