Generally, a process where eagerness, determination, passion and talent are identified and harnessed through mentors that lead by example. The first three of these characteristics should be more evident in the intern initially than talent, as talent, meaning well roundedness, should be developed during the internship process. The purpose of the internship should be education.

The intern should be provided with an education that presents a view of the diverse requirements architecture asks of the professionals involved. The professionals involved include the clients, engineers, municipalities, contractors, designers, etc. that have impact on the evolution and completion of projects. Exposure to these facets will add to the multi-disciplined training that our profession demands while creating precedence for professionalism and communication skills. It becomes as important to communicate effectively, both written and orally, as it does to generate drawings, as without these skills the project will lack the necessary explanations for the listening body to understand. Without the intern having experience with working with the engineers, for example, he or she will lose that level of education that involves effectively explaining ideas and listening to others. Clearly identifying one's intent, regardless if it involves a structure or not, is a critical aspect of what architects do: recognizing and solving problems. The ability to clearly identify and explain solutions, beyond design, is the core of the education process for the intern.

The internship should be diverse. The level of knowledge, beyond architecture, that an architect maintains should be recognized as a task that goes beyond the requirements of the internship. Attaining a certain number of credits to complete various portions of the internship should not be the goal of the intern. Rather, interns should use the outline provided by the Internship Development Program (I.D.P.) to facilitate their own learning process. The mentor or office should provide an environment that promotes personal learning processes, as defined by the intern, to expose the intern to the incredibly diverse profession they have chosen. The education provided by the university demonstrates, generally, how to think, whereas the internship program should demonstrate how to execute their thoughts.

The internship should be realistic. The intern, being presented with the demands of the profession, must be realistic with them self and with the profession. The characteristics of eagerness, determination, passion and talent mentioned earlier are adequate in the beginning of the internship, but it is the responsibility of the program to recognize if the intern is capable of being an architect. This is for the benefit of the intern, but mostly for the safety of the public and the future of our profession.

In summary, the architectural internship should be a process of education for the intern, and the profession they are entering. The education should go beyond construction documents, though they are imperative. The intern should be aware of their responsibility to the client, their community, their peers, their profession and most of all themselves. They should realize the difficulty and diversity of the profession is what makes it great.