Have you ever dreamt of living in a magical, fairytale land far, far away? Then Disney’s college program might be the answer to your wishes! Disney’s college program is a paid internship program organized by the Walt Disney Company that has a wide variety of courses that include education and professional development opportunities. It takes place at the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California. Let us know about it, How Long Does It Take To Get Accepted Into Disney’s College Program?
The acceptance process takes approximately 3-4 weeks. A typical application would go through 3 stages: the Submission Stage, the Web-Based Interview Stage, and the Phone Interview Stage. These three stages take different periods to be completed. If accepted, you would see ‘Accepted’ on your dashboard. In total, these stages take up about 21-28 days to be accepted into Disney’s College Program.
How Long Does It Take To Get Accepted Into Disney’s College Program?
Stages Of The Application
The Submission Stage takes about 10-20 minutes to complete as this is just the basic stage and submission of personal information on the company’s website. After submitting your application, your dashboard status would change to either ‘in submission’ or ‘in progress’. If your application is in progress, you might get invited to the next stage (the Web-Based Interview) in a few days.
If your application is ‘in submission’, it might take longer than a few days to get invited to the Web-Based Interview. The Web-Based Interview must be completed within 72 hours (3 days) after getting the mail. If you pass the Web-Based Interview and qualify for the next stage, you would be invited to have a Phone Interview session.
If you do not pass this Phone interview stage, your dashboard would show ‘No Longer in Consideration’, meaning your application is unsuccessful and you can reapply within six months. This might be seen on the dashboard immediately or over a few days.
Components Of The Program
According to Walt Disney’s official webpage, the program lets you “Experience the Magic” in three different ways all at the same time: Living, Learning, and Earning.
- Living: The program offers housing opportunities and amenities for all the candidates that have been accepted into the program. This includes comfortable housing, pools, a fitness center, common areas, and different educational facilities all on Disney’s magical property. You would meet different people from all over the world, make new friends, and live and learn together.
- Learning: As this is a college standard program, there are many courses to choose from and learn new things. With exceptional educational facilities, you would have the opportunity to learn new skills that will benefit you in your career, meet Disney professionals and learn from them also.
- Earning: This is a paid internship program so you get to earn while you learn! The standard rate, depending on the course being studied, is $11-$15.3 per hour. The average candidate would work for about 30 hours per week but this varies with each role. Some roles work up to 50 hours a week during peak periods.
Criteria For Application
To be eligible for the program,
- You must be over the age of 18.
- You must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 at the time of application.
- You must have unrestricted work authorization for the duration that your program would run as Disney does not sponsor visas for the program.
- You must currently be enrolled at an accredited United States college, university, or higher education program or have graduated from any of these within the past 12 months.
- You must have completed at least one semester at an accredited United States college, university, or higher education program when the program commences.
How Long Does It Take To Complete The Disney College Program?
The program runs for one semester and takes about 5-7 months to be completed. The duration depends on the role and would be stated in the acceptance email of each candidate. The programs include;
- Fall program: August – early January.
- Fall Advantage program: May/June – early January.
- Spring program: January – May.
- Spring Advantage program: January/February – August.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Disney College Program is a great chance to learn through a variety of roles such as entertainment, operations, lodging, food and beverages, retail/sales, and recreation. It is a life-changing opportunity and a dream come true. You get to live in Disney land, learn and make money all at the same time. Sounds magical, doesn’t it?
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many people apply for Disney’s College Program?
About 50,000 applications are sent to the Disney College Program every year. However, only roughly 20% of the applicants are chosen. In other words, about 12,000 lucky applicants are chosen to participate out of the thousands that apply.
- How much does the program cost?
A non-refundable fee of $390 would be paid at the beginning of the program. The educational courses are free and students only pay for textbooks and supplies.
